When Blaine peeked in Adrian’s room, he was greeted with a rounded lump on the bed, clad in an oversized fireman’s t-shirt and Spongebob underpants. Adrian’s tears, however, weren’t cartoonish at all. Blaine approached, kneeling at his son’s bedside to rub his back.

“Buddy…”

Adrian unleashed a new wail and Blaine sighed, twirling his fingers in Adrian’s curls, fighting every urge to hush him, hearing Maggie’s stern chastisement of such an action. Children are allowed to cry when they’re sad and angry. Shushing them only tells them their feelings aren’t okay.

“Daddy’s here.”

“I knooooowwwwww…” Adrian flattened himself on the bed and turned to face his dad, his cries quieting to jerky hiccups of emotion.

Blaine lowered his chin to the mattress so they were eye to eye, his finger still swirling into the messy curls on his son’s head. “What’s up?”

“Your room…Daddy.” Adrian sniffed and wiped his nose with the back of his hand, his face drenched with tears. “…your room smells like Mommy.”

“It smells like Mo-…oh.” Blaine could have sworn the sound of his heart dropping would have rivaled a sonic boom. Crap. And? Fuck. “It probably does. Daddy didn’t even think…” He crawled up on the bed, resting his back against the wall as he lifted his son up and folded him into himself. “I am so sorry.”

Adrian’s sniffles start up again as he curled into his Dad’s bare chest. “Why-z’it smell like her? Are…are you sick now too?” And with that verbalized fear, the cries started again, clingy and desperate.

“Oh god…no. No, no, no…Ade.” Blaine extricated his son from his neck to look into his eyes, needing his full, absolute attention. “Adrian, look at me.”

Adrian sniffled and snorted and looked everywhere in his room but at his dad. Blaine took his face in his hands and kissed his forehead, waiting, waiting and finally, the eyes that looked just like his own met. “I am not sick. Do you hear me?”

Adrian nodded and shook for breath, a tear dropping from his face onto Blaine’s arm. “But, why…”

With a sigh, Blaine curled Adrian back up to his chest, pressing his cheek to his son’s messy curls. “Where was I last night?”

“At a big fire.”

“Yes. And I was there for a very long time, holding very very heavy hoses filled with water. Kurt and I took a nap last night and when I woke up, my shoulders were sore.”

“Like Mommy’s tummy?”

“No, honey. Not like Mommy’s tummy. Mommy’s pain was from being sick. Daddy’s pain is from overworked muscles, and? It goes away.”

“But you used Mommy’s special oil to help feel better?”

“Yes? Not…oh, Adrian…I am so sorry. I didn’t even think. I still had it and…we used it to help me feel better, yes.”

“And you’re not sick.” It was no longer a question.

“I am not sick.” They sat quietly for a few moments, rocking gently while Adrian drew circles on his dad’s legs, his breath still stuttering as he relaxed. “Ade, can we go in and talk to Kurt? We Were afraid you ran out because of him.”

“Oh! No! Oh. Oh my goodness. But. I don’t want to go back in there. I don’t want to smell the…” Adrian took a deep breath and looked up to his dad with a sad smile. “You smell like Mommy now too.”

“I’ll take a shower, we’ll wash the sheets and we can throw that oil away.”

“NO! Don’t throw it out.” Adrian hopped off his dad’s lap and wiped his eyes to dry the last of his tears. “Where’s Kurt?”

“In my room.”

“Why…Daddy? Why was he in your bed? With no shirt on?”

“We, uh…we had a sleepover.”

Adrian nodded and got off the bed and left his room, padding into the hall finding Kurt on Blaine’s stripped bed, reading his tablet, waiting patiently. “Kurt?”

“Hey…”

“Can…can you come to my room?”

“Sure. How’d your monster do last night?”

“She did good.” Adrian lifted his hands, tickling at Kurt’s chest, grinning when Kurt scooped him into his arms and onto his hip. “But, I didn’t see Mommy in my sleep – to tell her about your Mommy.”

“That’s okay. I bet she’ll visit again.”

“I hope so.” Adrian rested his head on Kurt’s shoulder and when they breached the door frame to Adrian’s room Blaine audibly gasped at the site before him. Kurt, the man he newly loved with a depth that belied the time of their affair, holding his son – the one person that could have kept them apart – as if it was the most natural, practiced, intuitive action he’s ever taken. “What?”

“You’re beautiful.”

Kurt blushed and set Adrian down, popping him on the bottom as he ran into the room to unearth his monster from underneath the covers. “Look Daddy! It’s Lizzie! Kurt made her for me.”

“C’mere.” Blaine patted the bed, inviting Kurt to join them. “We all sit on the bed together for stories. Adrian’s rules. And I have a feeling…” Blaine took Lizzie from Adrian’s hand and looked her over between stolen glances of pure awe with a blushing Kurt. “…there’s a story on the way.”

“Oh my goodness, yes. This. Is Lizzie. I named her Lizzie beca-…Kurt you’re not on the bed.”

Kurt hadn’t breathed properly since he heard the monster’s name, but he shook himself out of it and, moving Adrian’s pillow, took the spot at the head of the bed. He tucked his bare toes under Blaine’s legs and wiggled them to keep warm. “Okay, is this good?”

“Yes. Is it? Is it okay I named her Lizzie? Because, well. I thought since our moms are friends now and you and I are friends now…”

“I think Lizzie is the perfect name.”

“Lizzie is...?”

“My mom. Well, to my dad. He’s the only one who could call her that.”

“So, Daddy, Lizzie is a good monster, see? She has flowers in these hands that she gives to people so they won’t be scared. Kinda like you sent flowers to Kurt?”

“So I wouldn’t be scared?” Kurt lifted an eyebrow at Blaine and chuckled as he fumbled for an answer. “Of the Blaine monster?”

“Well, no…not so you wouldn’t be sca-…although, maybe? Just, so you’d kno-…” Blaine sighed and looked at his son who was giggling and not being even close to helpful. “Adrian, this is your story. Go.”

“Grownups are weird.”

“Ah, Ade. Just because you don’t understand something…”

“…doesn’t make it weird.” Adrian rolled his eyes and tried again. “Grownups confuse me.”

“Better. And they confuse me, too.”

Adrian flipped the spikes on Lizzie’s head and started his story again only to stop himself one more time. “Is Kurt your boyfriend now?”

“Yes. I think the flowers worked, don’t you?”

Adrian cupped his hand to his mouth to whisper in the best 5-year-old-too-loud whisper he could muster. “He has them in a vase in his office.”

Blaine grinned and side eyed Kurt, tickling at the tops of his feet. “Are you okay with that, Ade? That we’re boyfriends?”

“Can he be the sloppy joe maker from now on cuz, Dad…his are so much better than yours.”

Blaine tried really hard to be insulted, but…“After one night you show me up? One night!?”

“I can’t help but pull focus. I’m a natural.”

“Appalled…I’m absolutely appalled.”

“Will you come over for more sleepovers, Kurt? Because I’ve never had a sleepover and I think I’d like to play next time.”

“If your Dad invites me…”

“You’re invited.” Blaine slid his hand up Kurt’s calf and ghosted his fingers over the back of his knees, smirking when he felt goose bumps forming beneath his touch.

“I accept. Ade, tell Daddy what Lizzie’s other hands do.”

“OH! Yes, well they are the ones that can hurt people. Bad people. They’re very strong and they can pick up the bad people and just…just…THROW them!”

“Oh jeez, Ade. That doesn’t sound very nice. Where does she throw them?”

“Away. Just. Away. Because they’re bad. Maybe…into the ocean.”

“How does she know who’s bad and who’s good?”

“I don’t know…” He thought about it for a moment while Blaine continued to absentmindedly rub at Kurt’s feet and shins, swimming in his eyes, amazed how the landscape of his life has changed before him. “OH! I know – maybe Santa tells her!”

“Hey, that’s a thought – like a sidekick for when Santa’s too busy.”

“Yes! That’s it! She’s Santa’s sidekick.”

“Well, I like Lizzie. I can’t believe you made her in one afternoon.”

“Kurt sews FAST! Like lightning! What’s for breakfast?”

Blaine and Kurt laughed at Adrian’s gnat-like train of thought. “I thought we could make French toast. Will you help me?”

“Yes! I love French toast!”

“Go on down. Get the bread out and our special dipping bowl, okay?”

“French toast! French toast!” A kiss for Blaine and a kiss for Kurt and he was off. “French toast! French toast!”

Blaine crawled up the bed, over Kurt’s legs and kissed him, brushing their noses together as he talked. “Mornings are a little crazy around here.”

“It’s a good kind of crazy.”

With another kiss, Blaine pulled Kurt off the bed. “I see you found your track pants.”

“Yeah, hope you don’t mind me rummaging through your drawers. I stripped the bed, too…I can’t believe it didn’t occur to either of us…”

“I know. I feel like a complete ass. He wants to keep the oil, though.”

Kurt shrugged. “Mom’s scent was the thing I clung onto the most – it’s comforting. When you’re expecting it anyway.”

“Well. I’ll keep it in his stuff. Maybe for after bath time.”

“I bet he’d like that.” Kurt slid his hand up Blaine’s chest and leaned in to ghost his lips over his neck. “Maybe we can find something of our own.”

“Mmmm…I’d like that.” Yet one more kiss, Blaine brushing his thumb over the perfect slope of Kurt’s cheekbone. “I can’t believe you’re here.”

“I can’t believe I waited so long.”

***

“So, why aren’t you at work this morning, Chief Anderson?”

“Pick clothes from your drawers, Adrian, not your hamper!”

“I know Dad!” Adrian slammed his bedroom door and Blaine turned to Kurt, gracefully sitting at his kitchen table, his fingers delicately wrapped around a mug of coffee, the slightest hint of scruff coloring his neck and jaw line. He was perfect.

“Because I had an irresistible man in my bed and he deserved a slow morning.”

“You took PTO for me?”

“Yes.”

“Well, then that makes what I want to ask you easier.” Kurt got up to top their coffee off and dragged his finger through stray syrup left on his plate, offering it to Blaine, who took it willingly. “You are definitely the man for me…real maple syrup.”

“Aunt Jemima is a lovely lady and all, but…” He stammered when Kurt sucked a finger-ful of syrup into his own mouth, winking as he sat back down at the table. “Y-you needed to ask me something?”

“Yes. I don’t know if you have figured it out yet, but I have to go to New York this week.”

“I was afraid of that.”

“It’s my first review for this season. I leave Thursday morning; come home Sunday night.”

Blaine scrunched up his nose and sighed. “Our first weekend…”

“I know. I’m actually done Friday because of a canceled meeting Saturday morning and the flights are pre-arranged, so I was thinking – it’s going to be a logistical nightmare to even consider, but…I want you to come with me.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Really. I mean, I’m going to be in meetings all day Friday, but I have some ideas on what you can do…and we’ll have every night and all day Saturday, some of Sunday and I’d love for you to see my life there and…”

“…you’ve thought this through. Before we even talked last night.”

Kurt suitably blushed and fiddled with his mug. “Yes. I want to undo the mess I made my last trip and…” He looked up smiled at Blaine’s look of bemusement. “Stop it. I just want to be with you. As much as possible. I’m not ready to be apart for another stretch of time.”

“I’m not either.”

“So, you’ll come?”

“I have my PTO from Findley, so that’ll be easy, but Adrian? Might be more difficult.”

“And if you can’t, then we’ll plan better for next time.”

“I’ll call Maggie’s Mom. She was pretty put out she couldn’t help yesterday.”

“And decide what show you want to see.”

Blaine stared into his coffee and daydreamed. About shows and food and Central Park and…everything he’d seen on television over the years, but had never experienced for himself. Surely four days wasn’t enough to enjoy it all, but to go. With Kurt. To travel. With Kurt.

To be sitting here in his kitchen. With Kurt. Kurt, in track pants and bed head, when only 24 hours prior Blaine had pretty much convinced himself that the bad puns and flower deliveries and rainbow lollipops were only serving to remind him that he’d permanently blown it. With Kurt. He was firmly friend-zoned. With Kurt.

But he hadn’t blown it – Kurt was here. Drinking his too-strong coffee. Sneaking a bare toe into the hem of his lounge pants to tickle his ankle. Making monster dolls for his son and talking to him about dead mothers and weird nightmares like they were old friends from back in the day.

“You’ve disappeared.”

Blaine completely missed when Kurt stood and now he was draped over his shoulders, nuzzling into his neck, sending chills up and down his spine. He kissed Kurt’s temple and pulled him around to sit across his lap. “I did.” He traced patterns on Kurt’s arm, the week ahead of him coming into focus, much, much too soon. “Are you going to the Eastwood funeral tomorrow?”

“I’m not sure; we were invited. You?”

“I’m in the damned thing. I think they want to give me something for at least…trying?”

“Oh god, Blaine. Is it me or is that oddly morbid?”

“It's odd. I mean, I’m honored, but it’s just my job. I really don’t want attention drawn at the kid’s funeral.”

“Is the whole team going?”

“Yeah, minus a skeleton crew to cover.”

“Do you want me to come?

“I haven’t been to a funeral since Mag’s…”

“…can I sit with you or should you be with your crew?”

“Last I checked, I’m the chief. You’re sitting with me.”

“Oooh, look at you throwing your authority around…” Kurt kissed Blaine’s forehead and stood to collect the plates, flapping his hand as Blaine protested to leave them be. “…it’s sort of hot.”

Blaine watched him clean up, his movements full of ease and grace. He slipped behind him at the sink, wrapping his arms around his waist, pressing a trail of kisses across the back of his neck. “Will I see you tonight?”

Kurt turned off the water, leaving the dishes to rinse and spun in Blaine’s embrace, draping his arms over his shoulders. “Come over for dinner. I’ll grill. Have Ade bring a couple of movies.”

“Mmm…no alone time.”

“Figure out New York and I’ll make it up to you.”

***

“Dot are you here?”

“Back at the copier!”

Kurt turned the corner only to find Dot’s ass up in the air as she bent to fill the bottom of the machine with paper. “… thing always runs out of paper when I’m using it.”

“It must love the view.”

Dot stood with a groan and turned to look at Kurt, smirking at his mismatched attire. “Did someone have a good night?”

“What?” Kurt looked down and grimaced – green track pants, a very faded navy Findley Fire Department t-shirt and dress shoes. “I was, um…just out for some errands and thought I’d come in and remind you I’m in New York later this week.”

“Errands? You wouldn’t be caught dead taking out the garbage looking like that, Mr. Findley Fire Department.”

“Fine.” Kurt comically preened. “You are now looking at the poorly dressed, but very happy new First Lady of the Lima City Fire Department.”

“So you finally pulled your head out of your ass?”

“I did.”

“When? He was at that fire until…god, that was an awful one. Eight families.”

“Did we have to open a shelter?”

“No. Most went with family.” Kurt nodded and blushed as Dot looked him over. “I’m happy for you Kurt. Seriously. He’s an amazing man.”

“I just hope I can make him happy.”

“Oh honey, in light of your clown suit, I have a feeling you’re well on your way.”

***

“Deliv’ry! Mr. Hummel! You have a deliv’ry!”

Kurt sighed at the pounding at the door, not hearing the urgent calls from the other side. He draped his tea towel over his shoulder and yanked the door open where he was greeted with a long box lifted towards him by a midget. Or maybe it was an Adrian.

“Deliv’ry for Mr. Kurt Hummel.”

“For me?” Kurt lifted his gaze, spotting the flower delivery man and cocked his head in confusion.

“We got here when he did, Kurt. Take this – it’s heavy!”

“Oh! Yes. Thank you, Adrian…come on in. Where’s your dad?”

“Hiding around the side of the garage.”

“ADRIAN! Dude…you’re my wingman! Don’t blow my cover!” Blaine popped out from the side of the house and rolled his eyes, waving to the flower delivery man before planting a slow, messy kiss on Kurt’s mouth and dipping him slightly before sneaking into the house.

“Congratulations, Son. Looks like you made the right choice.”

“Thank you. I think I did too.” Kurt waved to the delivery man one more time before closing the door and grinning at these two ridiculous people standing in his foyer.

“Well, open them, Kurt!” Adrian huffed and plopped backwards onto the couch, kicking his sandals off like he owned the place.

“Make yourself at home, kid.” Kurt rested the box on the back of the chair and lifted the lid, gasping at the full, beautiful long-stemmed red roses inside. “Blaine…”

“They were supposed to get here this afternoon.”

“This is nice having you here, though.” He picked the card out of the foliage and shed its envelope.

All of me…for all of you. Blaine

Kurt moved so quickly, he barely got the box balanced onto the seat of the chair before taking Blaine’s face in his hands and kissing him hard and wet and loud, stopping only for breath to rest his head on his forehead. “I love you. So much.”

“Are you two gonna do this kissing stuff all the time now?”