I just really love writing daddy!Klaine, you guys.
Kurt was gaining a whole new appreciation for his father at the moment. He was pulling single-dad duty for two weeks while Blaine carried the East Coast leg of the Hairspray tour, and he was currently so exhausted that he might have to go join Vivi in her midafternoon nap.
"Thank God Ella has that sleepover tonight," he muttered as he settled down on the living room couch. Their older daughter was the more rambunctious of the two, and she would have had him roped into another DDR tournament before he could even kick his shoes off. Vivi, on the other hand, was more sedate, especially since she and Ella had been running around the park for most of the afternoon. All the play time had tuckered her right out, so even though five was "much too old for naps, Papa," she had decided to go lay down for a while once they got back from dropping off Ella.
Kurt groaned happily as he stretched his legs out along the couch and started flicking through the channels, hoping to find something good on HGTV to watch while Vivi snoozed away until dinner. Just as he landed on an old episode of House Hunters, a clap of thunder boomed, causing the picture to go staticky and the windows to shake slightly in their loose casings. A moment passed in near silence, and then lightning streaked across the sky, cracking and illuminating the house like it was noon. Kurt froze, feeling panic set in.
He had never been good with storms.
"Papa!" Vivi's voice squealed from her bedroom.
Kurt went running down the hall. "What's wrong, baby girl?"
Vivi's gray eyes were huge in her small face, tears leaking down slowly. "So loud, Papa!"
"I know it is, darling," Kurt said, scooping her into his arms and letting her bury her face in his neck.
They both jumped when another sonorous boom echoed around their apartment, and Kurt started rubbing slowly down Vivi's back to keep himself grounded.
"Would you like to go watch a movie with me, Viv?" Kurt asked, already carrying her back out to the living room. "I think if we sing along real loud, we won't be able to hear the storm anymore."
"Yeah," Vivi said, still a little choked up. She rubbed her eyes before continuing, "Can it be the poppin' movie, Papa?"
"The poppin' – oh, Mary Poppins?"
Vivi nodded. "Yeah, the poppin' movie!"
"It can definitely be the poppin' movie, honey. Now I need you to do me a favor," Kurt said, plopping her down on the couch.
"What, Papa?"
"While I put the movie in, I need you to keep the couch nice and warm for me until I can sit down. Can you do that?"
"Yeah!" Vivi squealed, flinging herself down and stretching out her limbs. She was just barely longer than a single couch cushion and nowhere near as wide, but she was taking her made-up job very seriously.
"Thanks, baby girl," Kurt said. He quickly popped the DVD into the player and clicked through the selections, and in no time at all he and his daughter were singing along to Mrs. Banks' ode to suffragettes.
So of course the power chose to go out then.
Vivi shrieked and dove under the afghan Kurt had thrown over their legs. "Papa!"
"I know, sweetie, it's dark," Kurt said, pulling Vivi onto his lap. "We'll just have to – oh my God."
Kurt's planning was interrupted by a rattling at their thick wooden front door, which was only steps away from the back of their couch. He flattened himself to the couch instantly, pulling Vivi up so her head was at his shoulders and pulling the blanket over both of them in a lackluster attempt to hide them from view.
"Vivi, we're gonna be very quiet, okay?" Kurt whispered, feeling his daughter nod into his chest. "If there's a bad person outside, they'll just go away if we don't make any noise."
Rationally, Kurt knew that a burglar might actually be more tempted to break into a seemingly unoccupied house, but his brain was overwhelmed with fear and exhaustion, so he resorted to whatever ideas he could think of first.
Thus, he was a little unprepared when his front door actually opened. His rational thought gave out completely then, and he let out a scream so loud and high-pitched he was afraid for the windows.
His scream prompted Vivi to let out a howl of her own, and soon enough he noticed that a very familiar third voice was yelling along with them.
"Guys, guys, it's me, Blaine, Daddy!" Blaine was saying. "I'm so sorry for scaring you please stop screaming oh my God!"
"Blaine?" Kurt asked, knocking the blanket off as he sat up with Vivi cradled to his chest.
"Daddy!" Vivi said ecstatically. She scrambled over the back of the couch and ran to Blaine, thankfully not hurting herself in the darkness.
"Hi, ladybug," Blaine said, letting out a grunt as Vivi crashed into his legs. "Didja miss me?"
"Lots 'n' lots!" Vivi told him. "Bedtime stories aren't as good without you to help Papa with all the voices."
"Blaine, what are you doing here?" Kurt asked, ignoring the dig at his reading skills. "Aren't you on tour until-"
"-Today, baby," Blaine said. "The tour ended today."
"Oh my God, really? I'm more out of it than I thought," Kurt said, getting up and walking around the couch to go hug Blaine hello.
"Our little demons run you ragged while I was gone?" Blaine teased, shifting Vivi over so he could give Kurt a kiss.
"You have no idea," Kurt said, flashing back to the countless excursions to the park, loads of laundry, and alternate meals he'd had to deal with. I'm going to have to have a serious talk with Auntie Rachel about convincing Ella to go vegan.
"Now you understand how worn out I was when you did that production at the Hollywood Bowl a couple years ago," Blaine said. "Especially once Vivi got that stomach bug."
"Maybe we should consider making family travel part of our contract requirements," Kurt mused.
"We can talk about that later. Right now, I'd like to sit down and relax with my family for a- oh, hey," Blaine looked up at the ceiling. "The power's back!"
"Can we watch the movie again?" Vivi asked.
"Of course, Viv," Kurt said, leading the little group back over to their couch. Kurt and Vivi both had some snuggle time to catch up on now that Blaine was home, and he intended to get started on that right away.