It's been a while, but here I am again with another prompt from Strangeangelsxx. I hope people are still reading this after all this time. Here's the prompt:
Blaine comes over to Kurt's for a family dinner and Kurt sees how Blaine has become a part of his family.
Finn makes a debut in my writing in this chapter, and I'm not sure how I did on him... so let me know, and enjoy!
Family
When the doorbell rang, Kurt didn't rush to the mirror to check his hair, or try to whip off his apron and hide it as he'd done three months ago when Blaine rang the very same doorbell at precisely six o'clock on Friday night for the first time. Instead, Kurt paused long enough to hear Finn call, "Come in, dude," and then bent down to peek at the lasagna that was bubbling in the oven, knowing that Blaine would know to find the spare key under the plant pot on the left.
Kurt heard the front door shut and tugged off the bright red oven mitts from his hands, peeking around the corner of kitchen just in time to see Blaine hanging his jacket on the spare hanger that they now always kept unoccupied for him in the closet. "Hey, honey," Kurt said, smiling casually and wrapping one hand around Blaine's neck to draw him in for a quick kiss on the lips. He relished the familiarity, the way he touched and kissed and spoke to Blaine as if they'd done this for years and would continue to for forever. "Carole made your favorite lasagna again, it's almost done."
"Sounds good," Blaine answered, trailing after Kurt into the kitchen and making his way over to the oven. "Can I take a peek?" he asked, reaching out before Kurt answered to tug open the oven door.
"Nope!" Kurt said suddenly, reach out from behind Blaine and clapping a hand own Blaine's eyes swiftly.
Blaine stifled a surprised shout and turned to face Kurt, Kurt's hand still over his eyes. Kurt could feel the light whisper of Blaine's long eyelashes fluttering against his hand and the arch of his thick eyebrows, and he giggled slightly at the tickling sensation it produced. Blaine laughed, too, and Kurt took advantage of the situation to lean forward and kiss Blaine lightly on the tip of his nose. "You can't look in there," Kurt whispered, finally removing his hand. "I've got a surprise."
Blaine's large, dark eyes flashed open suddenly, and he grinned challengingly up at Kurt. "Better a surprise than that was? I can't think of something much better than you appearing behind me without warning."
Kurt chuckled. "Oh yeah? Well, you'll just have to wait and see."
Blaine spun around and cracked open the oven door widely before Kurt could stop him, staring appreciatively at the row of golden soufflés rising up out of their white porcelain ramekins.
"Don't open it so wide, they'll collapse!" Kurt protested, narrowing the gap into the oven.
"Hey, kids," a deep voice came from behind them abruptly.
Kurt closed the oven and turned. "Hey, dad," he grinned.
Blaine inclined his head slightly. "Hi, sir," he answered politely, his tone warm and his grin making his face glow.
"Call me 'Burt,' kid," Mr. Hummel reminded, reaching out to muss Blaine's hair, Blaine ducking out of way just in time.
Kurt turned back to the kitchen counter, pulling out five dishes and beginning to serve the lasagna while he smiled to himself in satisfaction. Blaine's tone was so different from when he'd timidly stammered out a stiffly polite "hello" at his first Friday dinner. The "sir" thing had become a joke between the two, and Kurt always hid his pleased smile whenever Burt teased Blaine about it. Their ignorance towards how paternal their relationship had become made it all the more heartwarming.
"Dinner's ready," Kurt said, turning around to see Burt lightly mock-punching Blaine's shoulder as they laughed together at a jibe Blaine had made about some sports team. Kurt pressed his lips together against a smile and carried the dishes to the square dining room table.
Blaine came in and looked at the two still empty seats. "Finn'll be in the basement, right?"
Carole cocked her head slightly, listening, and they all fell silent as the sound of bangs and explosions from a video game drifted up the stairs. Blaine smiled knowingly. "I'll get him."
Kurt smoothed his napkin over his lap and was trying to get Burt to do the same with his when Blaine bounded back in, having taken the stairs two at a time, with Finn trailing behind.
"Dude, that smells good," Finn said, sitting down in his chair and taking a large mouthful while the others all bent their heads for a brief grace.
"Finn, sweetheart, you'll be done before us all if you start early," Carole reminded gently.
Finn grinned and licked tomato sauce from his lower lip. "I need time for seconds," he protested playfully.
Kurt realized suddenly how mortified he'd have been if this had been his and Blaine's first Friday night dinner together, but now he and Blaine merely exchanged amused glances and Blaine's left hand, already underneath the table, shifted to squeeze Kurt's knee. Kurt bit his lip to hide the way his face was lighting up, but Burt cleared his throat gruffly and asked, "Enjoying the meal, Blaine?"
A month ago, Blaine would have blanched and his hand would have disappeared instantly and begun to fiddle with the tablecloth. Now, Blaine smiled steadily back at Burt and answered calmly, "It's good," before gently relinquishing his touch.
Half an hour later, Kurt sat waiting impatiently for Finn to take the last bite of his third helping and finally rubbed his hands together eagerly when his stepbrother laid down his fork and stretched his hands up over his head, tipping his chair back onto the two rear legs.
"Manners, Finn," Kurt heard Carole softly chastise as he padded anxiously into the kitchen and opened the oven to take out his soufflés. His face fell the slightest bit as he saw them, the tops sunken and cracked, not like the fluffy column they should have formed.
Kurt's delicate eyebrows furrowed and he sniffed cautiously at one of the pastries. It didn't smell burnt, and didn't look overdone… Kurt slid the individual ramekins onto a tray and carried it into the dining room. "They don't look right," Kurt apologized, "but I think they'll taste fine."
Each family member accepted a souffle, and Kurt gazed nervously around at their faces as each spooned some up and took a bite.
"How come we only get, like, two bites of this? It's really good." Finn asked only seconds later.
"It's a delicacy, Finn, you're not supposed to get a huge serving of it. Besides, it's really rich," Kurt explained patiently.
"Well next time don't skimp on the good stuff, bro."
Kurt's anxiety melted and they were all laughing heartily as Kurt started in on his own serving now that he'd gained their approval.
"You know," Blaine began, his eyes twinkling mischievously at Kurt, "there was a time when you would have freaked out at these not coming out perfectly." He nodded his head at the soufflés and squeezed Kurt's hand gently.
Kurt narrowed his eyes and tried to glare convincingly at Blaine. "I'll leave the freaking out over tiny things to Rachel. But don't you forget that there was a day when you wouldn't have dared to say that in front of everyone."
Blaine scoffed. "I wouldn't have dared to say it even if it was just you. You have no idea how intimidating you can be."
Kurt chuckled at this as Burt and Finn stood up and carried their dishes into the kitchen. "The Buckeye game's on, Blaine, you coming?" Burt called over on his way to the living room couch.
Blaine jumped up, too, but hesitated and cast a longing glance to the television before asking Carole dutifully, "Do you do want help with the dishes, Mrs. Hudson?"
She smiled warmly. "There's no need to 'Mrs. Hudson' me, Blaine. Go watch the game. Besides, you're the only one of us who can get Kurt to watch football."
Kurt groaned and allowed Blaine to tug him eagerly into the cozy living room by the hand. Blaine sat down at the end of the couch, and Kurt curled up on the floor by his feet, leaning his head contentedly against Blaine's legs and snuggling underneath a light woven blanket.
Kurt sighed contentedly during kickoff as he felt the couch shift under Blaine, who was leaning forward in anticipation. He tipped his head further back into the light touch of Blaine's long fingers absently carding through the hair at the back of his head, and nestled deeper in between Blaine's knees.
An hour later, another uproar suddenly went up from one half of the stadium on the television, a flurry of scarlet and grey Ohio State apparel waving on the screen. "Blaine?"
"What?" Blaine answered, his voice tight from the suspense of the game.
"Was that a touchdown?"
"No, it was a good tackle. I thought you played football."
Kurt smiled and reached up to catch Blaine's hand in his and pull it to his lips. "Only for a week, and I just scraped by with dancing," he said, kissing the back of Blaine's hand lightly and then tracing patterns over his knuckles with the tip of his finger. Carole came in and lit a few candles, the soft yellow glow instantly making the room seem smaller and brighter and warmer. Kurt had never imagined that he and Blaine could be so at home together, surrounded by family and comfort and that inexplicable sense of being exactly where they belonged. Had it really been only a year ago that Burt wanted his son to be a jock, that the prospect of rooming with Kurt had made Finn painfully uncomfortable? A year since Kurt had walked the halls of McKinley High in fear, since he'd last been without that photo of Blaine inside his locker to remind him to have courage? Kurt tipped his head up to look at Blaine, sprawled comfortably in his seat, one arm thrown out casually along the back of the couch. The voice of the announcer on the television grew excited again, but Kurt's eyes didn't waver as he watched Blaine reach up to slap a high-five on Burt's outstretched palm.
"Blaine?" he said again.
"That was the touchdown," Blaine answered quickly.
"No, it's not that. I just love you."
Blaine looked down at Kurt, nonplussed. "What?"
Kurt felt his face turning slightly pink, but it wasn't the embarrassing red-hot flush that would have adorned his cheeks even a month ago. "I love you. I just wanted to remind you."
"Okay," Blaine said, looking slightly bewildered in a way that was more commonly seen on Finn's face. "Well, I love you, too." Kurt couldn't help but beam, and Blaine's face answered with a warm grin of his own, the candlelight gleaming waveringly along the shining lines of Blaine's hair gel. "Don't ever stop reminding me, Kurt."
Kurt turned back to the football game, feeling the presence of the rest of his family in the room. He held Blaine's hand to his lips again and whispered against it, the note of a promise in his voice, "I won't."
A couple miscellaneous notes now that we're done with the chapter:
To the anonymous reviewer who called themselves "Ty," and reviewed for Chapter 6, I do know that I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You is not a lesbian song in the sense that you mean. I was just talking about the lyrics - I thought they were a bit controversial for the McKinley High prom.
To Taylur, your review highly amused me, I'm glad you enjoyed the fluff, and I'm glad you love the word "dapperness" as much as I do!
To Stormaggedon, this is rather irrelevant, but thank you so much for your very kind reviews and your awesome prompts.
That's enough from me for now. Please review and prompt, everyone, I really enjoy your feedback!