Rachel and Finn's kids are named Tony and Ellie. Tony is eight, and named after Tony from West Side Story. Ellie is six, and her name is sort of a reference to Elphaba. Rachel wanted Elphie, but Finn vetoed it. Ellie was the compromise.

Rachel, Finn, and Kurt are all twenty-eight at the point in which this fic occurs. Blaine is twenty-three, making it an obvious AU.

Babysitting Rachel Berry's kids wasn't a bad gig overall.

Sure, their mother was kind of overbearing, and the kids were just like her, but really, they were all nice, and Blaine adored kids. It didn't hurt that Rachel did her best to hint to directors about her amazingly talented friend who totally deserves an audition for this part.

He still remembered the day Rachel first asked him to babysit. He'd known that an up and coming Broadway star lived on the next floor with her Marine husband, but he'd never given much thought to that. (Well, not too much. Blaine is kind of a sucker for Broadway, so it's only natural that he'd try to think of ways to meet her.) And then one day, she just appeared on his front step, babbling on and on to the point that Blaine wasn't sure what he was supposed to pay attention to.

"-and, you see, Finn was just recently deployed, and before he'd watch the kids while I was at my shows, but now I have to find a babysitter, and I did; I mean, I booked her and everything, but she just suddenly cancelled, and who does that? I have very important business that cannot be put on hold. In any case, I need to find a new babysitter, and considering the riffraff in this building, I have decided that you are the most eligible choice. I hear show tunes coming from your apartment all the time. You're perfect."

Rachel punctuated this spiel with a bright, show-stopping smile. Blaine wasn't sure whether to laugh or what.

"Um," he began, "are you asking me to watch your kids?"

Rachel nodded. "I know that it's such late notice, but I have a show tonight, 8-11 based on most runs. I promise that your pay will reflect these circumstances."

Blaine hesitated. He was a student at NYADA, and honestly, he needed the money. Still . . . . "You should know I'm gay," Blaine said. At Rachel's blank look, he continued, "Not all parents want their children around gay people, and though I don't believe they're correct, I have no right to tell them what to do."

"Oh, no," Rachel laughed. "I know you're gay. I have excellent gaydar. And two gay dads. And-" She stopped dead, eyes turning cold for a brief moment, before she pretended she'd never said that last and.

"So you still want me to watch your kids?" he asked.

Rachel nodded serenely.

So that was how Blaine got the job three years prior. After that, Rachel came to him regularly for babysitting duties. And, sure, it meant that he couldn't see any of her shows himself, but it gave him an in, and the kids were sweet. (Though Tony was only eight, and he already almost as tall as Blaine. Rachel said he got it from her husband. The few times he'd met Finn, Blaine had to agree.)

None of this prepared him for the day he opened the door to the most beautiful man he'd ever seen.

Still, Blaine knew that beauty didn't indicate sanity, so he aligned himself in the door frame so that any evidence of the kids being there wouldn't be visible. He knew there were toys slew across the cream carpet, but if he could just hide them, the dark red walls would give more the appearance of a non-child-inhabited apartment.

"May I help you?" he asked politely.

The man's pretty blue-green? gray?-eyes were looking past him into the apartment. Blaine tried to make himself a little bigger. "I'm looking for Finn Hudson," he said finally. "I was given this address, but I suppose he moved."

Blaine shook his head. He pinned on a smile. "Oh, no, this is Finn's place. But Finn's deployed right now, and Rachel is at a show. She'll be home in maybe an hour."

"I see," the pretty man said coolly. "I'll come back later then. An hour, you said?"

"Oh, no, you don't need to do that! You can come in and wait!" Blaine didn't know what had come over him to make a offer like that. Sure, he'd already put the kids to bed, but he really shouldn't have been inviting strangers into the apartment. Especially strangers who didn't give their names.

"I'm Kurt Hummel," the man said as he took a seat in of the wooden stools by the marble island in the kitchen. He sat on the edge of the chair primly, as if he was entirely uncomfortable being in the room. Blaine didn't know why. It was a little messy, but that came with having kids. Then again, considering this man's style of dress, it wasn't any wonder he didn't care much for mess.

"Blaine Anderson. Do you want something to drink while you wait? Coffee? Tea? Milk? Please say milk because I'm not sure how to work the coffee pot here," he said lightly. Kurt's face gave no indication that he found Blaine charming, or even amusing.

Instead, his eyes narrowed slightly. "I'm fine," he said, voice soft and angelic and wow, Blaine hoped he was in his age range.

"You sure?" he checked.

Kurt regarded him coolly. "Very sure."

Blaine sat in silence for a long moment before he attempted to strike up a conversation. "So what do you do for a living?" he asked.

"I'm a theatre costume designer." Kurt's voice was short and clipped. Obviously, he intended to say no more on the subject.

Obviously, Blaine pressed on. "Like for Broadway?"

"No," Kurt said firmly, "I have never worked for Broadway."

An awkwardness settled over the room. Blaine wondered how exactly he knew Rachel then until he remembered that Kurt had been looking for Finn. He then wondered how Kurt knew Finn, but he didn't have the nerve to ask.

A thump came from down the hall. One of the kids must have woken up. Blaine rose and went to check. He entered Tony's room. He was still asleep, sprawled out across his bed and snoring loudly. Blaine smiled fondly. He crossed the hall into Ellie's room. The little girl had fallen onto the floor, but it hadn't even fazed her. He scooped her up and placed her back in bed, pulling the covers up over her little body.

"Unca' Blai'?" she called sleepily. Blaine shushed her, and with a quick kiss to the forehead, he returned to the kitchen where Kurt was sitting.

He pulled out his chair again and smiled, but Kurt didn't react. Blaine tried a few more times to chat with him, but then he gave up out of fear that he was coming off as desperate. Kurt himself was disinclined to bring something up, so they sat in silence.

A few minutes before eight, keys jingled in the door. Both men's heads whipped towards where Rachel was walking, bright post-performance smile on her face. Before anyone could react, Kurt was out of his seat and storming towards her.

"What is wrong with you?" he demanded. His voice was louder than Blaine had imagined it could be and filled with so much venom that he kind of wanted to retreat into another room. This, however, didn't seem to faze Rachel. Her face, initially filled with shock, quickly turned to indignation.

"What's wrong with me?" she screeched. "What's wrong with you? You think you can just-"

"How dare you do that to him!"

"Do what to whom?" she cried, looked both perplexed and annoyed. Kurt stepped forward, straightening his shoulders. Though he wasn't so tall or broad as Finn-Kurt seemed more like an elf than a giant-his size was still an intimidator. But Rachel just rose on her heels.

At that moment, Tony and Ellie came tumbling down the hall, awoken by the noise. Blaine grabbed them by the shoulders and pulled them towards him to keep them from rushing to their mother.

Kurt seemed slightly surprised at the existence of the children, but it only seemed to fuel his fury. "I can't believe you. You'd do that? With them around? God, I would have thought you would have gotten over that in high school! Finn deserves better than this. Than you!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" Rachel threw her hands in the air dramatically. "And like you have a right to tell me anything!"

"I'm his brother!" Kurt exclaimed.

"As if you act like it!"

Ellie looked up at Blaine with sweet, innocent brown eyes. "Uncle Blaine, if he's Daddy's brother, does that make him our uncle too?" she asked softly.

A disgusted look crossed Kurt's face. "You even have them calling him uncle?"

Suddenly, the thought that Kurt's discomfort from Blaine's presence seemed explicable by only one thing: He was homophobic, and he totally knew that Blaine was flirting with him. A horrible feeling dug into Blaine's gut and his hands unconsciously tightened around the kids' shoulders.

"Ow," winced Tony.

Rachel examined Kurt for a moment. "Oh my god. Kurt, he's the babysitter! And he's gay!"

Kurt froze, mouth open. After a moment, he shut it, looking a bit flummoxed. "Oh," he said gently. Roses bloomed onto his cheeks, and Blaine really had to stop thinking pretty metaphors about this guy. He really wasn't sure how to take him.

Rachel sighed. "Do you really think I'd do that to Finn? I love him. More than anything. We've worked it out."

"I can see," Kurt replied.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Rachel moved further inside, setting her purse down on a chair in the living room. She shrugged off her sweater (at which Kurt made a faint expression of distaste) and turned to the children. "Alright, come give Mommy a kiss and go back to bed, okay?"

Ellie and Tony both did as she said. Ellie paused and stuck her head around the corner.

"Are we going to see Daddy's brother more now?"

Kurt looked at Rachel for an answer. She gave no hint as to her thoughts. He smiled awkwardly, as if he didn't quite know how to treat the children. "If your mother says it's okay," he reverted to a default answer. Rachel's frustration at being thrust into the position to answer was evident.

"We'll see," she said softly.

Once they were sure the kids were tucked back in bed, nice and safe, Rachel made a pot of herbal tea to soothe her throat and insisted both Blaine and Kurt have a cup.

"You're an actor," she told Blaine. "You need to care for your voice. Once you start drinking this, you won't stop."

"I'm not into this stuff anymore, Rachel," Kurt said, but she shushed him and made him drink it anyway.

When the cups had been set on the island, Rachel took a seat on the other side from Kurt and Blaine.

"Blaine, this is Kurt Hummel, Finn's stepbrother," she introduced. "Kurt, this is Blaine Anderson, our babysitter for the past three years. He's like family."

Kurt frowned a little at this. "Finn and I dropped the step. We're close enough to be brothers."

"I don't think so," said Rachel sharply.

"How have I never heard of you?" Blaine asked Kurt, though the question was really directed more at Rachel.

Rachel's eyes flickered over to Kurt. He pressed his lips together tightly. Taking a long sip of tea, he said, "Finn and I had a fight a few years back. We haven't talked to each other since."

"Oh." Blaine's thoughts flew to his own brother, who he had distanced himself from for years. Now that they'd finally made up, Blaine had to admit he appreciated the sort of support he got from his brothers, at times. He gave Kurt a sympathetic look. "So that's why you were looking for Finn."

Rachel seemed a little more interested now.

"I was hoping to reconcile. I had no idea he wouldn't be here. I didn't even know he'd gone into the military," Kurt admitted.

"So that's why you were surprised to see me," Blaine said.

Kurt's ears turned red. "I . . . ," he said slowly, "I may have thought you were Rachel's lover."

Blaine snorted. Tea went up his nose. He winced and held his hand to his face, trying to prevent it from splattering onto the table. Rachel laughed and handed him a napkin.

"I'm 100% gay," he said.

"Need to test that out, Rae?" Kurt teased.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "That was one time!"

"Twice."

"It was the same guy."

"Two kisses."

"Same guy, so it doesn't count!"

"You'd think that a girl raised by two gay dads would have better gaydar-"

Blaine had to smile at the easy banter between the two. Rachel then seemed to remember he was there.

"Oh, Blaine," she said, rising from her seat. "You have class in the morning, don't you? I didn't mean to keep you late."

"Oh, it's fine," he tried to assure her. "My class isn't until ni-"

She ignored him and looked at Kurt. "I'd love to continue this, but I've kept my babysitter long enough."

"He doesn't have to be here for us to talk," said Kurt. Blaine tried not to feel slighted. He (and Finn and Rachel) may have felt like he was a part of the family, but as Kurt hadn't been for however long, he didn't have quite the same acceptance yet.

In perfect time to smooth Blaine's ego, Rachel said, "Yes, he does." She turned to Blaine. "Would you join us for lunch tomorrow? Charlemante, that cute little cafe downtown, noon."

"Why don't we go to that place in Bushwick?" Kurt suggested.

Rachel gave him a harsh look. "Bushwick is so unsafe."

"We were fine back then."

"We were kids. And don't tell me you're forgotten about-"

"Charlemante it is. Will you give me directions?" he asked.

"Can you go, Blaine?" Rachel turned to him.

Blaine hesitated. "Um, I'm not sure I . . . . The rent was due, and . . . ."

"I'll take care of it," she promised.

Kurt let out a sigh of frustration. "Are you really going to put this off until tomorrow?"

"My kids are here," Rachel defended. "I'm not having this conversation while they're sleeping down the hall."

"We don't have to yell," Kurt said. He crossed his arms and tilted his head. it gave him a kind of haughty appearance that incensed Blaine, and he wasn't even the one arguing with him.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "We both know that we're going to get into it."

They continue to bicker back and forth for a while. It was kind of an amusing picture, a tiny woman in heels on her toes to give herself a little height towards a beautiful man with delicate features and a model-like physique, both gesticulating wildly to make their points. It also helped that they both had rather nice voices to listen to, even when they were yelling. However, it finally got to the point that the voices were unbearably shrill and Blaine could put up with it no longer.

Blaine piped up, "Um."

"Oh! Here!" Rachel returned to the living room and grabbed her purse. She rummaged through it and pulled out her wallet. After handing Blaine his pay, she walked him to the door. "Thank you for this."

And then she shut the door in his face.