A/N: as advertised in the story summary, this will be a Daddies!Klaine drabble series. Ideas for each drabble were originally inspired by the prompts for the Klaine Advent Drabble Challenge on Tumblr last year. I only did a few of the prompts then, and now I've decided to finish the list. I'll post the first few today (so look for more drabbles immediately following this one, as soon as I can post them) and the rest will follow as I get them written. These drabbles will not be in chronological or any other logical order, just random moments from Klaine's parenting journey. All these drabbles will take place in the same verse as my story 'More Than Enough'.
Ratings will vary a bit on each drabble, but never higher than PG-13 territory.
Day Four Prompt: Dirt
He raced up the stairs rather than wait for the elevator, nearly falling down the steps when he tried to take two at once. Silly Blaine, he knew better. His legs weren't long enough for that, but he couldn't help himself. Today was the day. They'd gone through all the paperwork, all the sleepless nights of worry, and this morning the call had come while they were both at work. It had taken Blaine a while to get away, and now he couldn't wait one moment longer to share this excitement with his husband. He fumbled with his key and finally succeeded in opening the door, calling out.
"Kurt? I'm here, sorry! Took them a while to find someone to cover for me, and then there was a delay on the subway. Did you book our flight?" No answer. "Kurt?"
He hung up his coat and scarf, leaning over the luggage stacked by the door to reach the hooks. The suitcases had been packed for a month.
He stepped around them to cross the living room and check their bedroom, but it was empty. The bathroom door was open and he could see it was Kurt-less as well, though the scent of lemon and pine was further evidence that he'd been in here. Kurt liked to clean the apartment before they left for a trip, so they could come back to a clean apartment. Blaine opened the door to the nursery next, expecting to find his husband obsessing over the placement of the stuffed animals on the dresser. The dresser, not in the crib. The night that they'd laid in bed, reading about SIDS risk factors, Kurt had gotten up immediately to move the stuffed animals out of the crib where they'd looked so cute. Blaine's protests that their baby wasn't due for two more months, and surely they could wait to move the menacing teddy bears, were in vain.
And now he stood in the middle of their immaculately decorated and absolutely safe nursery, wondering where his husband could be. He pulled out his phone and dialed. A moment later Kurt's phone rang from the kitchen. Phone still to his ear, Blaine walked over to the phone vibrating on the counter, in danger of shaking itself off the edge. He shut off both phones and in the following quiet heard a rhythmic sh-sh-sh-sh and sniffling.
Walking around the counter, he found Kurt on his hands and knees, where he couldn't be seen from the living room. He had an old toothbrush in one hand and was scrubbing desperately at the space between the hexagon floor tiles, a small bucket of sudsy water next to him. He sniffled again and Blaine saw a tear fall on the floor, immediately swept up in the back-and-forth of the toothbrush and becoming part of the suds.
"Kurt?" Blaine spoke softly, kneeling beside him. "Kurt, I'm right here. Do you think you can stop for a minute and talk to me?" Moving slowly, he placed a hand on his back, rubbing between his shoulder blades.
"No, not yet." Kurt didn't lift his eyes from the floor. His voice was thick, like the sound was stuck in his throat and not all of it could get out. "I have to get this floor clean, I didn't see how dirty it was till now." Another teardrop.
"Baby, I really think the floor is clean enough," Blaine tried to reason.
"No, it's not!" The toothbrush clattered across the floor as Kurt gestured wildly and lost his grip on it, finally looking up at him. The fear on his face wrenched at Blaine. "This entire apartment has to be clean! All of it, every inch! We're bringing a baby in here, we can't raise a baby in a dirty apartment! We have to-"
Blaine cut off his tirade by pulling Kurt close to him, holding tight, relieved when he clung back just as fiercely. His face dropped to Blaine's shoulder and his body shuddered once, then he began to calm, his breaths becoming more even and easing his claw-like grip. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Blaine spoke.
"Can I tell you something?" He felt the nod against the side of his neck. "I'm scared too." Kurt leaned back to look at him in disbelief, still holding on to him.
"Well, that's less than helpful, Blaine!" And he only just stopped himself from laughing, because if Kurt could make a snarky comment then the emotional danger was past. "Don't you think you could be the strong one for a moment, instead of telling me how scared you are?"
"Hey, I'm not the one having a breakdown over a millimeter of imaginary dirt!" he threw back. "Seems to me I am being the strong one at the moment."
Kurt looked down at the bucket by his knee, the soapy water still popping bubbles on the tile.
"Oh my God….." He released his grip on Blaine and sat back. "I'm being really silly, aren't I?" He almost smiled but couldn't quite manage it yet.
"Not silly," Blaine answered, voice soft with relating. "Just scared. And that's okay. I told you, I'm scared too. Honestly, I think we're supposed to be."
"Really?"
"Well yeah, it's a big step. Life-changing."
"You're not helping me feel any less scared right now, Blaine."
He laughed. "It'll be okay, you know that, right?" He reached down for Kurt's hands that he'd clenched in his lap. "We're going to be awesome parents." He gave his hands a little shake. "We're gonna love this kid more than any kid's ever been loved in the history of kids. And that's the biggest, most important job that parents have. Right?"
"Yeah." The word was barely audible, but he finally seemed convinced. "Love our kid—I think we can handle that part."
"And we'll just have to take turns with the emotional breakdowns."
Kurt did manage a smile this time. "Deal. It's your turn next."
"So we're good then," Blaine said with finality, kissing him and pulling him into another hug. "We're all set to be parents."
"Uh, Blaine?" Kurt's voice came muffled from his shoulder. "We are missing one thing."
"Hmmm?"
"We have to go get the kid. Our plane leaves JFK in two hours."
A/N: Series title taken from the song "Starting Here, Starting Now." The full lyric is: "So be still, take my hand, for the greatest journey heaven can allow."
Reviews are always appreciated. Thanks for reading!