When Kurt had called Blaine last night, telling him about his conversation with Effie, Blaine was more than understanding, though admittedly a bit nervous. He knew firsthand how quick Effie could switch into defensive mode and shut him out, and if she sensed in anyway that Blaine was trying to step in her territory, she would attack, especially since she had trusted him as her teacher. School was over in a few weeks though, and now that his class had already taken their AP exams, they only had class once a week. Basically, if Blaine and Effie could get through three more classes after tonight, they would be home free.
Blaine's optimism helped a bit, though Kurt did have trouble sleeping that night, thinking of how he didn't want to lose Blaine over something as possible as his daughter not liking him.
He did as many things throughout the day to distract him from the impending dinner: grocery shopping at Food Emporium, taking a few last-minute business calls to finalize the designs for the runway show coming up next week, and taking a run in central park. While Effie was at her dance class, Kurt began to cook what he thought was the perfect meal for the first, hopefully of many, dinners that their two families would have together, a meal reminiscent of the many dates the two had gone on as teenagers to Breadstix: chicken parmigiana, over penne with homemade tomato sauce. Kurt may not have been able to cook a lot of things from scratch lately, but when he did it, the meals were nothing short of five-star.
At 5:30, an hour before Blaine and Ollie were scheduled to arrive, Effie came in sweaty and tired from her ballet class and the subsequent walk from the subway to their apartment. Kurt quickly shooed her upstairs to take a shower and get ready and while all the food was cooking, he decided to do the same. As he was drying his hair and about to get dressed from the sweats he had put on after the shower, he was called into Effie's room, which was nothing short of a disaster. There were three different shirt/skirt combinations lying on her bed as well as two different dresses and five different pairs of shoes. She had a slightly panicked look on her face that Kurt couldn't help but chuckle at.
"Dad, why are you laughing? I'm having a crisis!"
"A crisis?" He knew exactly what she was talking about, though, and was mostly laughing about how much she was like he was in high school. "How can I be of assistance?"
"Well, I knew exactly what outfit I wanted to wear tonight, I had it planned out and everything, and then when I got home I realized that it was at the drycleaners and they're not open on Sundays so I couldn't go get it. Now I have no idea what to wear! I don't want mystery man to think that I live under a rock."
"Are you asking for my fashion advice?" Kurt wanted to draw this out as long as possible because it was quite a rare occurrence for Effie to ask him advice about anything, especially fashion, even though it is his job. She likes to think that she is above his knowledge after running a clothing line for ten years, so he wanted to savor this moment.
"Yes, ok. Can we just get this over with?"
"Okay," Kurt finally relented, happy to be able to do this for his daughter, "This shirt, with this skirt, the tights that I got you for Christmas last year, and these boots."
As Effie worked to absorb everything that her father had just said, she had an impressed look plastered on her face.
"I hate to say it, but you're a genius," She said quickly as she began to round everything up, pushing Kurt out of the room.
Kurt had decided on a blue checkered shirt, paired with a navy cardigan and a grey scarf for himself, and after taking a few looks in the mirror decided that he was dinner worthy. Just then, he heard the buzzer sound and he rushed down the stairs.
"Hey, come on up."
"Kay, see you in a few…You sure you're ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," Kurt said in the most confident tone he could muster.
In the background he could hear Ollie saying something to Blaine, and chuckled to himself.
"Good, because I think Ollie would be extremely disappointed if you pulled out on him now." Ollie was now pulling on Blaine's sleeve to go upstairs.
"Blaine, you do realize that we're having an entire conversation over my building's intercom, right?"
"Right, okay." Blaine laughed, "Be right up."
Just Blaine entered the building, Kurt yelled up to Effie to give her fair warning: "Eff, Blaine's here, and he'll be up in a few minutes."
"Ooh, I get a name now?" Effie joked as she made her way downstairs.
"Hahaha," laughed sarcastically, "Yes, his name is Blaine and he's actually bringing his son, so be nice to both of them please."
"Ooh, a son? Is he cute?" Effie teased.
"He's four." Kurt deadpanned, and couldn't help but laugh at the disappointed look on Effie's face. "Nice try though."
"Wait, Blaine why does that sound kinda familiar?" Effie asked, more to herself than anyone, as a knock came at the door and Kurt ran to answer it.
It all kind of happened in a rush. Ollie running in from the hallway and jumping into Kurt's legs—definitely not a shy kid, Kurt realized, Effie coming in from the kitchen where they had been standing, to see some kid holding onto her father's legs, Blaine coming in and kissing Kurt on the cheek. The first thing Effie noticed was how cute the kid was, which usually meant a cute father. When she looked up she noticed the profile of the man—Blaine's—body and he was attractive: well dressed in preppy clothes, slim body, a nice head of black curly hair—like the little boy's—and right as she went in to analyze the face, the realization of who this man was hit her like a brick dropped from the Empire State Building. She knew him. She knew the guy her father had been dating for at least a month. More importantly and disturbingly, her father was dating her teacher.
"Mr. Anderson?" Was all she could ask incredulously. Both men, seemingly caught up in each other's eyes at the moment, remembered where they were and turned to the awestruck girl. Neither man knew what to say, so they all just stared at each other until Blaine tried to break the awkward silence: "Effie, hi, how are you—"
Blaine's voice seemed to snap Effie out of her stupor because she immediately went from dazed and confused, to angry and still confused.
"You're dating Mr. Anderson?" She asked pointedly at her father. He laughed self-consciously, and was only able to mumble, "Surprise," before Effie was suddenly unleashing her wrath, not even she understanding why she was so angry.
"Dad, you're dating my teacher? Do you even understand how uncomfortable that is for me? Is even aloud? I feel like there is some school policy or something against this-Wait," she looked at Blaine again, "You're gay?"
Blaine laughed at the fact that that was the question Effie had decided to ask him. It was clear that Effie had run out of breath after this question, so Blaine decided that it was a good time for him to get a chance to get a word in. "Yah, I'm gay" He laughed, "I'm definitely gay!" Blaine joked as he tried to lighten the mood. Kurt gently nudged him, telling him this was not the time, and Ollie just asked, "Wait, Daddy what does gay mean?"
It seemed that everyone had forgotten Ollie was there for a moment, but now everyone was looking down at the boy where he was now standing in between Kurt and Blaine, holding on to Blaine's sweater. Effie rolled her eyes and went into the kitchen to sit down at the table and Blaine and Kurt just looked up at each other and laughed.
"That could've been better."
"Well, on the bright side, Effie didn't kill me." Both of the boys were both softly giggling, glad that this wasn't going to cause problems or tension between them.
"Well, I wouldn't be sure of anything yet, I thought steam was going to come out of her head."
Ollie had seemingly lost interest and made is way into the living room where he began to look through some of Kurt's magazines.
"Well, if I can deal with your father after him finding me with my hand down your pants, I think I can deal with Effie." That caused the boys to enter into more fits of laughter, calming down after a minute and kissing softly. The broke away after what seemed like no time to Blaine and Kurt took his hand and led them into the dining room, where Effie was already sitting, staring at her phone.
"Ollie, we're about to have dinner, wanna come in here?"
"Cooooming, daddy!" Ollie yelled as he maneuvered his way through the kitchen to find the dining room. Instead of sitting next to Blaine, he picked the chair right next to where Effie was sulking and began to pay extra attention to the aforementioned girl. After a minute, Effie noticed Ollie staring and looked up, giving him a weak smile, her anger seeming to dissolve by the minute. Kurt was thanking any god that was up there for that.
Once the food was brought over and complimented immensely by Blaine, much to Kurt's liking and seeming to provoke Effie's gag reflex, polite conversation began, mostly dominated by the two men, occasionally trying to incorporate Effie and Ollie, though the latter was being much more willing than the former.
Effie was still letting the full weight of the situation sink in—Mr. Anderson, Blaine-oh god, that was weird-is her teacher, her favorite teacher, now, and she thought that she was getting close to another adult for the first time in a while out of his own caring nature. But, no, she thought, it was so he could get into my dad's pants. Once he's done with that I'll lose one of the best teacher's I've ever had and part of my father. I can't let that happen.
Kurt noticed Effie's thinking face and decided to confront it now, figuring it was probably involving his relationship with Blaine. Just as the conversation died down, he addressed her.
"Effie, what're you thinking about."
She was knocked out of her trance by her father's voice, looking up at his expecting face. She really didn't want to disappoint him by what she was thinking about; the last thing she wanted was for her father to get hurt. "Nothing." She tried to go back to eating her food, but Kurt wouldn't have it.
"Effie, what did I tell you yesterday? I can see right through that."
Effie stared back at him, her willpower giving out by the second, but glanced to Ollie quickly, tipping Kurt off that she didn't want him in the room. Blaine noticed as well and took the initiative, considering Ollie had finished.
"Hey, Ollie, do you wanna go to the living room and play with the toys we brought over?"
Kurt didn't think that he would ever see a grin as big as Ollie's, and he thought it was adorable how excited he got over the smallest things. He nodded his head fervently and Blaine laughed at his excitement.
"Okay, they're in the bag by the door." With that, Ollie hopped off his chair and was out of the room.
After a few seconds, Kurt looked back at Effie, waiting for her to start the conversation he had felt coming since Blaine had set foot in the apartment.
Effie took a deep breath and put her fork down from where she had been picking at her salad and looked up at both of the men.
"I'm going to try and be honest because you seem to make my dad really happy," she was speaking to Blaine, but then quickly diverted her attention between both of them, "But I just want to know that my dad isn't some quick fuck. I just, I want to know that you're planning on taking care of him, and I want to know that you weren't just being nice to me to get into his pants." She was staring at the table now. "I'm usually not this blunt, but my therapist said that I shouldn't bottle stuff in as much, and Mr. Anderson," at that she looked Blaine directly in the eye, "you told me to tell someone if I'm having a problem. So there it is. I am."
Both men were surprised at the outburst, most of all, Kurt, whom had never seen his daughter be so forthcoming about her feelings or intentions.
Blaine turned to face Effie now, hoping to reassure her as much as he could: "Effie, I care about your father so much. I would never want to hurt him. And also, the fact that I just happened to be dating him had absolutely no impact on our relationship, okay? I care about you, too, as a student, and now as my boyfriend's daughter."
Effie still didn't look positive, though she was feeling better after Blaine's words.
"Yah, but how do I know that you're not just some random guy who's looking to manipulate my father."
Kurt couldn't help but laugh, and Blaine gave him a pointed look. Effie looked up, offended.
"Dad, I'm serious! You wouldn't think this was so funny if it turns out to be true."
"Effie, I can assure you that Blaine is not trying to use me or manipulate me."
"But, dad, you've only known him for a month!"
At that both boys were silent and slowly turned to each other, begging themselves not to give the secret away with their faces. Apparently, they weren't that good.
"What?" When no one answered, Effie started to get more agitated, "What? What aren't you telling me?"
Kurt asked permission with his eyes and Blaine gave him a slight nod, and both men turned back to face Effie.
"Um, actually, Ef, we've known each other for longer."
"Oh. Really? But my parent-teacher conference thing was a month ago, and I just assumed that that's where you met…how long?"
"What?" asked Kurt, trying to prolong the process.
"How long have you known each other?"
"Twenty years," Blaine blurted out.
Nothing could've beat Effie's face at that moment.
A/N: Okay, I'm gonna leave you hanging there, but only for a day, at the most. I felt like there was a lot of buildup to this chapter, so I hope you guys liked it and reviews would be the best! I posted on the Tumblr for my fanfiction what Effie's, Kurt's, and Oliver's outfits look like during this scene, and I could figure out Blaine if y'all want it. Just follow the link on my author profile page and it should bring you right there. Lastly, thanks to everyone who's been reviewing constantly—the suggestions really help!
