The apartment was a mess.

Kurt sighed when he nearly tripped over the sled abandoned in front of the hall closet. He gingerly stepped over the orange plastic; careful to avoid the wet puddles that had formed around it to put his coat away. He surveyed the mess with his hands on his hips, but he paused to smile down at the three sets of boots—one big pair flanked by two little ones. Their owners, however, were nowhere in sight.

Kurt knew better than to check the kitchen or bedroom—if the others were home, he would definitely know it. He surveyed the toy-strewn space and decided to do some damage control while he could. He plucked Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels, and an abandoned glove from the floor and set them into some form of order. He pulled liners from wet boots to set upside down on a heating vent and hung snow pants over the backs of chairs until the clamor in the hall alerted him to the return of the others.

First came Jack, nearly tripping over his own feet as he twisted around to watch Blaine with a delighted grin.

Blaine followed after him, singing and spinning in slow waltz circles, Annie in his arms, "I know you; I walked with you once upon a dream, I know you, the gleam in your eyes is so familiar—"

"Blaine! Blaine! Kurt's home!" Jack shouted despite there being less than three feet separating him from Blaine's legs.

"Well, so he is," Blaine grinned.

"Are you guys having fun today?" Kurt flashed Blaine a quick smile before turning his attention to the seven year-old at his feet.

"Blaine took us sledding and we played music at the coffee place and we played cars and we watched, um, we watched, uh—Blaine, what'd we watch?" Jack twisted around to look at Blaine.

"We watched Finding Nemo," Blaine provided, lowering the little girl to the floor.

"Yeah, that!" Jack turned his attention back to Kurt, "And now we're gonna make cookies. My mom left us the stuff for them in our fridge so we went and got it and we even have chocolate chips!"

"I don't think you need any more sugar," Kurt watched Jack as he bounced on his heels. Kurt raised an eyebrow at Blaine, "What did you lace their juice boxes with to make him this hyper?"

"They had hot chocolate at the café," Blaine admitted.

"It had whipped cream on top!" Annie supplied happily. She had hooked a hand around Blaine's shin and busied herself parading in circles around his legs.

"The manager gave it to them free," Blaine shrugged when Kurt gave him an exhausted look.

"Wait," Kurt suddenly connected Jack's account of their day with what Blaine had just told him, "You brought them with to the shop while you played?"

"Keira said it was fine, so stop giving me the you're-the-world's-worst-babysitter-look," Blaine rolled his eyes, "And do you have any idea how much money a guy can take in when he's got two adorable kids with him?"

"He's not the worst babysitter, he's the BEST babysitter!" Jack jumped up into the air to emphasize his point.

"Bite your tongue, sir," Kurt clicked his tongue in disapproval, "Blaine may play guitar, be a wonderful sled puller, and have a law degree, but he will never be able to bake you cookies—he'll start the kitchen on fire."

Annie stopped her spinning abruptly to stare wide-eyed at Kurt.

"He's just teasing, Annie. He doesn't want Jack to bite his tongue, and I would not burn the kitchen down." Blaine ruffled the little girl's dark curls before shooting Kurt a look.

"He might not burn the kitchen down, but he would burn your cookies," Kurt amended, "And you don't want that, do you?"

Both children shook their heads quickly.

"Lucky for you, I am an expert cookie maker," Kurt pulled the bag from Blaine's hand and peered inside, "You're sure your mom doesn't care if we use this stuff?"

"She bought it special for when we came to play with Blaine today," Jack assured him.

Blaine jingled a set of keys for Kurt to see, "Keira left me the keys to their place so we could go pick the stuff up. She left you a magazine, too; it's in the bag with the other stuff."

Kurt smiled down at Jack, "Tell your mother she is way too good to us."

"She says Blaine is paying her to watch us," Jack scrunched up his face, "Or something like that."

"She pays me plenty," Blaine chuckled, "Do you want to make cookies with Kurt?"

"Yes!" Both children shouted. They crowded Kurt's legs and followed so closely beside him to the kitchen he had to be careful not to step on their feet.

Blaine followed behind them dragging two chairs from the table, "How's the play coming?"

"I'm going to have to start looking for another one soon, but better than Rachel's apparently; did she tell you they got shut down?" Kurt lifted Annie onto her chair.

"Jack, have we heard about the lady from across the hall's play?" Blaine grinned at the little boy as he clambered up on his chair.

"She came over to tell us while we were playing," Jack informed Kurt grimly, "she talks a lot."

"And she's loud too, isn't she?" Kurt patted Jack on the shoulder sympathetically.

"Yeah, we couldn't even hear Nemo." Jack sighed, but his mood quickly changed when Kurt pulled the ingredients from the sack, "Can I lick the spoon when it's time?"

Annie burst into tears, "I wanna lick the spoon!"

Kurt flinched, "We'll use two spoons, you can both have one."

Annie was too caught up in her sudden emotional breakdown to hear him; she continued wailing.

"We're gonna use two spoons so shut up, Annie!" Jack shouted, glowering at his sister.

Annie cried harder, "Jack is mean and I wanna lick the spoon!"

"Jack, don't say shut up to your sister," Kurt reprimanded gently before turning his attention to Blaine, "A little help, please?"

Blaine lifted the little girl off the chair, "Hey, come on, did you hear Kurt? We all get spoons… and chocolate chips. Look it, what's this?"

Annie quieted to stare at the bag of chocolate chips in Blaine's free hand.

He pulled it open and picked out three, but did not immediately hand them over, "Do we need to cry when we want something?"

Annie shook her head quickly.

"What do we need to do?" Blaine prompted, still withholding the candy.

"Ask," Annie said quickly, groping for Blaine's open palm.

"Is there something you want to ask Blaine, Annie?" Kurt asked over his shoulder from where he'd busied himself pouring flour and sugar into a bowl.

"Can I have chocolate chips, please?" Annie said slowly, looking up at Blaine's face with wide eyes.

"Yes you may," Blaine replaced her on her chair and gave her the candy before shaking a few out into Jack's palm.

The entire baking process took much longer than it should have and ended with a half a bag of flour on the kitchen floor, but the children were giggling and pleased by the time the cookies were in the oven baking.

"Are they done?" Annie asked, pressing her face to the glass of the oven door.

"We just put them in," Blaine laughed, crouching low to stare into the oven beside her.

"When the big hand is on the eleven they'll be done," Kurt pointed to the clock on the far wall.

"That's a long time," Jack moaned.

"We'll play while they bake—you brought your craft box, right?" Blaine straightened up and offered a hand to Annie.

Jack ran ahead of him to the family room and dumped the aforementioned box all over the carpet.

Kurt cringed but opted not to comment on the mess.

Blaine caught his pained expression, "There's a bottle of wine in the fridge."

Kurt threw him a grateful smile before going back to the kitchen to retrieve the bottle and two glasses. When he returned to the family room, he found Blaine sitting cross-legged on the floor with the kids patiently doling out drops of glue on plastic gems for Annie.

"Look it!" Annie held up a piece of pink construction paper already littered with glitter and gems.

"That's lovely; great color scheming for a four year-old." Kurt crouched low to look over her project.

"Can we watch a movie, too?" Jack asked. He was splayed on his stomach carefully tracing one of his Pokémon cards.

"What do you want to watch?" Kurt straightened up to search out the stack of movies the kids brought with them on their nearly daily treks up to their apartment.

"Little Mermaid!" Annie shouted.

Jack made a face, "That's a girl movie."

"I love the Little Mermaid," Blaine retorted with a smile.

Jack studied him cynically, "Its got princesses in it."

"I like princesses," Kurt added, winking at Blaine as he filled their glasses.

Jack looked between them warily, "Boys don't like princess movies."

"Well then what does that say about us?" Kurt gave Blaine a bewildered look and tried to suppress a smile.

"Are we girls, Jack?" Blaine looked at the little boy with wide eyes.

"No. I guess not." Jack sat up and fell silent for a long moment, chewing at the inside of his cheek, "Maybe some boys do like princess movies."

"Maybe," Blaine agreed, "And maybe some girls like Pokémon and Power Ranger movies. That would be okay, wouldn't it? If boys liked girl things and girls liked boy things?"

"I guess so," Jack nodded his head, but then frowned, "But can we please watch something different? We always watch the Little Mermaid."

"Sure—wanna try Finding Nemo again since Rachel ruined it last time?" Blaine sealed the glue bottle and moved to Kurt's side to pull it from the pile of movies.

The children agreed and fell silent once the movie began—content to play and occasionally pause to stare open mouthed at the television screen.

Kurt was a little confused when, rather than sitting down beside him on the couch, Blaine settled himself back on the floor between the kids, but he didn't comment on it. When he was sure the time was up on the cookies, he crept quietly out to the kitchen so as not to destroy the momentary silence of the children. He set them out to cool and just as quietly returned to his spot in the family room.

Once Kurt had settled himself back on the couch, Blaine leaned back on one hand and held a yellow feather out to him with a wordless smile.

Kurt frowned, puzzled by the offering, but took it anyway. He tucked it behind his ear hoping for a laugh from Blaine.

To his delight, Blaine chuckled a little before turning his attention to a stack of pipe cleaners on the floor; he busied himself braiding together a pink and lime green one.

Kurt turned his attention back to the film—there was something soothing about the familiarity of a children's movie.

Blaine quietly slid backwards away from the kids and sat down on the couch beside Kurt; he was careful to keep his voice quiet, "Give me your hand."

Kurt raised a questioning eyebrow, but held out his left hand for Blaine.

Blaine slipped something onto his finger, "Consider it a rental until I can get you the real thing."

When Kurt studied it closer he realized Blaine had fashioned his braided pipe cleaners into a ring, he smiled and laughed quietly, "Lovely."

Blaine glanced at the children to ensure they were still engrossed with their movie before touching a soft kiss to Kurt's mouth.

"What was that for?" Kurt spoke quietly, careful to not alert the kids to their intimacy.

"Do you know what today is?" Blaine smiled, toying with the ring on Kurt's finger.

Kurt flipped through his mental calendar- it wasn't any holiday he could come up with, rent was not due, it was none of their friend's birthdays... he shook his head.

"Today is the anniversary of the first day I ever kissed you," Blaine blushed; smiled, "Do you remember?"

Kurt felt a rush of adoration; Blaine would remember something like that. Of course Kurt remembered it, too; he could still smell the sharp chemical tang of tacky glue from Pav's casket while they talked, the clean scent of Blaine's cologne when he kissed him; feel the cuff of Blaine's uniform jacket tickling his jaw when he reached up to touch his face. He pulled the feather from behind his ear and tickled Blaine's nose with it, "I might remember it a bit… I moved you if my memory serves me right."

Blaine caught hold of his hand and brushed a kiss across his knuckles, "You still do and you always will—even when we're old and gross and all we talk about is the weather and we can't match our clothes."

"I will never forget how to match my clothes," Kurt shot back, but he squeezed Blaine's hand in his, "But if you do, I'll lay out your outfits for you every day."

"Promise?" Blaine brushed his thumb over Kurt's.

Kurt leaned over and plucked a blue and red pipe cleaner from the floor. With quick fingers, he twisted them into a ring to match his own. He slid it onto Blaine's finger with a smile, "I promise."