It was nearly ten in the morning when Kurt’s phone went off signaling a new incoming text.

Kurt fumbled to reach his phone because Sammy was in his arms, still asleep from the drive to Carole’s place. Fortunately, his stepmother saw him struggling and took the little boy from him. He thanked her with a soft smile and took his phone out. His smile grew wider when he read the text from Blaine.

From Blaine – 9h54

You can definitely stop worrying now. Tina said everything was fine :)

�

The musician had come by earlier to get his mother’s car and Kurt had made him promise to see Tina about his lump which had turned yellowish overnight.

“Someone special?” Carole asked him, as she tried not so subtly to read over his shoulder. Her tone was a little teasing but her eyes grew wide when Kurt blushed and remain silent. “It is someone special.” She tried not to talk too loud because Sammy was still fast asleep, his face now buried in the soft skin of her neck.

Kurt took Simon and Sammy’s backpacks and pretended to be very interested by their contents.

Carole sighed, but knew not to push or she wouldn’t get anything out of Kurt about the sender of the text.

When Kurt followed his stepmother up the stairs to her house, Noah walked out to greet his best friend with a hug. Kurt melted in the embrace; surprised and pleased that Puck was here. The other man had not told him he would stop by Carole’s this morning.

“It’s good to see you, Buddy,” Noah said, as they stepped back from each other. Kurt smiled and nodded in answer.

Clara arrived right behind them and asked them to move out from the path so that she and Simon could get inside. Noah and Kurt followed the two of them and headed to the kitchen where Sammy and Carole were. Kurt noticed that his younger son was awake now. He blamed the heavenly scent of Carole’s famous pancakes. ��

Kurt brought all the bags in the living room as Clara and Simon joined their brother in their famous “pancake battle.” He could faintly hear Carole trying to tell them that there was enough for all three of them and that there was no need to fight each other with plastic forks.

Kurt laughed to himself at his children’s antics. As he turned to join them, he noticed that Noah had followed him and closed the door behind them.

“You seem happy,” his best friend said gently.

“I think I am,” Kurt answered sincerely.

“Oh?” Puck raised an eyebrow in question. “I suppose that whatever happened kept you distracted enough you forgot to text me you weren’t coming Saturday night.” He didn’t sound hurt, just a little curious.

“I’m sorry about that.” Kurt had totally forgotten.

“Don’t worry about it,” Puck said with a smile. “Now, start spilling about what you were doing that kept you too occupied to even think about your dear old friend.” Puck walked over to Kurt and they both sat on the couch facing each other.

Kurt was playing nervously with his fingers.

“I…” he started hesitantly then raised his head and met Puck’s intense gaze, “I ran into Blaine while getting groceries yesterday afternoon. Well, technically, it was Paolo who did – and then the sneaky bastard left me with Blaine in the shop.”

“I would go and beat up Paolo for this if it weren’t for the smile you’ve been wearing since you arrived this morning.”

Kurt laughed and his eyes went a little out of focus as he thought back to that previous day.

Puck cleared his throat and made a gesture with his hands indicating to Kurt to go on with his story.

“Well, basically, Blaine agreed to give me a lift after Paolo abandoned me with all the groceries and no car. Then there was a little accident involving Blaine and the bathroom sink and so Blaine stayed until he felt better.” Puck was about to interrupt but Kurt just gave him a look and his friend kept his mouth shut. “I invited Blaine to stay for dinner and he was a bit reluctant at first but he accepted.” Kurt paused and his smile grew even wider than before. “He got along with Clara and Simon. Sammy was still reticent but it did not scare Blaine away. After dinner, we talked… well, we kissed and then we talked.” �A light blush spread on Kurt’s cheeks as he remembered the kiss, Blaine’s warm breath ghosting over his lips, the soft skin underneath his shirt…

“Kurt, I’m still here.” Puck tried not to laugh at how red his friend’s face had gotten.

Kurt shook his head to try to clear his thoughts a little.

“So, what you’re saying is that Blaine is now willing to try being with you?” Noah asked, clasping Kurt’s hand in his own.

“He said that he could not promise me anything and that he needed time,” Kurt said, avoiding his best friend’s gaze. He already knew what the other would say because Kurt had been thinking it, too.

“As much as I hope that this guy has wised up and is willing to give it a try, you still have to be careful, Kurt.” Puck rubbed his fingers gently on the back of Kurt’s hands. “I can already see how far you’ve let him in and you know how dangerous that can be.”

“I know,” Kurt simply said, not wanting to argue with Noah, because his friend was right. “But is it so wrong to hope that things could turn for the best?” He met the other man’s gaze expectantly.

“Of course not, Bud, and I do want you to pursue this. I just want to remind you that this same man hurt you not two days ago. So please, promise me you’ll be careful.”

“I will, I promise.” Kurt allowed himself to be drawn into the warmth of Puck’s arms for a minute.

The moment was broken when Kurt’s phone started to ring. When he saw Blaine’s name on the tiny screen, he couldn’t help the light flutter in his chest.

“I’m wounded Kurt, I thought you were worried and here I am texting you everything’s fine and you don’t even reply,” Blaine pretended to sound hurt but his playful tone and the little laughter that burst out at the end of his sentence betrayed him.

Noah watched his best friend trying to contain a giggle as the person on the other end of the line talked to Kurt. Usually, only Puck’s jokes got that reaction from his friend.

“I’m sorry, I only arrived at Carole’s a few minutes ago and I didn’t have time to reply,” Kurt said once he managed to reign in his laughter. “I’m glad that you’re okay because that lump did not look pretty this morning.”

“It didn’t prevent you from wanting to kiss me, though,” Blaine teased.

Puck saw his friend blush and he regretted that the conversation was not on speaker. He was about to ask Kurt to do just that when his friend made a shooing motion with his arms. The message was clear and Puck reluctantly left the living room. He hoped that the children had at least left him some pancakes.

***

Kurt closed the door behind Noah and sat back down on the couch.

“So, was there a particular reason you called or did you just want to chastise me for not texting you back?” Kurt asked.

“Well, now that you mention it, there is this thing that I do every month and usually I go with Tina, Mike, Sebastian, Nick and Jeff…” Blaine trailed off.

�“Okay,” Kurt said, just waiting to see where this was going.

“Sebastian wants to work more on the show so he’s not coming; neither are Nick and Jeff because Jeff has something at work the whole day and he will be exhausted tonight. And I’m telling you all this because we have already booked for the group and since we’re just four going, I was wondering if maybe you would like to join us. For bowling.” Blaine waited for a reaction and when none came he continued, “I know this is a bit last minute and that you may already have plans for the evening but if you don’t then just know that the invitation extends to you, Clara, Simon and Sammy. Although I’m not sure Sammy will be allowed to play, but my mom may join us there and she can look after him.”

“Erm…” Kurt was smiling and wanted to say yes but he had to mentally check his schedule for tonight. On Sundays, he sometimes had galas or showings to attend to. But if his memory did not fail him, tonight was completely free. He should make sure with Brittany but calling her place on a Sunday morning was not a good idea: either she would still be asleep or Santana would be there and the latter hated being disturbed for work related matters on Sundays.

“Kurt?” Blaine did not know what to say in response to Kurt’s silence. He thought it would please Kurt that Blaine had thought of doing something with the children. He tried not to feel hurt at the thought of Kurt saying no. After all, the other man could already have plans and it did not mean that he would not want to go bowling.

“I would love that,” Kurt finally said, softly. “And I think that the children will really enjoy it too.”

“Great!” Blaine’s smile could be heard through his tone. “I’ll pick you up at six, is that alright with you?”

“Yes, it should be fine; I’ll call you if there’s any problem with the time.”

“Okay.”

“Yeah.” Kurt felt they were like two teenagers at the beginning of their first relationship, both not wanting to hang up first. Kurt hated those scenes in teen movies but now he could almost feel sympathy for the characters of such movies.

“Look,” Blaine broke Kurt’s train of thought, “I would love to talk more but I actually have a piece to work on for the show and I really want to have it improved before tonight. I’ll see you then, okay?”

“Sure. And thank you, for the invitation. Good luck with the music.”

“Thanks! I’ll let you listen to it if you want some time.”

“I’d love that.” Kurt understood that music was a big part of who Blaine was and the thought of the musician wanting to share that with him made him feel really special.

“Bye Kurt, see you tonight.”

“Bye.” Kurt waited a few seconds before hanging up.

He leaned back on the couch and closed his eyes for a minute, his smile remaining on his lips. A little knocking sound on the glass of the door to the living room startled him. He opened his eyes and was met with Puck grinning widely behind the glass. Kurt could not help the giggle that escaped him.

Puck opened the door and walked straight to the couch.

“So, I take it that this was the good kind of call, right?” He bumped Kurt’s shoulder teasingly.

“Blaine’s invited us to go bowling with his friends,” Kurt simply replied, still smiling.

“Oh, I thought he asked you on a date,” Puck said, a little confused, “I mean with the huge smile on your face and the butterflies that I can almost see flying in your stomach, I thought it would definitely be a date.” Puck laughed at the look on his friend’s face then thought back to what Kurt had said. “Wait, you said us? Who else did he invite?”

“It’s not a date,” Kurt said, but secretly hoped that they could have some moments alone, “he invited the children to join as well.” Kurt knew that Puck understood why this made Kurt happy. Especially after how Blaine had first reacted to Kurt having children.

“The dude’s getting higher in my approval if he’s not avoiding the kids anymore. Maybe, he’s not a complete idiot.”

Kurt just smiled, allowing himself to let hope grow in his heart.

“This does not mean that I trust this guy yet, Buddy,” Puck said after a few seconds of silence. “If he hurts you, I’ll beat him to a pulp.”

“Noah…”

“But, I’m willing to give him a chance,” Puck added, raising his hand in a mocking gesture of surrender, “for now. He did this after all.” Puck gestured to Kurt’s face, pointing to Kurt’s smile. “I hadn’t seen you smile like this in a long time, Kurt,” he added softly.

Kurt laughed lightly.

“And you say I’m the sappy one!”

Puck’s only response to that was to tackle Kurt and start tickling him until he admitted that Kurt was the worst sap out of the two of them.

�

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**********************

Tina waited for Blaine to hang up the phone before squealing in delight. Then she came to him and hugged him tightly.

“This is going to be so great!” Tina said as she let go of him. “I’m really proud of you, Blaine.” And she meant it because this was a huge thing for her friend.

Blaine sat at the table and put the phone near him. He was waiting for doubts to creep into his mind but there were none. He felt genuinely happy that Kurt had said yes. Blaine was even excited at the thought of going bowling with Kurt’s children. There was no fear; he may be a little nervous, but nothing alarming. He looked across the table where Tina sat.

“I can do this.” He surprised himself, saying that to her, but what was even more astonishing was he truly believed what he said.

After his talk with Nick the previous night, Blaine had thought a lot about Kurt and if he was worth Blaine’s efforts. The answer was yes. And Blaine was now willing to give it a try.

He was also grateful that he would not be alone with Kurt and the children. He was not sure if he was quite ready for that yet but he hoped that he would be soon.

“I can’t wait to meet him,” Tina said, breaking him out of his train of thoughts. “I’m really looking forward to tonight.”

“So am I,” Blaine said with a grin. And he really was.

�

“And you know, Tina and me can look after the children if ever you and Kurt want some time alone.” Mike teased Blaine as he entered the kitchen.

“Shut up, Mike.” Blaine glared at his friend who was making a suggestive gesture with his hands.

Tina laughed at the both of them.

“I have to go.” Blaine got up from his chair and put his light jacket on. “If I don’t work on the music, Sebastian will be really pissed and I want to avoid another argument with him.”

Blaine had called his best friend after he brought back his mother’s car. He had explained to Sebastian that he had gotten sidetracked on Saturday and had not had the time to improve his piece. Of course, Sebastian knew that Blaine had stayed at Kurt’s. It was clear that his best friend did not approve of Blaine’s relationship with Kurt. “I thought you ended it!” he’d said and Blaine had hung up because he was not really happy with Sebastian at the moment either. He could understand that his friend was stressed because of all the pressure for their show but that was no excuse for yelling at Blaine. The musician hoped that Sebastian’s opinion on Kurt would change because Blaine wanted to try a real relationship with the other man.

************************

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�

It took some convincing for Clara to agree to go bowling. Paolo was on a late night shoot so she could not stay with him and Kurt would have felt bad leaving her alone at the apartment while the rest of them were having fun. Kurt was thankful both Finn and Puck told her that they sucked at bowling so she couldn’t be worse than them. Her reluctance had come from a fear of making a fool of herself. She was not a very self-confident teenager; her family situation had not helped either, but since she started living with Kurt, she had managed to get rid of the worst of her insecurities.

“Blaine also told me he is not very good so you shouldn’t worry, Clara. And don’t forget that we’re going for fun, it’s not a competition, okay?”

“Fine, I’ll go,” she sighed in defeat but was smiling. Puck had told her a story of himself as a kid, throwing the ball and falling along with it. Finn had then explained to Clara how he had once managed to bowl the ball in the wrong direction resulting in the fall of a poor unsuspecting waitress.

Clara still felt a little nervous but she also realized that Blaine inviting them all seemed to mean a lot to Kurt and she didn’t want to spoil that for him.

Simon was more than excited to go. He aced at bowling in the Wii game. Kurt had tried to tell him that this would be a little different but the young boy was convinced that he was a bowling champion in the making.

Sammy did not know what bowling was but he seemed excited all the same. Kurt knew that it was mostly because of Simon’s enthusiasm though. It was very contagious.

After lunch, Finn, Puck and Simon went to play soccer in the garden behind Carole’s house. Kurt put Sammy to bed for a nap and then returned to help Carole and Clara with the dishes. When his stepmother started to ask questions about Blaine, Clara pretended that she had something to check on the computer and left Kurt with Carole. The traitor, Kurt thought as he watched his daughter leave the kitchen.

“So, are you going to tell me more about who Blaine is?” She walked to the door and positioned herself before it; effectively blocking any way out for Kurt.

The young man tried to ignore her at first, focusing on a plate that he had been drying for the past couple of minutes.

“Kurt?” Carole came closer and took the plate from his hands. “We both know that you can’t resist my grilling methods so better avoid all the trouble, don’t you think?” Her tone was playful and Kurt could not help the little smile that tugged at his lips.

“Fine. What do you want to know then?” he sighed in defeat.

“Everything,” Carole said eagerly as she gestured for Kurt to sit at the table. She then prepared some tea for the both of them and joined her stepson, waiting for him to start spilling the goods.

Kurt told her about how he met Blaine and their first night together. He did not mention anything about the sex, it would be awkward to talk about it with her, but he knew that she was not fooled. He was grateful that she chose not to comment on it though. Then he told her about the date and Blaine’s fear of children. At that, Carole had wanted to say something but refrained. Kurt glossed over Blaine leaving and then meeting him again while doing the groceries. His stepmother winced in sympathy when Kurt described to her how Blaine had hit his head on the sink. She then made a cooing sound at the thought of Kurt nursing Blaine.

“I wouldn’t call it ‘nursing,’” Kurt protested with a slight blush to his cheeks. He concluded his account with what Blaine had told him the previous night. �

Carole seemed happy for him and told Kurt that if things grew serious between him and Blaine, then she expected to meet the young man. Kurt promised her that she would if things with Blaine went well. She then hugged him tight and whispered in his ear.

“I think your father would have loved seeing this smile on your face again.”

In response, he had clung to her a bit tighter, allowing himself to shed a tear.

****************************

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The afternoon went by fast. Kurt met Claire, Finn’s new girlfriend, and her young Labrador, Tara. The children immediately fell for the adorable puppy and even Kurt had to admit that he had fallen under her charm as well. When it was time to leave, Sammy, who had grown very attached to Tara, had thrown a tantrum and cried until they reached the city center.

Kurt had calmed him, promising they would be able to see Tara again some other time. He silently prayed that Finn would not screw things up with the young woman or Kurt might have to buy a puppy for his son. He truly hoped that it would not come to this.

�

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*****************************

Blaine felt really satisfied about his work on the piece of music. He had finally found the little detail that had been bothering him the other day. He suspected that having started to work things out with Kurt might have helped. Now the music had a real flow. He felt proud of it and could not wait to have someone listen to it. He knew that Sebastian would want to be the first to do so but Blaine hoped that he could play it for Kurt first.

The musician could not shake the feeling that most of the piece had been inspired by the other man. Blaine truly loved music and needed it in his life. But he had rarely felt such a powerful tug to it. He believed that the piece held the feelings he could not express. The ones he was not yet aware of and the ones he was afraid to share with Kurt. Maybe, by playing the piece to Kurt, he could truly show him everything.

Blaine couldn’t go any further in his thoughts because his phone started to ring. He walked to the table where he left it earlier.

He took a bit too long to get there, though, and the call went to voicemail. He looked at caller ID and saw that it was his mother. An incoming text informed him a minute later that he had new message.

“Blaine, sweety, it’s mom. I just wanted to confirm that I’m coming tonight. Tina told me that you were bringing your friend Kurt. She’s also mentioned that you were considering starting a serious relationship with this man. So, can I call him your boyfriend already? Anyway, I’m not missing out on this so you can count me in. See you later!”

Blaine groaned. He was going to kill Tina.�