The excited butterflies in his stomach had disappeared almost as quickly as they had arrived. Blaine now felt like his heart was in his stomach. Had he read the signs completely wrong? He had thought that Kurt was into him, but judging by the horrified look on Kurt's face and the imposing boyfriend, he had been mistaken.

Blaine dropped his waving hand quickly and tried to compose himself as he watched Kurt practically running away from him. He turned his attention to Monroe. It was time to get him home for dinner anyway.

As soon as they entered the apartment, Blaine could sense something was wrong. He quickly located Cooper sitting in his room with a picture of his late wife in one hand and a bottle of Jack in the other.

Blaine couldn't handle this right now.

"Coop, go get in the shower and sober up. We'll talk about this later." Blaine directed his older brother, trying to be sympathetic, but tired after his long day.

Cooper looked surprised to see Blaine in his bedroom, but eventually did as he was told. He stood and stumbled into his bathroom, not bothering to shut the door behind him.

"Where's Daddy?" Monroe asked when Blaine returned to living room. The little boy was sitting at the coffee table coloring with crayons in his favorite coloring book.

Blaine sighed, "He's getting cleaned up. Want to help me with dinner?"

Blaine and Monroe moved into the kitchen, deciding that tonight was a good night for tacos. Blaine set Monroe up to shred the lettuce and grate some cheese before starting to brown the ground turkey and chop up a few tomatoes and onions.

Blaine tried to listen to Monroe's chattering, but he couldn't get his mind off of what happened in the park.

Kurt was clearly into men, just apparently not Blaine. The man that Blaine saw Kurt with was quite a bit bigger than himself and had a more masculine look about him.

Maybe he just wasn't Kurt's type, yet Blaine was so certain that Kurt had been flirting with him.

"And then the knight slayed the dinosaur with his lightsaber and saved the princess so that they could go play in the sandbox together."

"Wow buddy, that was such a great story." Blaine replied absent mindedly.

"That wasn't a story. You asked what I did today at the park," Monroe replied in an exasperated tone that was adorable coming out of the five year olds mouth.

Blaine smiled fondly at his nephew.

At first, he hadn't known if giving up his job and moving to New York to help raise him was a good idea, but he knew now that it was the best decision he could have made. Blaine didn't want to imagine not having Monroe in his life.

"Of course. Can you set the table? Everything is almost ready."

Just as Blaine had set the final bowl of taco toppings on the table, Cooper appeared in their tiny dining room, looking a little damp but relatively put together.

"Hey kid!" he said ruffling Monroe's already messy curls, earning himself a glare from the youngest Anderson. "How was the park?"

Monroe immediately began flattening his unruly hair.

"Fun, but Uncle Blaine got upset because his friend wouldn't play with him."

Blaine coughed, choking on the water that he had been attempting to swallow.

How had Monroe known that? Was the little boy really that perceptive or was Blaine just that obvious? He guessed it was a combination of the two.

"Oh really? What friend would that be Blaine? I have never heard you talk about anyone. Is it someone from work?" Cooper inquired.

Blaine noticed Cooper looking at him with a hopeful gleam, latching onto this new information. He knew Copper felt guilty that he had pretty much given up his old life to run to his big brother's side and he wanted to make sure Blaine was happy.

Cooper was right. Blaine hadn't talk about anyone significant since he had moved to the city. Blaine was having a hard time meeting new people and making good friends.

Sure, there were the people he worked with, but most of them were younger kids working their way through college. Blaine was past that stage in his life.  Outside of work, the only person Blaine spent a lot of time with was Monroe, and oddly enough, the five year old was not a good wing man for the type of suitor Blaine was looking for.

The two spent most days exploring the city or playing in the park while Cooper was at work.

"I don't know what Monroe here thinks he saw, but it was no one, just one of my regulars from work. He was walking in the park and I waved at him." Blaine hoped he sounded convincing. He knew that his brother had a talent for seeing right through him.

"Mhmm, if you say so."

Crap. Apparently he hadn't been too convincing.

"Enough about me, Monroe slayed a dinosaur today." Blaine said quickly.

His attempt to shift the attention off of himself went swimmingly as Monroe started chatting animatedly, recounting his harrowing tale of fierce beasts and damsels in distress.

Later that night, after dinner was cleaned up and Monroe was bathed and in bed with a story from his father and a kiss from his uncle, Blaine and Cooper finally got a chance to sit in the living room and talk.

"So, want to tell me what happened today? You were doing so much better." Blaine asked gently.

"I was reading a monologue written by one of my student's today about a little boy who had lost his mother when he was young and the pain it had caused him and how it taught him to be strong. I couldn't help but see the parallels between the boy in the monologue and Monroe,” answered Cooper.

The look of pain on Cooper's face brought back memories of many nights spent in hospital waiting rooms with Monroe dozing on one side of him and Cooper on the other, alternating between staring blankly at the wall and pacing the small room.

Blaine remembered the constants texts updating him on his sister-in-law's fight with breast cancer and the tearful late-night phone calls looking for reassurance and support.

It had been his first year teaching at his old high school, Dalton Academy in Westerville, Ohio. Blaine knew he was very lucky to be given the chance to teach European History at this prestigious school right out of college. It was not an easy decision, but Blaine never regretted giving up his position to help out his brother.

Cooper Anderson had been put through the ringer and suffered the loss of the love of his life way too early in life. And then to top it off, he had his young son who needed him. Blaine did what he could to help Cooper, whether it was watching Monroe, running errands, or just listening.

"Rachel, she's the one who wrote the monologue, said it was based off her roommate. Her performance was amazing, totally believable. She is actually one of my best students, but she has this really weird obsession with gold stars. But enough wallowing, what about you? Who is this 'friend' Monroe saw?" Cooper asked, pointedly.

Blaine had been right when he assumed he hadn't fooled his brother at dinner.

Rubbing his face with both hands Blaine started, "He's no one, just some guy who I thought I had a connection with, but he obviously does not feel the same way."

"Did he come out a say that?"

"Well no, but when he saw me in the park this afternoon he could not get away from me fast enough. Not to mention he was with his linebacker boyfriend."

"It's his loss then. I will have you know, that my baby brother is quite the catch."

Cooper went to ruffle Blaine's hair, but Blaine moved faster; he had a lot of experience dodging his brother's attacks.

"Alright, alright I'm off to bed. Early morning with my Master's class."

Blaine stayed up to bake the muffins for the next morning. As he worked, he kept playing over every interaction he had ever had with Kurt in his head. Kurt had always seemed interested, eager even, for Blaine's attention.

How had their signals gotten crossed?  Blaine was pretty sure his feelings were clear. He always made extra time for Kurt when he came in and saved his favorite muffin for him just in case Kurt was hungry before work.

He was pretty sure that Kurt had caught him gawking two days earlier during the spilt coffee ordeal. Maybe that was what was wrong? Did Kurt feel uncomfortable around him? Think he would try something or was some creepy stalker? Blaine hoped not.

He finished cleaning up after himself and boxed up the fresh muffins, ready for the next morning's rush.

As Blaine started to get ready for bed, he decided there was nothing he could do about Kurt right now and it was best not to let it get to him. The next time he saw Kurt, he would just have to make sure he knew that Blaine was a perfect gentleman and would never do anything untoward.

Blaine could handle just being friends with Kurt, right? Sure, Kurt had been on his mind ever since the two met at the Coffee Bean and Kurt had been so kind. And yes, Blaine had spent the last two nights having dreams filled with Kurt's broad, toned chest and slim waist, waking harder than he ever had even as a teenager, but Blaine could handle this.

He could.

Sure Blaine, just keep telling yourself that.

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

It had been a long day, running around the city with Monroe. The little boy had an obsession with art museums that was endearing until you have been to the Museum of Modern Art three times in one week. Blaine was having a hard time focusing anyway. He was getting antsy about seeing Kurt later at work. What if he didn't come in? What if he never came in again? What if Blaine never saw Kurt again?

Whoa slow down buddy. Breathe in, breathe out. It's going to be okay.

That afternoon, getting ready for work, Blaine spent a little extra time taming his hair and making sure he looked as good as he could in his hideous work uniform.

Kurt always came in around five so Blaine had at least two hours of work before Kurt might arrive. Those two hours were spent spilling coffee and messing up at the register. He could not focus. Just when Blaine was about to have a nervous breakdown, it happened.

Kurt walked through the door, with his head down and a straight face.

Oh no, this can't be good. "Hey Kurt, the usual?"

"Yep, but no muffin," Kurt replied, shortly.

Blaine noticed Kurt was avoiding his eye contact. He knew he shouldn't take it personally that Kurt didn't want a muffin. After all, it was just a muffin, but Blaine felt like Kurt was rejecting him.

"So I think I saw you in the park yesterday. I waved but I guess you didn't see me." Blaine tried to get a conversation started.

"I saw you."

Kurt had an impassive look on his face, almost asking Blaine to challenge him.

Blaine didn't know what to say. Kurt clearly did not want to have a conversation. "Oh, okay, well here's your coffee."

"Yep."

Kurt paid and left, not giving Blaine a second glance. He felt like he had been kicked in the gut. What had he done? Clearly he has offended Kurt.

"Hello handsome, why the long face?"

Blaine blinked, looking at the next customer. He was also a regular, not bad looking, and blatant about his attraction to Blaine. Blaine had never really given him much thought because he spent so much time thinking about Kurt.

"It's nothing. The usual?"

"Sounds good and one of those delicious looking muffins. Oh and mind adding your number?" the man asked with a smile that was apparently supposed to be alluring.

Well what could it hurt? Blaine thought.

He knew that he needed to start getting out and meeting people and maybe this would help him get over the stupid, little crush he had developed on Kurt.

"I think that can be arranged."

With a small smile, Blaine took the man's cash, noticing that the man added a little caress when their hands came in contact. Handing over the coffee, Blaine jotted his number on the side of the cup along with his name.

"Thanks. I hope your day gets better. I'm Simon by the way."