I had a big essay to write hence the little delay for this chapter.
But WasteNoTime and InTheDarkOfTheNight worked quickly on this so I could update today
Kurt held his breath, not knowing how to answer to this. The little boy leaneddangerously away from his father's embrace, holding his arms out and making grabby hands.
"Hey, Jules, careful!" Blaine warned as the little boy happily threw himself at Kurt who caught him at the last second, barely holding him. Kurt bumped the kid up a little so he could tighten his arms around him and secure him on his hips.
The businessman smiled awkwardly at the child in his arms. Jules was smiling broadly at him, and started to pat the man's cheek.
"Papa, you're home now! You came back! I wanna know everything about France." Kurt looked between the boy and his father, frowning in confusion.
"Blaine?" Kurt was having a hard time communicating with the child. He kept calling him "papa" and Kurt knew that if the boy continued he wouldn't be able to kept himself from wanting to be his father.
"I might have told him a little about you." Blaine answered, blushing a little and trying to pick up Jules from Kurt's arms.
"No, Daddy. I wanna stay with Papa. I can see you all the time," the little boy rolled his eyes at his father and turned to face Kurt, "I want to be with Papa now."
Blaine looked between the two, a little torn, but nodded anyway.
"Uh, let's sit down, okay?" Kurt smiled awkwardly at the child, trying to remember that he had nothing to do with Blaine's decisions and that he was suffering from the situation just as much.
"So, Jules." Kurt started, after putting the child in the booth and sitting next to him, Blaine sitting in front of them. Kurt felt like an idiot, he had interacted with children before, he knew how to be with them. He just didn't know how to be with this one. He knew that right here and right now he just couldn't screw up. So Kurt picked the only topic he felt comfortable with.
"You have an amazing brooch" The little boy huffed in pride and picked his brooch to show it to Kurt.
"I picked it myself! Daddy didn't want to buy it because brooches aren't for babies. But I'm not a baby anymore so I told Daddy that I wasn't a baby and that I want to dress myself alone and I got the brooch. I love owls, owls are my favorite animal. What's yours?" Kurt listened intently, not quite believing that someone that small could talk that much.
Kurt didn't miss how Blaine was looking at them. Blaine had been looking at them since the beginning, making sure that nothing happened to his son. Kurt didn't feel threatened, but he knew that if needed Blaine would burn him alive if he touched only a single hair on Jules' head.
"I, I don't think I have a favorite animal. But I had a hippo brooch that I liked a lot."
"I know, Daddy told me. Papa, can I have pancakes and bacon and eggs and cheesecakes please?"
"Huh, isn't it going to be a little too much?" Kurt wondered. The boy seemed perfectly comfortable with him being here. It looked like it was a natural thing for him and that the boy had lived with him forever. Kurt on the other hand didn't know how to behave or what to say. Sure the kid was cute and it was easy to talk to him, but still. Kurt also felt confused and torn. The boy knew more about him than he did and it felt like an unfair game.
"Papa? Can you order for me? Please?" Kurt looked down at the child who was waiting for his answer, what he didn't expect though was the biggest pair of puppy eyes looking right at him and a little mouth stuck out in an adorable pout.
Kurt instantly burst out of laughing. It was probably part nerves, part a little too much emotion. But mostly it was how alike Blaine and Jules were. So Kurt laughed, clear and high, patting the boy's curly hair.
"Oh Jules, you look just like your father." Kurt tried to calm himself, giggling a little. "Yeah I'll order for you."
Blaine smiled at his son and poked his tongue out, smiling at him. Kurt knew he must have done something right because Blaine's eyes felt less like he was scrutinizing him.
"I don't look like Daddy. He has brown eyes and I have blue eyes. We are different. Look!" Jules stood up on the bench and widened his eyes to make them as large as possible. "See, Papa? Mine are blue! Blue is my favorite color, it's pretty. I like blue."
Kurt smiled at the child and made him sat down gently. It was becoming easier. It felt easier to just be with the child, talk to him and interact. The more the boy talked to him the less he felt the blunt pressure on his chest he'd had for the past day. He didn't feel quite comfortable with the child calling him Papa though, nor with the fact that he knew next to nothing about him and the boy seemed to know absolutely everything about him.
"Papa, "
"Uh, My name is Kurt, okay?" Kurt tried to say gently, as gently as possible. "You can call me Kurt." He smiled as warmly as he could, hoping that the child would understand.
"Uh… yeah I know your name. My name is Jules Ellie Anderson but you can call me Jules." The little boy shrugged, not understanding Kurt's point.
"Jules Ellie?" Kurt's head snapped back at Blaine who was biting his lip nervously, his hands wringing anxiously. "Blaine?"
"I… there are a lot of things we need to talk about, and we didn't really have time the other day so, um."
"We definitely need to talk, that's for sure. Don't think I'm brushing this off. " Kurt answered icily.
"Papa, don't make Daddy sad! You can't make him sad." Jules pinched Kurt's legs, who turned his attention back to the boy. The little man was pointing a warning finger at him and watching him unhappily. Jules waved his finger under Kurt's nose and repeat.
"You don't make Daddy sad, got it?"
"Huh, got it, kid." Kurt answered bewildered. Luckily for the table the waitress came along and took everyone's order, taking their minds off what just happened.
"Papa, did you visit Big Ben? Did you see the queen? She is old! And she doesn't even speak French. I don't think she is a good queen because if the English and French people speak French then how do they understand what she says? But maybe there are nice people who transal- tranla- make it French just like on tv when you don't understand what people are saying?"
And just like that the little boy distracted the two adults from the thick and unnverving tension. They spent the rest of brunch with Kurt telling Jules how France was, that no there was no Queen in France, and to make him laugh in disgust because of some weird eating habits. The little boy laughed and listened careful to the man, never looking away for too long.
Kurt noticed how the boy was clutching Kurt's vest. Kurt noticed that he didn't let go, only using one of his hands to eat. But the man didn't say anything. He hurt for the little boy that was so afraid of seeing people go away that he felt the need to hold on that tightlyto them. He hurt for the little boy that knew everything about him because he probably asked about his other parent who was never there to hug him. But mostly Kurt felt happy, happy to see that the boy was that outgoing, smiling and laughing freely, that he seemed cared for and looked after.
Kurt caught himself, halfway to the straw of Jules milkshake to take a sip because the boy couldn't finish it, he could deny it all he wanted, the test could come back negative. He already behaved like a father, he already felt like one.
Kurt didn't say anything, didn't share anything of his quick realization. They finished the meal and started to pack their things to leave.
"Papa, are you coming home now? Are you going home with us?" the little boy asked expectantly, holding his father's hand and clutching again at Kurt's jacket.
Blaine caught Kurt's eye, and read the look on the man's face perfectly. He read the trouble and the war that was going on inside the man.
"Monkey, not today. Kurt has a lot to do. But maybe some other time okay? Remember I told you it was just for brunch." Blaine explained, a knee on the ground to be eye level with his son.
"Okay." The boy nodded sadly, finally letting go of Kurt's jacket. "Bye, Kurt." The boy said before taking his father's hand again.
"I'll see you at work, Kurt?"
"I, yes. We need to talk. About a lot of things. So I'll definitely see you at work tomorrow." Kurt said, he stayed there, looking at the tiny man walking away, his hand in his father's. They soon turned at a street corner and disappeared from Kurt's vision.
It took Kurt half an hour to realize that Jules had called him 'Kurt' instead of 'Papa'.
"Ugh, San, I need alcohol!" Kurt whined, sitting on the woman's couch.
"No, what you need is a kick in the ass. Why the hell didn't you go with them? You could be over there playing house and instead you're crashing miserably on my couch." The woman came back with a tray full of drinks and curled up in the chair with Dani.
"I'm still having trouble understanding. Anderson hid a child from you and now you just met him and it's…all good?" Kurt turned his head to the voice and glared at him.
"No, Dave, it's not okay. And you're in on the secret just because you were here when I crashed and I really needed to talk to Tana."
"And what am I?" Danni wondered playfully.
"The better half of Santana, so when she's talking crap I listen to you instead." Kurt answered, smiling at the woman.
"Uh, okay. So, Kurt. How do you feel about that? I mean, if someone was hiding a child from me I'd probably punch the hell out of them!" Dave wondered.
"And that's why you don't have a boyfriend, Velociraptor." The Latina argued. "Seriously, is your answer to everything violence? I thought that you becoming a businessman would've taught you the art of negotiation!"
"Hey, calm down there. You owe me big time, I saved your ass, remember?" Dave pointed out.
"Exactly, Tana, Be nice." Kurt bantered, poking his tongue out at the woman. "And I wanted to thank you for that, Dave. It was really nice of you to answer that quickly. I don't know what I wouldn't done without your athletes."
"It's alright." Dave answered and shrugged a little like it was nothing. "I'll probably stop by sometime when you put the issue together to discuss the pictures."
"Yeah sure, come along next week if you want to see how we produce a photoshoot like that. I'll try to show you around." Kurt offered. He had meant what he had said to Karofksy all those years ago. If he wanted them to be friends, Kurt would be there for him.
"Sure." Dave took a sip of his drink and asked again." So, this thing you had this morning, went well?"
"Yeah tell us about McShort Pants and his MiniMe!" Santana shouted.
Kurt cleared his throat, having no idea where to start. So much had happened in such a short space of time that he wasn't sure where he stood or how he felt.
"Jules, the boy, he's cute. He talks a lot, he's protective of the people he loves, he's curious and clever, and damn the boy has an amazing sense of style!" Kurt laughed.
"So it went well?" Dani asked, a warm smile on her lips.
"I'm not sure. I don't know. Like I told you, Jules asked to me to tag along with them this afternoon and I couldn't answer. I couldn't answer and Blaine had to explain to him and he called me Kurt!" The man finished, groaning.
"Huh, isn't that your name?"
"Yes, Dave. It's my name. But he called me Papa from the first second he saw me and then during the whole lunch and when I let him down by not coming with them he just dropped it. The boy held my jacket the whole time we were in the diner and didn't let go. Probably because he was too afraid I would run away or something. And the first chance I got to spend more time with him, I don't even answer!"
"Hey Cream Cheese. Give yourself some credit here. You didn't even know the boy existed two days ago and now you're going all Papa Bear on us. Calm down, okay? It was the first time you saw him, the first time you actually met. Don't overdo it, give him time to adjust and give yourself time to adjust." Santana leant her forehead to Dani's to get a kiss after her rant.
"I think Santana is right. From what I understand everything is a little new to everyone. Don't jump right into it, dude." Dave cut int.
"Don't call me, dude." Kurt answered seriously. "What do you think, Dani?"
"I think that what's important is the bond that you started building today. From what you're saying you already care about him and you should focus on that instead of the rest." Dani answered, smiling gently.
"And that's why you're my woman!" The two girlfriends high fived and then kissed awkwardly between giggles.
"So what do I do?" Kurt wondered again.
"Man, you just go with your guts. You want to see the boy more, go for it." Dave shrugged, rolling his eyes at the women who were making kissy faces at each other.
"Yeah, I'll probably do that."
They continued talking about Dani and Santana's plan for their holidays and about the lack of boyfriends in Dave's life. They talked about the last movie they had seen and for a second Kurt felt like it was going to be okay. It was going to hard and painful and confusing, but it would be okay.
So a little more about Jules and Kurt together!
Oh and for the few of you that worry: don't. Kurt and Blaine will have a big talk in the future