Dave shook himself. He had a job to do. Quickly, he crossed to the two distraught boys, squatting next to them and putting a hand on each of their backs. "Hey. What happened?" he asked softly, gently rubbing circles with his thumbs.

Blaine leaned away from Kurt, pressing himself against Dave and continuing to cry. "K-K-Kur's m-m-mad a-at meeeee!" he wailed. He didn't like that Kurt was mad at him. He just wanted him to be happy so they could sing and build a zoo.

"I see," Dave crooned gently. "Kurt?" he asked, turning toward the other boy.

Kurt, unlike Blaine, did not want any comfort from Dave. He wanted to stop crying because this was NOT A BIG DEAL! He knew that. It was just a dumb coloring book page. He also didn't want anyone else to see him cry, and his tummy still hurt. So, he moved away from Dave's touch, curling up into his chair and crying into his arms on the table.

Dave sighed. This was going to be a long weekend, especially if the boys were already upset. Deciding that it would be a better idea to get Blaine settled before tackling Kurt, he scooped the boy up in his arms and toted him to the living room, situating them near the pile of toys that Blaine had dumped onto the floor. He paused the music and rocked them gently, whispering to him until Blaine had stopped crying. Then, "Feel better?" he asked.

Blaine shook his head. "Kur's mad at me," he whispered.

"Kurt's upset right now. But, he'll be okay. He's not mad."

"I ruin his colorin', though."

"It was an accident."

"But I maked Kur' sad!"

Dave sighed. He wasn't getting anywhere with this. "Kurt will be okay. Right now, I'm worried about you." He smoothed some hair out of Blaine's face. "Are you okay?"

Blaine nodded. "Jus' wanna play wif Kur'."

"I know," Dave assured, giving him a squeeze. "Can you be a big boy and play with your toys while I talk to Kurt? I'm sure he'll come play with you in a minute."

Blaine nodded, picking up a plastic lion from the floor and rotating it in his hands a bit. "I make cage for the wions?"

"That's a wonderful idea," Dave said, giving him another squeeze before scooting the curly-haired boy off of his lap. "I'll be right back." He stood and rested his hand on Blaine's head for a just a moment before turning toward the table and his other little. "Hey," he said, sliding into the chair that Blaine had been coloring in. "Are you okay?"

Kurt's crying had subsided, and he was sniffling into his arms, afraid to look at his picture. He didn't understand why that line had made him cry, but he knew he didn't want to do it again. Silently, he nodded, not looking up from his arms.

"Did something happen to your coloring?" Dave asked gently. He stretched out a hand to put on Kurt's back, but the boy pulled away instinctively, so he decided against it.

Kurt said nothing. Instead, he pushed the coloring book away from himself as if he didn't want it.

Dave picked it up and examined the line. It didn't cut through any other stars or run into Cinderella. In fact, the line seemed pretty harmless to him. But, he knew he couldn't tell Kurt that. So, instead, he asked, "Would you like me to fix you paper?"

That got Kurt's attention. He lifted his head, his eyes wide. "You c'n do that?" he asked, bewildered.

"Sure. Let me get a pair of scissors." Dave padded back into the living room, giving Blaine a big smile as he went. Sitting back down at the table, he pulled the coloring book toward him and carefully cut out the page. He glanced at the back, happy to see that there was a maze on it. Kurt would never be okay with him cutting up a princess picture. Skillfully, Dave cut around the outside of the picture, careful to keep all of the magic sparkles and none of Blaine's accidental line. When he was done, he handed the picture to Kurt who took it with wide eyes. "Does that look okay?" he asked gently. He wasn't sure what he was going to do if Kurt said no. It wasn't like he could put the page back together again.

"Thank you," Kurt breathed. He wanted to hug Dave, but he wasn't sure he could, so he stayed still, looking at his new page. He hoped that he would be allowed to color some more.

"You're welcome," Dave replied, delighted. "Do you think you'd like to play with Blaine for a little while? He wants to build a zoo."

"Wanna color," Kurt whined, reaching for his crayon.

"You could color later," Dave offered. He didn't want to force Kurt to play with Blaine, but he was afraid Blaine might have another meltdown if Kurt didn't agree to play with him.

Kurt chewed on his lower lip, thinking. He didn't really want to play. He was feeling a little bit icky and confused, but one quick glance over his shoulder at Blaine on the floor in the living room, and he decided to join him. "I color later?" he asked, gesturing toward the picture.

"We'll get the crayons out again later," Dave promised. "Can you help me clean up your crayons please?"

After quickly loading the crayons into their box, Kurt slid out of his chair, running to the living room and plopping down on the floor beside Blaine. "You wan' me to play wif you?" Kurt asked.

Blaine looked at him from beneath his lashes. "You not mad at me?" he clarified.

Instead of answering, Kurt pulled his husband into a hug. "'m not mad," he promised.

Blaine scooted closer, wrapping his arms around Kurt and snuggling into him a bit. "You buiwd wif me?" he asked.

"You buildin' a zoo?"

"Yeah!" Blaine said excitedly, sitting up. "I makeded the lion cage!" He pointed to the block circle holding in three lions.

"Good job," Kurt told him. "We should build a 'closure for the zebras next. Far 'way from the lions so they don't get eated."

Dave smiled. He was happy to see his boys getting along again. He knew the peace probably wouldn't last. With two little boys as opinionated as Kurt and Blaine, there were bound to be arguments. For now though, they were playing together which meant he could get some more work done. Quickly, he finished putting away the pile of things from the living room. The toys that weren't currently being played with were stowed away in a tote that fit perfectly at the back of one of their hall closets, and all the food he'd purchased was put away in the cabinets and freezer. He took a few moments to check his phone and get a glass of water for himself. Then, grabbing the boys' cups off of the table, he ventured into the living room where he found several colorful Lego "enclosures" spread out all over the floor. "Hi, boys," he greeted warmly, taking a seat on the floor near where they were playing.

Blaine looked up from where he was building another Lego enclosure. "Hi, Daddy!" he said, a big smile on his face. "Yook at da zoo!"

"I see. It's a very nice zoo."

"See what Kur' makeded?" Blaine pointed to a circle of Legos nearby. "Is short acuz are tiny turtles," he explained seriously.

"That looks very nice, Kurt," Dave complimented.

Kurt blushed. It was obvious he was still trying to be at least a little brown up because the circle of Legos was perfect, each corner touching the one next to it. "Thanks," he mumbled to the floor, fiddling with a few blocks in his lap.

"Here," Dave offered the boys their sippy cups. "You guys need to drink up. I don't want you to feel icky because you're thirsty."

Blaine grabbed his and slurped deeply, obviously parched.

Kurt eyed his with disdain. "No thirsty," he said.

"You may not feel thirsty, but you probably still need water. Have some for me anyway, please," Dave requested.

With a scowl plastered on his face, Kurt grabbed the cup from Dave and took a quick swig.

"More, please," Dave said, paitently.

"No."

"Kurt. I won't argue with you. Take a few more drinks, please."

Kurt crossed his arms over his chest and glared hard. "I. Said. No!" he screeched.

"Kurt," Dave said quietly, his voice even. "I won't ask again. Take a few more drinks, or there will be consequences." He knew very well that Kurt was going to do it again; he was testing boundaries.

"No!"

Blaine had been watching the exchange with wide eyes. He remembered the first time with Daddy. He didn't need to test the boundaries. He knew that Daddy's punishments were no fun, so he implored Kurt, "Jus' drink, Kur'! Is yummy!" He took another big gulp from his cup to prove his point.

But Dave was already standing, hoisting Kurt up by his arm. "Blaine, play, please. Kurt and I have something to do." Keeping a firm grip on Kurt's arm, he led the little boy out of the living room and into the kitchen. When they were far enough away he was sure Blaine wasn't listening, he turned to Kurt who was struggling to get away. "Listen," he said. "I'm going to give you a choice. You can take a few more drinks of your water, or you can go to time out first. You and I both know that taking a drink isn't a big deal, but if you don't want to listen, you can expect that I will punish you."

"Don't want a drink," Kurt groused, crossing his arms as best he could with Dave's large hand firmly around his bicep.

"I didn't ask what you wanted," Dave reminded him nicely. "You have until the count of three to make your choice. If the cup isn't in your mouth, I'm going to assume that you want time out. One."

No movement.

"Two."

Kurt flinched, but still didn't bring the cup to his mouth.

"Three." When Kurt still made no move to take a drink, Dave walked him over to a corner in the dining room that he had made sure was empty for just such an occasion. He positioned the pouting boy with his nose in the corner. "You have five minutes," he told him. "After the five minutes, if you're ready to drink some water, you can come out. If not, we'll wait another five minutes and try again." He usually did more than five minutes of time out, preferring to use one minute for every year of their age. However, he knew that five minutes would seem like a long time to someone just staring at the wall. So he figured that the time out would do the trick.

The first five minutes did not. "Are you ready to come out and have some water?" he asked when the time was up.

"Still not thirsty."

After another five minutes, he asked, "Kurt?"

"No!" Kurt stomped his foot.

Dave sighed, setting the timer on his phone again. "I guess I'll have to add another five minutes."

"Noooooo, Kurt whined, turning around to look at Dave with tears on his cheeks. "No moooooore."

"Are you going to take a few drinks then?"

"Nooooooo..." Kurt stomped again.

"Then five more minutes."

At that pronouncement, Kurt dropped to the floor, his tears increasing.

At that moment, Blaine peeked around the corner. "Daddy?" he asked, glancing cautiously at Kurt on the floor. "Kur' okay?"

"Kurt's fine, Blaine," Daddy said on his way toward Kurt. "Go play for a few more minutes. We'll be back out soon."

"But..." Blaine bit at his lower lip, looking unsure. "He's sad."

"He'll be fine. He's going to talk with Daddy and then we'll come back out to play."

"Pwomise?" he asked, his dark eyes looking directly into Daddy's.

Dave remembered that Blaine took promises very seriously. They were something that regularly helped him to stay calm when he was upset. "Promise," Daddy assured. "We'll be back out soon."

"Kay." Blaine nodded once before turning back toward the living room.

Dave continued to Kurt's side, pulling the sad, crumpled boy into his lap. He rocked back and forth for a few minutes, rubbing his back. When the tears seemed to subside a bit, he asked quietly, "Can you tell me what's wrong?"

"I don't like being little," Kurt whispered.

"Can you sit up a little?" Dave asked. "I can't hear you."

Kurt leaned away from Dave just enough to whisper a little louder, "I don't like being little."

"I see," Dave replied, thinking. Kurt was curled up on his lap, leaning against him, soaking up the snuggles. He wasn't trying to move away; something didn't add up. "Why don't you like being little?"

"'s hard."

"Mmhmm. Anything else?"

Kurt shook his head, snuggling in a bit closer to Dave's chest.

Dave began to rock again, thinking. Then he said, "What's hard about being little?"

"Uuugh," Kurt mumbled, rubbing his face against Dave's shirt "Don' wanna talk."

"We have to though," Dave said gently. "I don't want you to feel forced into anything. If you don't want to be little any more, you don't have to be. But, I want to know how you feel before you decide."

Kurt moved away from Dave's chest then, sitting up but not getting off of his lap. He twisted his hands together in his lap, not answering, until Dave put one large, warm hand over the top of his, stilling them. "It's embarrassing..." Kurt muttered.

Suddenly, Dave understood. "It's embarrassing?"

"Uhhuh." Kurt nodded sadly.

"Who is making you embarrassed?"

Kurt shrugged.

Dave took the boy's chin in his hand, turning his head so he could meet his eyes. "Kurt, I want you to understand that no one is judging you. No one is going to think any differently about you if you want to be little."

"But it makes me feel silly!" Kurt sputtered, scooting off of Dave's lap then. It was clear he was tottering on the edge between head spaces.

"Here's what I think happened," Dave said, careful to keep his voice low. He didn't want to embarrass Kurt further by drawing Blaine's attention to them. "I think that you were happy being little when you were with Blaine. But then you decided to see how serious I was about you drinking water, and then you got into trouble. Being in trouble wasn't fun, and you got upset with me and yourself. Is that right?'

Kurt nodded slowly. "I don't like time out."

"You're not supposed to like it," Dave reminded him. "It's a punishment. But, if you don't like time out, maybe you'll remember to obey me when I tell you something."

Kurt nodded again. "'m sorry."

"You're forgiven. Here." He handed Kurt the sippy cup he'd snagged from the table on his way over. "Take three big drinks, please," he instructed. When Kurt did as he was told, Dave gave him a big smile. "That's my good boy," he praised, happy to see the small smile that crept over Kurt's face. "Do you want to go and play with Blaine some more? I need to make us some dinner."

Kurt nodded, rising from his spot on the floor. Before he got to the living room, however, he turned, looking back at Dave. "Is okay that 'm little?" he clarified.

"Of course!" Dave replied, rising to pull Kurt into a tight hug. "It's perfectly fine for you to be as big or little as you feel."

Kurt flashed him a smile then turned back to the living room.

Dave heard an excited, "Kur'!" from Blaine as he headed toward the kitchen to start dinner. Tonight seemed like a good chicken-nuggets-with-mac-n-cheese kind of night.