Road Trip

They had been in the car for two and a half hours, and Kurt was not happy about it.
    He had been fine the first hour, as both their boys slept peacefully in the back seat of the navigator. Kurt and Blaine sang quietly to each other, holding hands and giggling at the memories of their first road trip together. Then Aiden started to fuss, and Alex was hungry. And even then, after they had taken care of Alex’s hunger by stopping at a convenient store for a snack, and Aiden’s fussing soothed by Kurt sitting in the back seat for 20 minutes holding a bottle and giving his son all of his attention, Kurt was fine. Until Aiden was not just crying, he was screaming and Alex was screeching like a banshee about some dinosaur statue he saw as they passed a gas station.
“No, we’re not turning around to see the dinosaur!” Blaine told Alex from the front seat for the fourth time since they’d passed the stupid giant dinosaur.
“Yes!” Alex cried, wiping tears from his eyes. Kurt sighed heavily, unbuckling Aiden from his car seat and rocking him in his arms. He was still crying his little eyes out, not accepting a pacifier or bottle, and he had a dry diaper.
“Do you want to see the animals at the zoo or not?” Blaine asked, trying to stay calm. Kurt knew he wasn’t calm. He was ready to burst, and Kurt knew it was coming.
“Are dinosaurs at the zoo?” Alex cried, kicking his little legs against the seat. Kurt stayed silent, only speaking to Aiden softly, trying to stop his crying.
“Kurt! I can’t handle this anymore!” Blaine finally burst, crying out angrily at his husband in the back seat. Kurt was near tears himself, with all the noise in the car.
“Then why don’t you tell our son there will be dinosaurs at the zoo! Maybe he’ll stop bawling his eyes out!” Kurt shouted over both boys crying and the radio. “Turn that radio off, Blaine Michael!” he snapped.
“Excuse me for trying to listen to something other than screaming!” Blaine shouted back, frightening Aiden who had since quieted to small whimpers. At the sound of his papa’s shout, he starting crying again. Blaine resisted the urge to bury his face in his hands and settled for running his right hand through his short curls. He turned the radio off.
“Now look what you’ve done!” Kurt huffed, trying to sooth his youngest yet again.
“Daddy!” Alex cried, covering his ears with his hands. “Make Aiden be quiet!”
“Shush, Alex.” Kurt said softly then turned to Blaine, putting on his bitch face. “Blaine, please.”
“I can’t right now, Kurt. I’m trying to drive.” he groaned, teeth obviously clenched as he tried not to snap back at Kurt.
“I told you this was a bad idea, Blaine! Now Aidens fussy and Alex is hyper, why’d you let him have that soda?”
“He wanted a drink! You know I don’t like to spoil our kids, but sometimes a little treat is nice. He was being a very good boy the whole trip down.”
“And now he’s crying!”
“Well what do you want me to do about it?”
“Well for starters, you could try soothing your son, so I can get mine to sleep!” Blaine was hurt. Kurt had never ever defined either of their sons as dominantly his or Kurt’s. They were both their children, and both he and Kurt had the adoption papers to prove so.
“Oh-ho-ho you did not just say that to me, Kurt Elizabeth!” Blaine cried, as he turned sharply into the parking lot of the zoo and parked in the first spot he saw, which happened to be a little bit of a walk to the front gates. He slammed the door shut and stomped over to the side door where his husband was emerging.
“What?” Kurt spat, setting Aiden, who had somehow found sleep in the chaos, back into his seat so he could climb out of the navigator.
“Alex is not just my son, he’s ours. Aiden is not your son, he’s mine too! I don’t fu-freaking care whose is biologically whose. They’re legally ours!” Blaine tried to hide the tear that slid down his cheek as he lifted Aiden who had awoken and was squirming in his Papa’s arms.
“Kurt, hold him!” Flustered, Blaine thrust their youngest son into his husband’s arms. Kurt grabbed hastily at him to prevent him from falling and huffed at Blaine. In the process, the eleven month old spit out his pacifier out onto the sidewalk. He started to fuss again when he realized what he’d done. Blaine picked it up, tossing it into the navigator, and dug through the diaper bag on Kurt’s shoulder to find a new one. When he found one, he held it out to his son, who was now happily patting Kurt’s face and giggling, settling it into his mouth.
“Here you go, buddy.” Blaine smiled sadly.
“Papa, let me out!” Alex yelled from inside the navigator. Kurt and Blaine had been standing next to the open door, and in the process of finding a new pacifier for Aiden, Blaine had forgotten to unbuckle him. Two year old Alex, hyperactive, and forgetting completely about the dinosaurs, wanted out of his car seat.
“Here, let me get my son out. Why don’t you take yours over there, since we aren’t a family.” Blaine glared at Kurt and turned to unbuckle Alex from his seat.
“You know damn well he’s our son. They’re both ours! Both of them!” Kurt grumbled quietly, so he didn’t attract attention. He wished he could have shouted it louder. He hoisted Aiden higher up on his hip as Blaine frowned. Once Alex was free, he jumped from the vehicle and ran toward the grass next to them. “Daddy said a bad word!” He squealed.
“Kurt…” Blaine said softly, taking a step toward his husband, who was nearly in tears. “I don’t want our kids growing up thinking their daddy or papa doesn’t love them like he loves the other.”
“I wasn’t implying that, Blaine.” Kurt kissed Aiden’s nearly bald little head. The very fine hair that existed there was light brown, like Kurt’s, and big blue eyes looked up at his papa from his daddy’s arms. “I didn’t…I was angry…it‘s just how it came out, I wasn’t…l wasn’t thinking.”
“I just…whose sperm created what child has nothing to do with who their parents are. These two beautiful boys are all ours, I don’t care about your adoption papers to Alex, he’s your son too. And Aiden’s papers mean nothing to me, he’s mine with or without them.” Blaine stepped closer, stroking Aiden’s head.
“I’m sorry, Blaine.” Kurt whispered, holding Aiden closer to his chest, trying not to cry. “I was just overwhelmed and I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“Kurt, I know. If I wasn’t yelling you wouldn’t have gotten so frustrated.” Blaine smiled softly and wrapped his arms around Kurt, trapping Aiden between them.
“Daddy! What’s ‘perm?” Alex wrapped both his arms around Kurt’s legs and looked up at him with eyes that reminded Kurt of Blaine’s. Kurt laughed loudly, smiling for the first time since their fight began. Kurt and Blaine rarely fought at all. And when they did, they were careful not to do it in front of their children. This was the first time they’d ever let their sons see anything.
“Um..sweetie, that’s.” Blaine giggled, and squeezed Kurt‘s waist reassuringly. Kurt patted Alex‘s curly hair and smiled. “it’s a secret that only grownups can know. Now go play in the grass and maybe Papa and I will get you something from the gift shop later if you’re good.”
“Okay!” Alex agreed, running back toward the grass and sitting down on the curb. “Look, papa! I found ants!”
Blaine laughed and looked at his husband, happy to have his little family. “Awesome, bud!” he called to his son, and turned back to Kurt. “I love you.” he whispered, kissing Kurt deeply.
“I love you too.” he smiled back, kissing Blaine’s nose after they broke apart. “Now lets take our family inside.”

“Okay so that’ll be $30. Two adults and two kids under three.” The woman at the counter said politely, holding her hand out to take the money from Kurt’s hand.
“Thank you.” Blaine smiled at the woman. “Come on, Alex.” Alex was staring intently on the pictures of the dinosaurs for the new Jurassic Park exhibit.
“Hey, Bud, maybe we can get Papa to agree to take you in there.” Kurt smiled, taking Alex’s hand.
“Aww, that’s so sweet. You treat your little brother just like he’s your own son.” the woman was smiling at Kurt, eyeing him and Alex.
“This is my son.” he deadpanned. He was used to people not wanting to accept that Kurt and Blaine were indeed a couple, with children.
“Oh so you two are…” she looked back and forth between them. Blaine sighed impatiently and wrapped his free hand around his husband’s waist.
“We’re married.” he grinned, walking the four of them away from the counter. Both men giggled quietly as they entered the zoo.