'Kayla, put your shirt back on!' Blaine called, amid a mob or restless three and four year olds. 'Kayla-Kayla!' The child in question just laughed, her shirt now tied to a pole for capture the flag. Despite the fact that there were ample actual flags available in the play room, kindergarteners seem to think sticking each other's shirts, pants, underwear on sticks was a much more…interesting game.

'Kayla, come back here-Jesse, as soon as Kayla puts her shirt back on we can read a book-' Blaine sighed, looking around for his assistant. 'Lani could you get Kayla to put her shirt back on?' Lani nodded, placing the plates of fruit she had been balancing as she attempted to catch the blonde girl. Blaine turned to the group of children at his feet. 'Who wants Peter Pan?'

'But we read that last week!'

'Be quiet Barbra I like that one!'

'Bwaine can we wead The Wainbow Fish?'

'The Rainbow Fish! I like that one!'

Blaine smiled. People had called him crazy when he'd decided to open a kindergarten. 'But what about music? Or real teaching?' had been the general response, but Blaine had waved them away. There was something so special about being able to influence children from a young age, to open their minds to the beautiful world around them. 'People won't want someone gay teaching their young kids' one person had sneered at him. He'd rolled his eyes.

One, New York was a pretty forward state. Having gay marriage legalized was just one of the things that prove this. And two, he wasn't shouting it from the rooftops. If people asked, he told them, but he wasn't one to flaunt it. So many years of being humiliated had forced him to become more subtle than a lot of people he had met here.

As if to prove his point, he had one of the most successful kindergartens in New York. A lot of celebrities' kids attended the Central Park Preschool. It was well placed, very close to the Gershwin, as well as multiple smaller theatres, dance studios and recording studios. The Cohen-Changs, yes, the dancers, had both of their children enrolled, as did the Mercedes Jones and her husband Sam, as well as the Lopez-Pierce's child, Kayla, currently running around without her shirt. To top it off, Rachel and Finn Hudson-Berry's third child had just started that month.

'A long way out in the deep blue sea there lived a fish.

Not just an ordinary fish, but the most beautiful fish in the entire ocean,' Blaine began, smiling as Kayla finally sat herself down, sucking on a piece of watermelon. 'His scales were every shade of blue and green and purple, with sparkling silver scales among them…'

As he continued reading, he let himself sink into the rhythm, until he didn't even understand what the words meant; he just felt the letters roll off his tongue.

'"Here I come," said the Rainbow Fish and happy as a splash, he swam off to join his friends,' Blaine reluctantly closed the book, giving a small smile to the bundle of children who had fallen asleep during the reading. Even Kayla had nodded off, a rarity. The only ones awake were, surprise surprise, Barbra and Noah Hudson Berry and Liesel Evans, who were chatting excitedly among themselves.

'Why don't you guys get some sleep?' Blaine asked, kneeling down beside the trio. 'Just for an hour, then we can play games again.' Liesel perked up.

'Karaoke?' she asked, clapping her hands, grinning at Barbra. Blaine quickly put his hands over hers, silencing the harsh sound.

'Karoake is on Wednesdays, sweetie, and today's Friday,' he told her gently, handing her a pillow. 'But I might bring out my guitar,' he winks. Liesel giggles, but Barbra's face falls.

'What's the matter, Barbs?' Blaine asks; Barbra normally loves any opportunity to sing. 'Don't you want to sing today?' Barbra's lip wobbles.

'No-I mean yes, yes I do,' she corrects herself as Blaine lifts his eyebrows. 'But Uncle Kurt is picking us up today because Maybie's mummy died and she has to go to a funeral and Mummy and Daddy are still in Sydney for Mummy's movie and Uncle Kurt can only pick us up at two because he's taking us to one of his performances tonight but he needs to do hair and makeup and…' she trails off, her eyes big and apologetic. Noah nodded in agreement.

'Daddy taught me the drums for Teenage Dream and I wanted to show you,' he shrugged sadly. 'But we can do it tomorrow, can't we?' Blaine chuckled.

'Of course we-'

'You could do it now, if you wanted,' a light voice mused from the behind the group. 'I can be a few minutes late.' Barbra and Noah squealed.

'Uncle Kurt!' they laughed, running towards-

Oh.

Blaine sucked in his breath. The man before him was, honestly, beautiful. Dressed impeccably, hair coiffed to perfection, and the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. He turned away, shook his head slightly, then stood up.

'I'm Blaine,' he smiled, holding out his hand.

'Kurt,' the man responds, shuffling Barbra to one hip to clasp Blaine's hand in his. 'You must be the teacher these two brats,' he pokes his tongue out at a chastised-looking Noah, 'never stop talking about.' Blaine laughs.

'Well, hopefully they're saying good things,' he bites his lip.

'I'd take "better singer that Daddy" as very good, if I were you,' Kurt smiles again. 'Liesel! Sweetie, I haven't seen you in so long!' he puts Barbra back on the ground, opening his arms for the chocolate-skinned girl to run into.

'I missed you, Kurt!' she grins. 'You haven't taken me to the park in weeks!' Kurt's face fell a little.

'I know, Lies, but I've been really busy with my show,' he shrugged. 'Speaking of which,' he turned back to Blaine, 'Can you get the guitar out? I'd love to hear these guys perform.' Barbra squealed. Blaine looked around; most of the kids were awake anyway.

'Why not?' he shrugged, just as Lani walked out, treasured guitar in hand. He sat down, kids milling around, delicately tuning the strings until he was satisfied with their sound. He nodded to Noah. 'You want to give me the beat?' Noah grinned, sticking his tongue between his two front teeth. He picked up two pencils and started tapping a simple 2/4 beat, smiling proudly at his uncle.

Blaine started picking at the guitar strings, the simple riff bouncing around the room. He nodded to Barbra. The small girl shook her hair and started singing.

'You think I'm pretty, without any makeup on,

You think I'm funny, when I tell the punch line wrong,

I know you get me, so I let my walls come down, down'

Kurt clapped along smiling encouragingly. And the Blaine started.

'Before you met me, I was alright, but things were kind heavy,

You brought me to light, now every February,

You'll be my valentine, Valentine.'

Kurt stared. Why was Blaine working at a kindergarten when he was more talented than half the people he worked with?

'Let's just talk, all through the night.

No regrets, just love…