Chapter Thirty-One

The first thing that Blaine noticed, as the weather continued to cool and October ended, transforming itself into November, was that Kurt was exhausted. It was well past the usual 'tired' he exhibited on occasion during busier weeks. He supposed that it had something to do with the number of hours he'd spent perfecting Halloween costumes for Aiden, Ella, and Mikey, and his carting the former two around everywhere when Blaine suddenly caught some mysterious bug from school and had to take an entire week off, all of which was around the same time of his promised promotion at work.

For this, Blaine had promised that the four of them would celebrate, but Kurt shrugged it off.

"Maybe when things slow down a little," he had said with a smile.

Blaine had agreed. There was no point in arguing over something like this, after all, no matter how much he knew that Kurt deserved the night off. He assumed that Kurt was right, and that in a few weeks things would settle and they'd finally be able to make time for some personal affairs.

After all, Blaine was swamped as well, after getting roped into working on the middle school's musical production. The 8th grade teachers had decided on Beauty and the Beast, which Blaine worried might be a little bit beyond the skills of some of the 11- to 13-year-olds there, but he didn't even bother arguing. Instead, he started dedicating a few after-school hours to the production, playing piano and helping students learn their parts.

So, he told himself, it was natural when, that Friday, he saw the circled date on his desk calendar at school and paused slightly. He frowned at the month of November, the day of the 11th circled, and suddenly it hit him.

November 11.

He picked up his phone a little frantically, fumbling with the buttons and flipping through the screens. Well, Kurt hadn't said anything, no missed hints that had simply gone over his head. That was good, right? And he realized with three days to prepare, so really it wasn't a complete and utter catastrophe. He could still make some reservations for dinner, ask someone to watch the kids, see what movies would be playing, and buy some flowers. It wasn't as well-thought-out and planned as he wanted, but, hell—where had the last year gone, anyway?

"Mr. Anderson?"

He glanced up at the student at the door of his office and smiled softly at her, shoving away his phone and thoughts. He'd take care of it all later.

Three days later, Blaine was feeling rather proud of himself for planning such a romantic evening on such short notice. After school he'd dropped Aiden off with Burt, and Tina had taken Ella home with her and Mikey. He'd then run to the store and picked up a bouquet of flowers for Kurt, confirmed his reservations for dinner, and then adjusted his bow tie in the mirror before walking up the driveway and into the house.

However, when he at last walked up the front steps and into the house, he realized how eerily quiet it was. Usually there was at least some soft music playing, the quiet clicking of keys as Kurt typed away on his laptop.

Blaine set his bag down in the kitchen, then moved into the make-shift office they'd set up for Kurt in half of the dining room.

There he found the brunette man at his desk, his head resting in the crook of his elbow and his breathing soft and even. Blaine couldn't help but smile gently at him, sighing softly under his breath. He knew how worn-out Kurt must be, but still he fought against Blaine's protests of him working too hard and long. Blaine had lost track of the number of nights when he'd gone to bed and woken up to find Kurt still working away, without a wink of sleep.

Blaine worried that Kurt was starting to work himself to death, but Kurt just waved him off.

Blaine placed a gentle hand on Kurt's shoulder, and the man jerked awake. He sat up straight, pressing the heels of his palms into his eyes.

"You fell asleep on your desk again," Blaine murmured gently.

"Must have dozed off," Kurt muttered. "I'll be done this report shortly... just another hour or two..."

"Kurt—"

"I'm sorry, but this needs to be done by Wednesday, and—"

"But—"

"Soon," Kurt repeated in a soft, tired voice.

Blaine frowned for a moment, then was struck with an idea. "Is that saved?" he asked conversationally.

"Of course," Kurt responded off-handedly. "I save every two minutes. Why?"

But Blaine was crouched down on the floor, examining the wires. Suddenly, finding the right one, he yanked it out of the socket.

At this, Kurt shouted. "Blaine!" he yelled, rounding on the other man. "Why would you—" He broke off, finally taking in the man standing in front of him, the bouquet in his hands. Blaine extended his arms, presenting Kurt with the flowers. "What—what are these for?" he asked, his demeanor suddenly softer, and somewhat perplexed. "Oh—no..." He glanced over to his desk again, looking at the calendar displayed there, then back down to the flowers. "It's the 11th." He swallowed tightly, then looked back to Blaine. "I..."

"Would it make you feel better if I admit I only remembered about two or three days ago?" Blaine offered, and Kurt nodded vaguely.

"I'm sorry," he breathed out. "I don't know what's gotten into me lately. I—"

Blaine cut him off by leaning in and giving him a brief kiss. He moved to pull away, but Kurt quickly gripped his shoulder, forcing him to stay still. Kurt kissed him again, deeper this time, and when Blaine finally pulled away, standing up straight, both were smiling.

"I'd planned a dinner and all that," Blaine admitted. "But... maybe we could just stay in."

Kurt nodded. "I'd like that," he smiled. "I can cook. No—I'm cooking. It's the least I can do." He pressed another kiss to Blaine's lips. "No objections."

"Well, if I'm not allowed to argue..." He smirked. He offered Kurt his hand, the brunette took it, the couple walking into the kitchen. Blaine went straight for one of the cabinets, pulling a vase down from it and filling it with water. He pulled the plastic from the flowers and placed them in the vase, moving them to the kitchen table and smiling thoughtfully.

Ten minutes later, a delicious dinner was cooking, and Blaine pulled Kurt onto his lap. The slightly taller man smiled down at him, then pressed a kiss to his temple.

"I suppose it's a little late to ask about the kids?" he said, smiling wryly.

"Ella's over at Mike and Tina's, and your dad is spending some quality time with Aiden," Blaine told him, running his fingers over Kurt's back, tracing the line of his spine.

"I figured it would be something like that."

Blaine hummed in response, pressing his cheek against Kurt's shoulder. "Ella's been spending a lot of time with Mikey lately," he said, and Kurt could feel him frowning slightly.

"I hadn't noticed," Kurt responded, though he could feel the corners of his lips twitching as he tried to suppress a smile.

"Do you think she likes him?" he asked.

Kurt shrugged half-heartedly. "She could," he said. "Or they could be friends."

"I think she likes him."

"Well, is that really such a bad thing?"

"She's seven," Blaine sighed.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Please. I had my first crush was when I was four years old."

"Who was it?"

Kurt laughed. "No," he said. "No, no, no. We're not talking about that."

"Why not?" Blaine asked with a grin.

"Because I will never hear the end of it," Kurt said. "You'll laugh because it is terrible."

"I promise I won't," Blaine assured him.

"I just—it's not like it was based on appearances or anything, just the voice," Kurt quickly told him. "And mind you, I was only four years old. But I had this tape-cassette of the Lion King soundtrack..."

"Oh god, please don't tell me..."

"I think it was his rendition of 'Can You Feel the Love Tonight'," Kurt sighed. "At my young, impressionable age, that seemed to be the height of musical talent."

"Elton John?" Blaine asked with a grin. "It explains so much."

Kurt smacked Blaine's arm. "I was four," Kurt repeated. "And after I wore that tape out, my mom introduced me to 'Candle in the Wind' and 'Your Song', and with songs like that, can you really blame me?"

"Just... Elton John... wow."

"After that it was Billy Joel, until I was about six or seven," Kurt admitted. "And then Paul McCartney... I'm not sure that I ever quite got over him..."

"Really?" Blaine asked. "Not Ringo?"

"Oh no," Kurt responded. "Ringo Starr was cute, but Paul McCartney was just plain dreamy. And his voice..."

"So you only love your men for their voices," Blaine commented. "I see."

"Well, who was your first big crush, then?" Kurt asked. "Since apparently mine are so terrible to think of."

Blaine sighed. "When I was eight or so, my mom brought home Sweet Home Alabama and, well, I remember because Coop kept going on about how hot Reese Witherspoon was."

Kurt smiled thoughtfully. "She had it so terrible in that movie... having to choose between Josh Lucas and Patrick Dempsey..." He looked back down to Blaine. "So tell me, which were you rooting for, then?"

"Oh, I wanted her to get back with Jake," he assured Kurt. "But only because I thought that Patrick Dempsey was the most attractive man to ever exist. And, well, if Melanie didn't want to be with Andrew, that was fine by me because then I could."

Kurt pressed a kiss to Blaine's temple. "How precious," he said with a smile.

"Now you're making fun of me."

Kurt shrugged half-heartedly, sliding off Blaine's lap and going to the stove, stirring a few pots and flicking on the oven light so he could check on its contents. "It'll never be as bad as Finn," Kurt assured him. "Nobody can be."

"Who was his first crush, then?"

"Baby Bop."

"As in... the dinosaur?" Blaine asked slowly.

Kurt nodded. "Eventually he moved onto the pink Power Ranger, which is an improvement just because she's human, not even getting into the fact that she's a Power Ranger. God, that was a wonderful show... Tina and I used to always have serious discussions about whether Jason or Tommy was better looking. I was personally a fan of Jason. I always thought Tommy looked like a bit of a sleaze." He paused slightly, turning back to Blaine. "How on earth did we even get on this topic?"

Blaine laughed. "Ella liking Mikey."

"That's right," Kurt said, nodding. "Well, I wouldn't worry about it. She's young. Crushes at this age don't go past holding hands and sharing lunch. And be thankful that it's Mike and Tina's son, and not someone else. They've raised their kids wonderfully, so I completely trust Mikey." Kurt set a spoon back down on the counter, then crossed the room to lower himself into the chair across from Blaine.

"You still look exhausted," Blaine said concernedly. "You're going to make yourself sick."

"Probably," Kurt conceded. "I suppose I could bare to cut back a little. They'd probably let me."

"We'll get to bed early," Blaine told him, "so you can have at least eight full hours of sleep. Maybe more, to try and catch up on it."

"That really sounds wonderful," Kurt said as Blaine ran his thumb along his knuckles. "Just between work and planning Sam and Mercedes' wedding, and all the time I've been spending at my dad's the past couple months, just to make sure that he's taking care of himself when Carole isn't looking..."

"It's a lot," Blaine said. "But you can't let it get like this. When you're taking care of everyone else, don't forget to take care of yourself, too." Kurt nodded. "We'll have a nice, calm evening," Blaine assured him. "Nothing crazy, just... us."

Kurt smiled. "I like that idea," he said.