“We’re holding hands because that’s what married people do. See?” He held up his wedding ring, and Blaine did the same.

“Hey, they’re just like you and Daddy!” The boy’s mother smiled at him and nodded, absent-mindedly stroking his hair.

“Yep. Exactly like me and Daddy. And maybe some day they’ll be as lucky as us and have a little cutie-pie just like you!” She prodded at his sides until he squealed with laughter. Kurt and Blaine smiled at them, with just a hint of sadness in their eyes. “I’m sorry,” the woman interjected, sensing something was wrong, “should I not have said that?” Kurt’s mouth opened, but no words came out. Blaine took a deep breath and beamed at her, showing Kurt his confidence that everything was going to be fine.

“Don’t worry about it!” He rubbed his thumb across Kurt’s knuckles. “Hopefully we can be that lucky really soon.” Kurt squeezed his hand back and pressed a kiss into his shoulder before kneeling down in front of the little boy.

“So, where’s your dad now?” The boy’s smile faded and he looked down at his shoes.

“I don’t know. Mom told me, but I always forget.” His mother wrapped an arm around him and whispered into his ear. He wriggled, trying to shrug her off. “Mommy, they can see you whispering! Fine, it’s Af… Afanisham. That’s where Dad is. He’s coming back today, but not for very long. He’ll go away again, like he always does.” Kurt felt Blaine’s hand on his shoulder as he bent down to kneel beside him. After glancing at the mother to make sure it was OK, he took the boy’s hand. His little face seemed so pale against the darkness that was coming through the huge airport windows. Being surrounded by that much black made him seem even smaller and sadder, and made Kurt want to hug him even more. But he didn’t want to cross any lines.

“Listen. I bet wherever your daddy is, he’s always thinking about you. I bet he misses you all the time.” The boy looked up at him for a few seconds before looking back down, shaking his head.

“No, he’s not. He’s got important stuff to do out there. He doesn’t have time to think about me.” The woman put a hand to her chest. He looked guilty saying it, but it was probably something you just couldn’t tell your parents. Even at such a young age, this little boy was just trying to be strong for his mother.

“Sweetie, of course he misses you! He loves you so much; I’ve read you his letters, and he tells you how much he misses you every time we talk to him.” He didn’t look up. He was too embarrassed.

“He has to say that. It’s not the same.” The woman searched for the right words to say, but her eyes were full of tears. Kurt soothed him, while Blaine patted her hand gently, assuring her it wasn’t her fault.

“Hey. What’s your name?” The boy sniffed and wiped at his nose with his sleeve.

“Oliver.”

“Well, Oliver, turn around for a minute.” The boy craned his neck to look up at the sky.

“Why?”

“Because that’s where the moon is.” The boy giggled, rubbing at his eyes with the heel of his hand to stop his tears from obscuring his view. Now they were just silly blobs getting in his way.

“I know that. Everybody knows that. I’m not stupid.”

“I never said you were! I’m saying, wherever anyone is in the world, they can look up every night and see the same moon.”

“Really?”

“Really. So maybe your dad won’t be home for long, but when he goes back, you’ll be able to look at the sky and see the moon, and you’ll know that somewhere out there in… Afanisham, he’ll be looking at the moon too.” Blaine was smiling at Kurt with tears in his eyes. He automatically reached up to stroke his hair. Kurt smiled back at him.

“And Oliver?” The child looked over to Blaine. “I promise he’ll be thinking about you.” Oliver frowned.

“How do you know?” Blaine swallowed and took a deep breath.

“Because we have a little boy too, and right now he’s far away from us. And we think about him all the time, because we’re his dads, and we love him.” Kurt rested his hand on Blaine’s knee, squeezing gently and stroking it with his fingertips. Oliver blinked at them both. His mother kissed him on the head.

“You see, honey? No matter how far away he is, your dad always misses you, just like you miss him. You’re a part of him. Right… here!” She pointed to his heart and started tickling him so he squirmed in his chair and giggled.

“Even if he was in outer space?”

“Especially in outer space! In space, you can always see the moon!” She gushed, grinning at Kurt and Blaine and mouthing ‘Thank you’.

“DADDY!” Oliver shouted, scrambling out of his chair and running towards the man in uniform striding over to them. He dropped his bag and swept the boy into his arms and squeezed him until he screamed and writhed, pretending to try and escape but the man wouldn’t let him, and they both kept smiling and laughing.

“Hey, Oli! It’s good to see you, buddy!” They were joined by the mother, who was also pulled into a tight hug. Oliver pointed at the moon, and then down to Kurt and Blaine.

“Daddy, Daddy, look at the moon! That’s our moon! The man told me!” He tilted his head, looking at the couple his son was pointing at, and grinned, turning back to Oliver.

“And it’s the most beautiful moon I’ve ever seen!” He proceeded to smother the boy in kisses. When he protested and pulled away, the man put him down and picked up his wife instead, kissing her dramatically and romantically, and Oliver protested even more. He climbed onto his father’s arm, shouting ‘gross!’ and the three of them laughed and held each other, content that even if just for now, their family was complete.

The woman looked over to Kurt and Blaine, clinging to each other with tears rolling down their cheeks. Blaine had his arms wrapped around Kurt’s waist and his chin hooked over his shoulder. Kurt was folding his own arms over Blaine’s, and leaning his head back slightly to nuzzle against him. She smiled, and they smiled back. She nodded at something behind them, just as they heard a cough. Blaine knew that cough. It was just as tense as ever. They spun around, not even breaking contact, their eyes still glistening.

They saw a man in his late fifties. At a first glance, he was a clich� of a businessman. Expensive-looking dark grey suit, long, light brown, wool overcoat, navy silk tie. But on closer inspection he was obviously exhausted. Anyone would be bedraggled having been stuck in airports and on a plane all day. He had a 5 o’clock shadow, his hair was unkept and his clothes were rumpled. His fingers gripped tightly around the handles of his briefcase and luggage.

“Hello, Blaine. Kurt. It’s, um… Nice to see you.” He put his suitcase down and stuck out an awkward hand, and they exchanged awkward nods and awkward smiles and awkward ‘hello’s. They stood for a moment, a metre or so apart. Even Kurt and Blaine weren’t touching any more. They still couldn’t shake that feeling of discomfort around him, after all these years, after all they’d been through since. Blaine felt guilty for not being able to hold Kurt, and angry with himself for turning back into 18-year-old Blaine. He couldn’t bear that again, pretending to be someone he wasn’t, trying so hard to please everyone. Kurt placed a hand on his back and another on his arm, silently letting him know he understood and that he wasn’t angry with him. He knew Blaine would already be angry with himself; he didn’t need to add to it.

“I just remembered, I have to call my dad. Let him know what’s happening. Why don’t you go to that coffee place, and I’ll meet you there in ten? I’ll have my usual.” He kissed Blaine on the cheek. Mr Anderson looked at the floor, but it was obviously more because he felt out of place than because he was sickened by them. Kurt wandered off to find a quiet corner, leaving Blaine alone with his father for the first time in ten years.

“So, um… How long have you been here?”

“Oh, not long. Maybe ten minutes?”

“So you saw-” he nodded.

“Sweet kid.” Blaine nodded back. “Kurt was really good with him. You both were.” Blaine smiled and looked down, wringing his hands. He couldn’t help fidgeting.

“Thanks. He’s always been good with children.”

“So have you. I always thought you’d have… Oh, I mean, you know. I thought it would be a little easier than this.” Blaine swallowed. Not now. He couldn’t break down here. It was bad enough without Kurt, but with his father? No… But it was too late. His eyes were already stinging. “No, Blaine, it’ll be OK. We can fix this, whatever’s happening,” he put a hand on Blaine’s shoulder. “I’ll do what I can to help.” Blaine’s breathing became laboured, and as his father moved his hand over to his back to offer some kind of support, he grabbed him. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d hugged his dad and suddenly everything was spilling onto him. He couldn’t focus on anything; his mind was flitting from one thought to the next. Kurt was calling his dad like it was the most natural thing in the world, and he was speaking to his for the first time in forever, and that little boy was so brave about being so far from his father, and his own had flown all this way because even he knew how unfair this was, and why couldn’t he hold his son like that man had held his, like his dad was holding him now, and more and more keptwashing over him. He saw her face and the bump and he felt himself being dragged away again and Kurt holding him by the car and he couldn’t stop. His father held him up and he clawed at his back, gripping onto his shoulders the way he wanted to grip onto his own family before it slipped away from him. He heard soothing whispers in his ear of “Shhh, I know, I know. I’m here. Let’s get a drink. I think we both need a coffee.” Blaine nodded into his neck, grateful for once that he was so much bigger than him

“In a minute.”

He didn’t feel like 18-year-old Blaine. But he didn’t feel like 28-year-old Blaine, either. He felt like 5-year-old Oliver, whose big strong dad had come to make everything OK.

“Blaine, someday this’ll be you and him. I swear.”