“That’s quite the elementary school, you’ve got there.” Kurt nodded with an impressed look on his face and Blaine laughed.

“I happen to value my daughter’s education, thank you very much.” Blaine said asKurt parked the car in front of the school and then Blaine hopped out, taking his umbrella and jogging over the school playground to the door, where a small figure was sheltering under a tiny roof.

“Daddy!” Ginny squeaked as she saw her dad coming towards her. “I thought you wouldn’t come anymore!” Blaine hugged her quickly and took her hand in his.

“Of course I’d be here, silly.” Blaine said. “I just – I had a little bit of trouble with the car, that’s all.” They started their short journey back to the car, walking together under Blaine’s umbrella.

“Did you get it fixed?” Ginny asked from beside him.

“Well, not really.” Blaine shrugged. “But I found a solution, anyway.” They got to Kurt’s car and Blaine opened one of the back doors and Ginny got in, slightly hesitant. The hesitation disappeared when she saw who was behind the steering wheel.

“Oh, hello mister Kurt!” She chirped happily as she fastened her seat belt and Blaine walked over to the passenger seat. “Is this your car? It’s very nice.”

“Yes it is! Thank you, Ginny.” Kurt looked at her through his rear view mirror. “How have you been? I heard Halloween was a success?”

“Yes it was!” Blaine got in again and closed the door behind him. “I got a lot of candy, didn’t I, daddy?”

“You sure did.” Blaine said. “Finished all of it within three days, too.”

“Three and a half.” Ginny corrected and Blaine shrugged.

“Same thing.” Ginny protested in the back and Kurt giggled softly as he started the car back up.

“I’m glad.” Kurt said, pulling out of the parking spot. “It seems appropriate, don’t you think? Lots of sweets for a sweet little girl.” Ginny beamed at Kurt’s words and Blaine frowned a little.

“Don’t encourage her.” He mumbled to Kurt, who shot him an amused look.

“So, mister Kurt.” Ginny was bouncing happily in the back seat. “I think that you’re a great costume maker person.” She nodded sincerely.

“Well, thank you, sweetie.” Kurt smiled. “I appreciate it.”

“So why are you picking me up from school with daddy? Are you his boyfriend now?”

“Ginny!” Blaine’s head snapped around so quickly that Kurt let out a worried squeak.

“I – um – no, he was just – The car broke down in front of my store, so I offered to – yeah.” Kurt muttered awkwardly, his face red. Blaine glared at Ginny, who just shrugged.

“I was just wondering.” She said in a cheerful voice. “You haven’t had a boyfriend since I was like six.”

“Just – He’s just being nice, Gin. It’s nothing.”

The silence that followed was tense. Ginny had turned her attention to whatever was outside the window and Kurt focused on the street. Blaine glanced over to look at him sometimes, trying to read his face. He wondered what Kurt was thinking right now. Did he think the same thing Blaine did? Because the fact was, as far as he was concerned, the whole boyfriend deal didn’t sound too bad. Some part of Blaine still told him that he couldn’t feel this way because they hadn’t spent that much time together – they hadn’t even gone on a date – but that part was overshadowed by the part of him that said that it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter because whenever he was with Kurt he felt like it fit and somehow he thought that he wouldn’t need anything else if he could just have him. Wasn’t that supposed to mean something? Would that be enough? Who knew? Blaine wasn’t if he wanted to risk it just yet, so he decided to leave it – for now, at least. He was slowly coming to terms with his feelings and if he was going to act on them, he wanted to do it right.

Kurt took Blaine and Ginny back to the store, where Blaine took out his phone, told Ginny to behave and went to the back room to try calling the AAA again. Luckily for him there was a unit available and they could even be at the store in 10 minutes. He thanked the lady on the phone excessively and hung up. That was done. He walked back into the main room to tell Kurt and his daughter the joyful news.

“The car people are going to be here in about 10 minutes, Gin. We’re not stranded here.” He said with a smile.

“You make it sound like this is some horrible dark hole.” Kurt commented.

“No. I didn’t mean – “ But Kurt silenced him with a smile.

“Kidding, Blaine.” He said softly and Blaine laughed awkwardly.

“Oh!” Ginny piped up. “You know what, mister Kurt? I don’t think my daddy and I have said thank you enough for helping us so much. And my daddy makes the very bestest spaghetti carbarara –“

“Carbonara, Gin.” Blaine interrupted. She glared at him.

“That’s what I said. Anyway, it’s the very bestest in the whole world. You should come over for dinner and try it!” Blaine’s mouth dropped. Did his daughter just ask Kurt out for dinner? He was seriously getting suspicious that she was doing it on purpose.

“Does he now?” Blaine smiled at Kurt’s playful words. “I think I’d have to take you up on that offer. If your daddy isn’t scared of me judging his famous spaghetti.”

“Of course he’s not!” Ginny said, crossing her arms. “You aren’t, are you daddy?”

“I’m not. Mister Kurt would know if he’d tasted it. It’s great.”

“Is that an invitation, Blaine?” Kurt raised an amused eyebrow.

“Depends. Are you free on Friday?”

“I am.”

“Then yes, it is.”

“Perfect.”That was easy. Blaine looked at Ginny quickly, who was grinning like she just knew. Luckily for him, he could escape, because the people who promised to fix his car were right outside.

---

On Friday Blaine was in the kitchen about two hours before Kurt was even supposed to show up, preparing dinner. The pasta itself wouldn’t take him very long, but he’d decided to make a salad and he just wanted everything to be perfect. Ginny was sitting at the kitchen table, coloring some princesses, occasionally asking Blaine on advice for the color of a dress. After a while he found himself singing quietly while chopping some tomatoes and when he stopped Ginny looked up.

“Why’d you stop singing?” She asked with a pout.

“I didn’t realize I was doing it.” Blaine shrugged.

“You sing a lot more since you met mister Kurt, you know.” She said softly.

“Oh.” Blaine stared at her.

“I like it. Continue.” Ginny waved her hand at him and Blaine laughed.He was surprised that she seemed to pick up on Blaine’s feelings far easier than he did and happy that apparently she didn’t mind the idea that Blaine had feelings for anyone at all. He just hoped that if he finally plucked up the courage to ask Kurt out – without the help of his daughter – she would still be fine with that and that she wouldn’t feel like Kurt would be some intruder. He remembered from some of the boyfriends he’d had in the past, even though they were scarce, that Ginny had always looked at them with suspicion and seemed relieved whenever he broke it off with them. He felt like this was different, however, and he hoped that she thought so, too.

When the doorbell rang Blaine was still running around in the kitchen, so Ginny hopped off her chair and opened the door.

“Good evening, Ginny.” Blaine heard Kurt from the hall as the door closed.

“Hello, mister Kurt!” She chirped happily. “Daddy’s still in the kitchen, making carbarara. Smells good, right?”

“Sure does.” Kurt said as Ginny lead him into the kitchen. “Hi, Blaine.”

“Hi.” Blaine smiled at him. “Sorry for the mess, but it’s not always like this, promise.”

“Yes, it is.” Ginny said.

“Shhh, secret, Gin.”

“Oh, oops.” Kurt laughed.

“It looks fine to me.” He shrugged. “Can I help with anything?”

“No, I’ve got everything covered, I’ll be done in like 10 minutes.” Blaine said with an enthusiastic wave of his ladle. “Why don’t you help mister Kurt with his coat, Gin?” Ginny saluted and took Kurt out of the room. Blaine put the finishing touches on dinner and he only realized that it took Ginny quite long to put Kurt’s coat away when he put the bowl full of pasta on the table and they still hadn’t come back.

“Ginny? Kurt?” He called out as he looked into the hallway suspiciously. “Dinner’s ready!” He heard a door open and Ginny and Kurt walked into the kitchen a few seconds later. “Where did you guys go?” He asked.

“I showed mister Kurt around.” Ginny said happily as she sat down at the table. “He really liked your study.”

“You showed him my study?” Blaine raised an eyebrow as he sat down together with Kurt. “I – okay?”

“I hope it’s alright.” Kurt said apologetically. “It’s lovely.”

“No, it’s fine. Don’t worry.” He smiled. Ginny held up her plate for Blaine to put the pasta in, but Blaine shook his head. “Guests first, Gin.” Kurt laughed as she pouted.

“She can go first, I bet she’s hungry.” Ginny nodded in agreement and Blaine gave in. After he’d served everyone, he smiled at Kurt. “Well, dig in. I hope it meets your expectations.” Kurt grinned, took some pasta on his for and then in his mouth. His eyes went wide and Blaine stared at him, not quite sure if this was good or bad.

“Oh my god, Blaine.” Kurt gasped. “This is amazing. I had no idea, oh my god.”

“Do I seem such a bad cook?” Blaine laughed, taking a bite himself.

“No!” Kurt said quickly. “No, not at all, but – wow. I’m officially impressed, Blaine Anderson.”

“Told you so!” Ginny said, her mouth full of spaghetti and Blaine glared at her. “Sorry.” And she swallowed.

The rest of the dinner was, in one word, lovely. They talked about general things, plans for Thanksgiving, Christmas. Ginny talked most out of the three of them, but for some reason it was all just comfortable and natural. Kurt laughed at her jokes and Blaine noticed that he threw him some glances every now and then that made his heart leap. After dinner Kurt even helped clean up, even though Blaine tried to keep him from it.

“Nonsense.” Kurt protested. “You made me this lovely dinner, it’s the least I can do.”

“It was a thank you dinner, Kurt.” Blaine threw back with a smile. “You’re the guest.” But Kurt wouldn’t have it and put some plates in the dishwasher.

“Gin, why don’t you go put on your pajamas and I’ll come read you something in a minute, okay?” Blaine said when everything was clean. Ginny didn’t want to go sleep yet, Blaine knew, but she was yawning already, so he knew that she had to, anyway.

“’Kay, daddy.” She mumbled as she wobbled off to her bedroom. Blaine looked at her with a smile. Then he looked over at Kurt, who was awkwardly standing next to the table.

“Sorry, night rituals.” Blaine shrugged. “Do you want anything? Tea, coffee, whatever you want.”

“I think I could go for something a little stronger.” Kurt said, raising a meaningful eyebrow and Blaine’s breath hitched.

“I – um.” Blaine cleared his throat. “Well, I don’t have a lot of stuff here, except for scotch in my study, but I hardly drink that. I just think it makes me look fancy.” Kurt giggled. Blaine couldn’t quite make out if he was flirting. Kurt seemed different tonight anyway. “But um – there’s a bar on the other side of the street that’s pretty nice, I guess.”

“Well, we don’t have to go anywhere, of course.” Kurt shrugged.

“No! No, it sounds nice. I’d love to.” Blaine stammered and Kurt smiled.

“You really don’t have to.” He said gently. “I mean, Ginny’s still here. I’d understand if you don’t want to leave her. I could just stay for tea.”

“No, if we go outside we can talk more if we want.” Blaine argued. Now that he had the option to actually go some place with Kurt, alone, he didn’t want to let go of it. “I’ll just read Ginny her story and we can go.”

“If you’re sure.”

Blaine always read Ginny a goodnight story. Even when Blaine went on tour and Ginny stayed behind with Cooper, she’d always call him and he’d make something up on the spot and tell her a story over the phone. After tonight’s story, Blaine tucked his daughter in and kissed her on the forehead.

“Hey, Gin.” He whispered. “Me and mister Kurt are going out to go have a drink for a little bit, okay? We’ll be just across the street and you know my number, so if something’s wrong you can just call me.” Ginny nodded quietly. “I love you, sweetie.”

“Love you too, daddy.” Blaine got up from the edge of the bed and walked to the door. “Daddy?” He stopped when he heard his daughter’s soft whisper.

“Yeah?” Blaine looked at the tiny figure in the bed and walked back when he saw her motion for him to come back over. When he sat back on the bed, Ginny looked at him with a serious look on her face.

“You really like him, don’t you, daddy?” She said softly. “I mean, like-like.” Blaine sighed.

“Yeah, Gin.” He nodded. “I do.”

“I think he likes you too.” She nodded solemnly. “And you know what else I think?”

“I have no idea.”

“I don’t think he’s scared of me.”