Apples to Apples

"How about 'Apples to Apples?'" The boy suggested. He looked around at his friends' excited faces as they all agreed eagerly.

"Yeah!" One girl with pigtails exclaimed. "My daddy plays this game with me all the time."

The group of third-graders gathered around the table with their legs dangling above the floor from their seats. They all leaned over the table top as Blaine set up the cards, separating the green ones from the red ones.

Blaine peered down over his vibrant, yellow and blue striped bow-tie. His naturally curly dark hair was locked in a gel prison, desperate to be free. Before the young boy could get very far in setting up the game, he noticed an unfamiliar face standing by the entrance to the elementary school's dimly lit cafeteria.

Now, there were several things that were odd about this situation to Blaine. One, he didn't even recognize this boy. Which, made absolutely no sense because Blaine knew everyone at After-School Care (ASC, for short). Two, the boy appeared to be Blaine's age, but he seemed nervous as he looked around the large room, unsure of what to make of the boisterous kids and teachers that were way too busy with the kindergarteners.

And three, Blaine had never seen any boy like this one before. Not his sparkling blue eyes that could be seen even from where Blaine was across the room. Not the light brown hair, that looked really soft. And he meant, seriously. Soft. It looked as soft of Blaine's mommy's hair. Even though Beautiful Mystery Boy wasn't smiling - he was too nervous to be smiling - Blaine felt happier just with him in the room.

"I'll be right back, everyone!" Blaine declared as he got up and rushed over to Beautiful Mystery Boy. His friends groaned in protest, but he ignored them when he approached the brown-haired, blue-eyed wonder.

Okay, Blaine. Remember what Mommy says: talk slowly.

"Hi!" Blaine said (well, screamed) cheerfully. "Are you new to ASC? Do you wanna sit with me and my friends? We're playing a game! It's really fun and I can teach you and wait- are you new because I've never seen you and usually I see people. Did you know your eyes are the most sparkly blue which is weird- but wait! Good, weird. Like, they're really pretty."

So much for that.

"Um. I don't… I should-" This new boy who Blaine was attempting to befriend looked so overwhelmed he was close to tears. Blaine opted for a more comforting approach:

"I'm Blaine. What's your name?"

"Kurt," Blaine's new friend - Kurt - responded. He was still timid, but there was now a hint of friendliness in his eyes reassuring Blaine that he hadn't scared his new friend too much.

"So," Blaine rocked back and forth on his heels, "Do you wanna play 'Apples to Apples?'"

Kurt's eyes brightened tremendously. He meant to reject the offer, because while Blaine seemed and sounded and looked very friendly, there was a big group of people he was gesturing to. Kurt never did very well with big groups of kids. The little boys wouldn't let him play with them for being "too girly" and he was afraid that if he only spent time with girls, he would get more made fun of. But 'Apples to Apples' was Kurt's all-time favorite game, and he could hardly take his eyes away from Blaine's blinding smile and puppy-dog eyes as he pleaded with Kurt for him to join the game.

"O-Okay. I'll play," is what Kurt found himself saying. He wasn't really aware that his words were so exciting until he saw Blaine's eyes practically erupt into flames with how bright they were and felt himself being dragged by the hand back to the red cafeteria table with about four other kids sitting there.

"Hey, everyone," Blaine announced their presence to his friends. "This is Kurt! He's gonna play 'Apples to Apples' with us! Right, Kurt?"

"Um… yeah. If that's okay?" The question was directed at the other kids at the table, as if he were afraid they would reject him on the spot. Blaine's heart gave a funny jolt at the sight of his new friend appearing so worried, so he gave his hand - still interlocked with his own - a gentle squeeze. Blaine was about to reassure him that of course, it's okay- we want you to play with us, but someone beat him to the punch.

"Yeah sure! This game is funner with more people, anyway. I'm Quinn! Wanna sit next to me?" The girl with her hair tied into pigtails, Quinn, was the one to answer Kurt's question. She smiled brightly over at him, and the small gap between her two front teeth only made her seem impossibly more friendly.

"Quinn. It's 'more fun.' You can't say funner," exclaimed the other girl with long brown hair. "I'm Rachel," she added to Kurt.

Blaine let out a small giggle at the girls' bantering, and Kurt paused in his movement to sit down. He could have sworn that the sound of Blaine's laugh was that of an angel jingling bells in his ear. Kurt decided to sit down next to Quinn, and Blaine took place on the other side of him.

"Kurt, this is Finn and Puck," Blaine said, gesturing to the two boys sitting next to Rachel on the other side of the table.

Both boys greeted Kurt with a hello before continuing their argument that had something to do with grilled cheese.

"It's good."

"No, it really isn't."

It was Kurt's turn to laugh, and Blaine directed his attention to him as they started the game.

"So, you're new here, right?" Blaine asked once again.

"Yeah. Well, kinda. I'm only new to ASC because my daddy has to work early in the morning and Mommy isn't here anymore," he replied with a dismal look on his face.

"Oh. Where did she go?" Blaine asked, confused. He didn't really understand what Kurt meant, but he knew that he really did not like how sad Kurt was now. He wanted to hear him laugh again.

"Daddy says she went to Heaven. And I keep asking him when she'll come back, and if we can go get her," tears shined in Kurt's eyes. "But he says that she has to stay there forever."

Blaine latched onto Kurt's hand again. His new best friend was about to start crying and it was his very first day at ASC, and he did not want him to start crying. "I'm sorry you can't see your mommy. But, my grandpa is in Heaven too, and my momma says that he is very happy there. And that it's really nice and sunny all the time and there's a lot of flowers."

"Really?" Kurt asked, with a new glimmer of hope in his eyes.

"Really."

They shared a pair of elated smiles before accepting their red 'Apples to Apples' cards.

"Hey, look! The green card is 'Forever & Ever'!" Blaine pointed out excitedly, "I have the perfect card for this!"

He plunked a blank red card down, one that you had to fill in the noun for.

"It says, 'Kurt and Blaine' on the card," Blaine declared with confidence. "Kurt and Blaine are forever and ever."

20 years later

"Daddy, Daddy!" called out Elizabeth, the eldest of two.

"Yes, sweetie?" Blaine came into the living room of their small three-bedroom house located just outside of the city. The fire roared in the fireplace in front of the coffee table, where a board game was set up.

"Tracy and I want to play 'Apples to Apples!'" She told him. Her younger sister who just turned five was sitting at the coffee table with a mountain of knitted blankets surrounding her.

Blaine knelt down at the table with his daughters. "I would love to play 'Apples to Apples,'" he said. "You know, this is my favorite game."

"Really?" Asked Tracy, surprised. "Mine is 'Monopoly' but it's ve'wy long. Why is this one your favor'wit?"

"Well," Kurt began, walking into the room just as Tracy asked the question. He joined Blaine at the table before continuing, "This is the very first game that your daddy and I played when we first met." He laced his hand with Blaine's. "It's the first game that anyone ever asked me to play with them."

Blaine turned his loving gaze onto his husband as he recalled the fond memory. "Yeah," he said softly before placing a gentle kiss on Kurt's cheek.

"The very first game?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yup," Kurt responded. "The very first. And if you asked, he'd totally deny it, but your daddy was the hugest dork at the time. He rushed over to me in the cafeteria with a little bow-tie around his neck and started speaking very quickly." Kurt smirked at Blaine teasingly.

"But, you couldn't really blame me!" Blaine chimed into their nostalgic memories, one of the most important of them all. "Eight-year-old me was crazy in love, and he didn't even know it yet."

"Ew," Elizabeth said, covering her eyes as her dads shared another kiss. Kurt and Blaine laughed at her silliness, but saw the playful smile on her face as they broke apart.

"Hey!" Tracy exclaimed as she laid out the cards. "The green card is 'Forever & Ever'! I have the perfect card for this!"

And so she plunked down a blank red card on the table, declaring that it said: "Daddy and Daddy and Beth and Tracy."