Hello everyone!
I'm really sorry for not updating yesterday, but I'm here now, and this is a longer chapter, so I hope that will make up for it!
Thank you again for all the lovely reviews. I can't tell you how much they mean to me! You guys are awesome!
I own nothing. Enjoy!
After his morning class on Monday, Blaine had put enough distance between the meeting with his parents and now to feel a little better. He didn't feel like he was choking on the fear now. He could breathe. He could think. Hugh and Andrea Anderson probably wouldn't bother them again for a while, until they got bored with their meaningless lives and wanted to try to screw someone else's again.
Apparently Blaine was still angry, even if he was calmer.
He was grading papers in his office just a little past noon when there was a knock on the door. He looked up just as Daniel peeked in, checking if Blaine was busy.
"Hey you!" Blaine exclaimed, smiling. He stood up and walked around the desk to greet him. "What are you doing here? Did we agree on lunch? I'm sorry, I think I totally forgot…"
"Oh, no, no. This is completely impromptu," Daniel said, coming into the office and dropping a quick kiss on Blaine's lips. He had two paper bags and showed them to Blaine. "But I did bring lunch, so I hope you're in the mood for Mexican food?"
Blaine's stomach groaned. "Tell me you have some chicken burritos in there."
Daniel handed him one of the bags and they settled comfortable at Blaine's desk to eat. Blaine moved all his papers away so he wouldn't accidentally get grease all over them, and pushed his chair a little closer to Daniel's, so they could bump their knees together.
"I have to admit I have two reasons to drop by," Daniel said, as Blaine took a bite of burrito. He looked up at him inquisitively as he chew. "First, I wanted to see you, so it was slightly selfish. Your face is the only thing that can make Monday bearable."
Blaine could feel himself blushing, but didn't dare smile in case he would spit his chicken out. It wouldn't be very sexy.
"Second, I'm… a little worried, Blaine," Daniel muttered, leaning a bit to glance into his eyes. "You were really distant on Saturday, even after we left Sam and Mercedes. When you walked me home… it looked like you wanted to be anywhere but with me."
Blaine felt a pang of guilt travelling through him. He knew he needed to talk about things with Daniel, to fill him in on his family situation, but it wasn't something that he liked to talk about with anyone. Except Kurt, apparently. Kurt, the fire-breathing dragon who made killer Mac-and-Cheese from scratch.
He decided he needed to be fairer. He gave Daniel a short version of the facts - his parents weren't exactly nice people and they didn't agree that Blaine should be the one taking care of Max - and about their visit on Sunday, and how tense he had been as he waited to find out the real motivation for their coming over.
Daniel made a sad face as he listened to him, and then reached for Blaine's hand to give it a firm squeeze. "Blaine… I'm sorry about all of this. And I'm sorry if I made you think you couldn't tell me… I wish I could have been with you, helped you somehow."
"Oh, trust me, you wouldn't have wanted to be there," Blaine laughed humorlessly. "It was painfully uncomfortable. I probably would have just burst into tears of frustration. Kurt handled things so much better than I did…"
Daniel tilted his head in confusion. "Kurt?"
"Yeah," Blaine said, reaching for his drink, not noticing the look on Daniel's face. "He was really great. You should have seen him standing up to my mom. I don't think anyone's stood up to her before. I wish I could have taken a picture."
Daniel was silent for a moment. Blaine finished his burrito and kissed his cheek.
"Thanks for lunch. You're amazing."
Daniel smiled at him, but it wasn't as bright as it usually was.
Blaine was in such a good mood by the time Daniel was getting ready to leave, that he stopped him with a hand on his arm and brought him in for a breathless kiss. What if he stopped worrying? What if he stopped being afraid?
"Do you have any plans tonight?"
Daniel grinned into the kiss, looking entirely interested.
Blaine hadn't thought it would be possible to find anything as nerve-wrecking as his parents' visit, but apparently inviting Daniel over for dinner was pretty close. It didn't have to do with whether Daniel would like his cooking, or his apartment, or whether they would end up in bed together at the end of the night.
Blaine was worried about how Max would react to him.
What if Max cried non-stop as soon as he caught sight of him? What if he flinched away from him the way he had done with his grandparents the previous day? Ever since the accident, when he had obviously gone from a stranger's arms to the other until his uncle arrived at the hospital for him, he had been distrustful and shy, always marking very clear limits to his comfort. Blaine admired that his nephew could be so honest about his boundaries from such a young age, but there were people he didn't want to see Max reject.
As he waited for Daniel to get there, the water already boiling for the pasta and the garlic bread in the oven, he sat on the couch with Max, pulled him onto his lap and held him close.
"I don't ever want you to feel like you have to be around people you're not comfortable with," Blaine muttered into his soft black hair. "I don't want people to hug you or touch you or kiss you without your consent. You are the most important thing in the entire world, Max, and if you need to scream your little lungs out just to get strangers away, go ahead and do that. But maybe… if you can give Daniel a chance? That would make me happy, kiddo."
Max looked at him with wide, innocent blue eyes.
"I think I like him," Blaine whispered, as if it was a secret. "He's a good man. You have no idea how hard it is to come across one of those." He chuckled. "You and I have had a difficult few months. And it's not gonna get easier right away, but… when good things happen to us, shouldn't we embrace them? Maybe Daniel is one of those good things."
Max still had no idea what Blaine was talking about, but he cuddled against his uncle's chest, and Blaine decided to take it as a positive sign.
When he had to go check on the sauce, he put Max down on his play mat with his toys. After making sure everything was fine in the kitchen, he busied himself setting the table. Just as he was done, the doorbell rang.
Daniel was wearing a broad smile when he opened the door. He had a bottle of wine in one hand and a little blue bag in the other and he stepped right into Blaine's space to drop a kiss on his lips. "Hi," he said.
"Hi yourself," Blaine smiled back. "Come on in."
"Your apartment is really lovely, Blaine," Daniel commented as he followed him inside.
"Thanks." Blaine walked towards the living room, where Max was playing. "There's someone I'd like you to meet."
Max glanced up from his plastic cars as Blaine approached him. When he noticed there was someone else in the room, he frowned a little bit, but let his uncle pick him up.
"Daniel, this is Max," Blaine said, a little nervously. "Max… this is Daniel. Can you say hi?"
Max blinked at the stranger and didn't burst into tears, which seemed an improvement. But the night was still young.
Daniel raised the little blue bag. "I brought you something, Max! Would you like to see what it is?"
Blaine smiled into Max's hair, who now seemed a bit more interested, as Daniel revealed a firetruck. He touched a little switch under it, and the lights on the roof of the truck began turning on and off. Max reached his hand for it.
Blaine let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.
"I think he likes it," Daniel grinned, looking proud of himself.
Blaine kissed Max's forehead and put him back down on the play mat, before turning back to Daniel. "Thank you."
"You're welcome. And this is just for us adults," he showed Blaine the bottle of wine. "I hope it goes well with the food."
"I'm sure it's fine. Dinner's almost ready," Blaine said, and gestured for Daniel to follow him, as he headed into the kitchen. "I'll give you a proper tour later, but I don't want the bread to burn."
"It smells delicious in here, Blaine," Daniel practically moaned. "Can I help with anything?"
"Uhm, there's a container in the fridge," Blaine pointed with a wooden spoon, as he checked on the sauce. "It says Monday dinner on it. Can you grab it for me? I need to heat it up for Max. If I give him spaghetti, I'm just going to spend all dinner worried he'll choke on it."
"Do you want me to stick it in the microwave? What is it?" Daniel asked.
"Sure, thank you. Just two minutes, and I'll check it's not too hot," Blaine replied, as he turned the oven off. "It's some leftover Mac-and-Cheese that Kurt made yesterday."
Daniel didn't say anything as he put the container in the microwave and set it to two minutes.
Dinner was nice, though most of the conversation got interrupted by Max, who was in the mood to be the center of attention and kept trying to throw his food around the room instead of eating it.
"I'm sorry," Blaine apologized, when Daniel tried to start the same story for the fifth time. "He's not usually this messy. I don't know why he's doing this."
Daniel put his hand on Blaine's, reassuringly. "Blaine, don't worry. I don't mind, really."
They cleared up the table afterwards, and Max got fuzzy and upset, so Blaine took him to his bedroom to get him ready for bed. It took him almost twenty minutes to get Max calmed enough to even allow to be put into his crib, and then ten more minutes of singing so he would fall asleep.
Blaine discovered Daniel had done the dishes while he was busy with Max, and was now sitting on the couch in the living room, changing the channels on the television.
"You didn't have to do the dishes. I could have taken care of that in the morning," Blaine said, as he joined him.
Daniel shrugged. "I wanted to."
"I'm sorry it all seems so uncomfortable tonight," Blaine said, burrowing into Daniel's side when he lifted his arm to make room for him. "We're not very used to the company. We're… learning, I guess."
"You don't have to apologize, Blaine. Nothing's wrong," Daniel reassured him. "And I had a nice time, by the way."
Blaine swallowed, trying to make a decision. His body screamed for it, but his head wanted to analyze a long list of pros and cons. "Had a nice time? Does that mean you're leaving?"
Daniel licked his lip and looked at him. "Not yet."
"You could… stay," Blaine murmured.
Daniel's reply was to kiss him until he couldn't breathe.
Blaine woke up the following morning with a man between his legs.
It took him a second to remember Daniel had stayed the night. Then he hit the back of Daniel's throat and came so hard he almost forgot his own name.
"Good morning," Daniel said with a smug smile.
"Uh, yeah, morning," Blaine said, blinking stupidly at the ceiling.
Daniel shifted until his body (his strong naked body) was covering his. He began kissing Blaine's neck. "Last night… fuck, Blaine. I can't stop thinking about it."
Blaine licked his lips, trying to force his foggy brain to work. "I can tell," he mumbled stupidly, because he could feel Daniel's erection against his thigh. His hands began travelling south to help him with it…
And then Max started crying.
"Shit," he muttered, and pushed on Daniel's shoulders to get him off. "I'm sorry. I need to… I'll be right back…"
"It's fine," Daniel said, stretching his arms above his head. "I need to shower or I'll be late for work, and I should stop by my apartment and change my clothes. If I show up on yesterday's clothes, I'll never hear the end of it at the office." He rolled his eyes as Blaine fished for his underwear under the bed. "Do you mind?"
"What? Oh, no, go ahead. Use whatever you need," Blaine said gesturing towards the bathroom, and dropped a quick kiss on his lips before leaving the room to get to Max's.
Blaine changed Max's diaper and then took him to the kitchen. He put the kid in his high chair and then immediately turned the coffee maker on. He was tired. He hadn't gotten much sleep last night, but it had been worth it.
As he made breakfast, he remembered Daniel's body on top of him, the way he had moved against him, how good the stretching was, how deep he had felt him…
Daniel appeared in the kitchen in his underwear, and Blaine's thoughts short-circuited again. He pressed a kiss to Blaine's shoulder and sniffed the coffee.
"I'm making eggs and toast…" Blaine said. "Is that okay?"
"That sounds good. And lots of coffee, please" Daniel said, and Blaine gestured which cupboard the mugs were in. "You have fantastic water pressure, by the way."
"I know. Little silver lightings," Blaine chuckled, and watched as Daniel took a light blue mug from the cupboard. "Oh, that's Kurt's mug. Grab the green one."
Daniel blinked. "What?"
"That's the mug Kurt always uses," Blaine replied, as he put the toast on a plate. "He'll be here any minute and he'll go straight for the coffee pot."
"He brought his own mug?" Daniel asked in confusion.
"Oh, no, that's just the one he likes," Blaine said shrugging. "Do you want cream cheese?"
Daniel stood there for a moment, staring at the light blue mug. Then he put it back in the cupboard and grabbed a green one. He poured some coffee. "No, thank you."
"Can you watch Max for a second?" Blaine asked. "I'll jump in the shower really quickly."
"What about breakfast?" Daniel called after him.
"You eat, I'll make some more after I shower!"
Daniel looked down at his coffee, lost in thought. There was an uneasy sensation in his stomach.
There was a sound of keys in the lock, and two seconds later, a new voice rang through the apartment. "Good morning!"
Max immediately started bouncing on his high chair. Daniel didn't need to ask Blaine to know who it was.
Kurt stepped into the kitchen and his smile became frozen on his face as he stared at the half-naked stranger standing against the kitchen counter drinking coffee. He almost dropped his keys, and then held them so tight he could feel them digging against his palm. Was this Daniel? Had he stayed the night?
He had clearly stayed the night.
"H-hi," he said stupidly. "I'm Kurt."
"I'm Daniel," the guy said, reaching a hand to shake his. He was so muscled and perfect, Kurt had to resist the temptation to look down at himself to make a comparison that would end up in some pretty sad results.
"Nice to meet you," Kurt said, and turned to Max, because he didn't want to keep looking at that man's body. Oh god. Oh god. Blaine had slept with him.
"Well, now that Max's in good hands, I'll go get dressed," Daniel said. "There's fresh coffee. Your mug's in the cupboard."
Kurt frowned at his back as Daniel left the kitchen.
"Hi buddy," he said to Max. He was not going to cry. He wasn't going to be that stupid.
Max smiled broadly at him, as if saying "I like you so much better than the half-naked douchebag."
Kurt was unbuttoning his coat when Blaine walked into the kitchen, his hair wet, the ends of a bowtie dangling from his neck. He was a dream, and he had spent the night in another man's arms.
Stop acting like you're in a fucking telenovela, Kurt told himself angrily. You're not in love with him. Everything's fine. Let the poor man be happy.
"Good morning, Kurt!" He exclaimed with a smile that could weaken Kurt's knees in a second.
"Morning, Blaine," he replied, turning back to Max.
"Would you like some coffee?" Blaine didn't wait for Kurt's answer. He knew him well already. He poured some coffee in the light blue mug and handed it to him. "Would you mind giving Max his breakfast? I'm running a little late this morning."
"No, go ahead, do your thing," Kurt said, sitting at the table next to Max.
Daniel returned, now fully clothed, and grabbed his own cup for a sip. "Shit. It's much later than I thought."
"Language," Blaine and Kurt said automatically.
Daniel looked at them, eyebrows all the way up in his hairline. "What?" Blaine tilted his head towards Max. "Oh! Right. I'm sorry." He smiled at Blaine and wrapped his arm around his waist. "Thank you for last night. Talk to you later?"
Why don't you just pee on his leg, jeez? Kurt thought bitterly.
"Sure," Blaine answered, and Daniel kissed him. Blaine just blinked at him dazedly after he pulled away.
Blaine walked him to the door, which gave Kurt just enough time to dry the rebel tear trying to make its way down his cheek.
It was a busy week. Blaine had no idea how the papers he needed to grade had grown into such a huge stack, but there they were, and they needed to be dealt with. Daniel called a few times to make plans, but Blaine had to regretfully decline.
Now that his body remembered what it had been missing, it screamed for more.
"What if we do something on Saturday instead? We could go somewhere?" He proposed.
"I would love to, but I have to work on Saturday. There's an event the magazine wants me to cover and I'll probably be caught up in it all day long," Daniel said, sounding truthfully sorry. "What about Sunday?"
Sunday was okay with Blaine. When the weekend finally rolled around, his to-do list was considerably shorter and he was looking forward to relaxing a little bit. The weather was unseasonably warm and sunny, and he thought it would be nice to spend some time outdoors, maybe take Max to the park, have a little picnic. When he ran the idea by Daniel, he agreed enthusiastically, so Blaine and Max went grocery shopping on Saturday to find treats for the next day.
So on Sunday morning, while Max played on the kitchen floor with his cars, Blaine busied himself by arranging a lovely picnic basket. He put cut-up fruit in a plastic container, made sandwiches and a potato salad. There was another container with baby carrots and celery sticks, and one more with hummus. He packed crackers, walnuts, and chocolate chip cookies, and some extra things for Max. He rolled up a blanket carefully and put it on top of the basket's lid. Daniel had said he would take care of the drinks, and he was just thinking that he needed to text him to remind him to bring a thermos with coffee, when he turned to check on Max and nearly fainted.
The baby's face was slightly red and blotchy. He was blinking quickly, as if his eyes bothered him, and he looked up at Blaine, completely confused and scared.
"What happened? Max?" He kneeled on the floor in front of him, and lifted his shirt, finding more red spots on his belly and arms. "Oh my god. Oh my god. What…"
Between Max's fingers, there was a walnut. He must have dropped it when putting them in the container. There was a huge chunk missing from the nut.
"Did you eat that?" Blaine asked hopelessly, and when Max tried to let out a little sob and instead wheezed painfully, Blaine panicked. "Oh my god. Shit, shit, shit."
Blaine grabbed Max in his arms and ran to the closet for his coat. He wrapped the kid carefully in it, reached for his keys and phone, and left the apartment, feeling his chest tight with worry. The elevator was taking too long, so he simply ran down the stairs, holding onto the boy, and taking the steps two at a time. Once in the street, he stopped a cab and told the driver to take them to the hospital.
Max started having trouble breathing by the time they reached the next corner.
"Oh shit. Shit. Hang on, buddy. I'm getting help. It'll be okay," Blaine murmured, rubbing his back in comfort.
"He's not gonna puke all over the seat, right?" The driver said, looking at them through the rearview mirror. "I just got the car cleaned."
Blaine glared at him over his nephew's head. "Just fucking drive."
Blaine didn't remember the hospital being so far away. He had taken Max regularly for his check-ups since the accident, and he could swear it only took ten minutes to arrive. Now, the minutes seemed to drag eternally. He kept his eyes on Max, checking for new red spots, and was horrified to find his little hands now covered in them. Max looked up at him with miserably swollen eyes, and Blaine had to bite his lip not to burst in tears. What the hell had happened?
When the taxi stopped in front of the hospital, Blaine threw a few bills at him without even checking how much he was paying. He was sure he'd just threw at least one hundred dollar bill plus a few twenties. He didn't care. He just flew out of the car and into the hospital as quickly as his legs allowed him to, and practically flung himself to the nurse at the reception desk, tears clinging to his eyelashes in desperation.
"Please, please, I don't know what's wrong with him. Please, help him," Blaine begged.
The nurse immediately called for help, and before Blaine could stop them or understand what was going on, they were taking Max away from him and through a set of doors he wasn't allowed to cross. He stood in the middle of the hallway, hands shaking and trying to blink away tears.
His knees seemed ready to give up on him, so he found a seat and dropped down, grabbing his head in his hands. How the hell had this happened? How had he been so careless? Had he even known that Max had allergies? Was that what this was? He was never buying walnuts again for the rest of his life.
He was shaking so hard he thought he would never stop. The last time he had been this scared was when he was going to the hospital after Cooper and Sara's accident. Before he found out his brother was dead. And now Max was here, and something Blaine had done had put him in a hospital and he couldn't…
Having trouble breathing, he took his phone out of his pocket and dialed a number before he even knew what he was doing. He didn't even think. He just knew he needed something, someone to be here, someone to tell him everything was going to be okay. Why was never someone else with him when the worst things happened?
"Hi Blaine, what's up?" Kurt said on the other end.
"We're at the hospital," he muttered, sniffling. "God, Kurt, I'm so… I don't know what to do."
"The hospital?" Kurt repeated, and he could hear the worry, the fear in his voice. "What happened?"
"It's Max," Blaine replied. He looked up at those doors. Somewhere behind them, his nephew was with a bunch of strangers, and probably scared beyond words. "I… I don't know what happened. We were in the kitchen. I think… I must have dropped… he ate it and I… there were red spots all over him and he looked so miserable…"
"Tell me where you are," Kurt interrupted, his tone firm and confident, exactly what Blaine needed right now. "I'm leaving my apartment now. Just tell me where to go."
Blaine gave him the hospital's address. "You don't have to…" He muttered. "I don't know how long…"
"Blaine, I'm on my way. Everything's going to be fine. Just… take a few deep breaths, alright?" Kurt spoke to him slowly, softly, calmly. He was like a balsam on Blaine's injured soul.
Waiting for Kurt felt almost as long as the ride to the hospital. Everywhere Blaine looked, families huddled together as they waited to hear about their loved ones well-being. There was an older couple crying, hugging each other tight, visibly grieving after some bad news. A woman with two young children smiled at a man who seemed to be her twin brother as he came out to announce he was a dad. And Blaine sat, alone in a corner, his only family behind those doors, and his world tilting on its axes, ready to fall.
Kurt burst through the doors like a tsunami, looking around for him frantically. As soon as he saw him, Blaine stood up and went towards him, falling into Kurt's arms and squeezing his face against his neck. Kurt rubbed his back and whispered: "It's fine, it's fine. It's going to be just fine."
For a few moments, they just stood like this, forgetting everyone around them, and just letting the closeness comfort them. Blaine's fingers dug into Kurt's back, pulling him impossibly closer, as if that would make everything else go away. But then Kurt pulled away, cupped Blaine's face in his hands and studied him carefully, worry painted all over his blue eyes.
"How about you take a seat, I get you a cup of coffee, and you tell me what happened?" Kurt asked, voice soft and calming. Blaine simply nodded. "Okay. Deep breaths for me, Blaine."
Blaine sat in the same chair and watched as Kurt walked to a coffee machine on the opposite wall. He was wearing black sweatpants, something Blaine had thought didn't even exist in Kurt's closet, and a thick hoodie under his unbuttoned jacket. He looked comfortable, and soft, and Blaine wanted to burrow into his side until this nightmare was over.
Kurt sat next to him and passed him a plastic cup of coffee. "Careful, it's hot." He took a sip from his own cup and made a face. "And absolutely disgusting. But it'll do you good. Drink up."
Blaine obeyed, mostly because he didn't know what else to do. It was true - it was probably the worst coffee he had ever had - but the warmth travelling through him made his hands feel steady for the first time since he'd left his apartment. "Thank you."
"You're welcome. Now, can you tell me what happened?" Kurt asked quietly.
Blaine explained the incident in the kitchen and what he thought had caused the rash to appear all over Max's little body. "How can I not know if he's allergic to something? What if it wasn't the walnut? What if there's something else in my apartment slowly killing my nephew?"
When he realized Blaine was panicking again, Kurt pressed a comforting hand against his knee. "He would have shown symptoms before, I'm sure. It must have been that. We just need to wait and see what the doctors say. Did they tell you anything before they took him away?"
"Nothing," Blaine replied, rubbing his eyes. God, how had this happened? "They just grabbed him and ran. I barely had time to tell them his name. They just… he's so little. And they are strangers. He's going to be so scared…"
"He's strong," Kurt assured him with a little smile. "He can pull through this."
Blaine leaned a little on Kurt's side. "I can't go through this again, Kurt."
Kurt didn't need him to explain. He knew what he meant. "This has nothing to do with that. Max is going to be fine."
"This wouldn't have happened to Sara, or Cooper. They would have known…" Blaine mumbled, as a few more tears made their escape through his eyelashes.
"You don't know that. Parents make mistakes sometimes," Kurt said. He leaned his head on top of Blaine's where it was now resting on his shoulder. "You know, when I was six, my Dad got me a dog for my birthday and it turned out I was awfully allergic."
Blaine's eyes widened. "Really?"
"Yeah," Kurt smiled a little at the memory. "I was so happy to finally be allowed to have a puppy that when I discovered the rash, I simply hid it. I stole my mom's make up and covered all the red spots so they wouldn't notice. I brought the puppy into bed with me and snuggled with him to sleep that night."
"What happened?" Blaine asked in a whisper.
"I woke up at two in the morning and my throat was almost completely closed," Kurt explained. "I couldn't breathe. I yelled for my parents with the little air I could gather into my lungs and they rushed me to the hospital. They had to keep me in for observation, and when I got back home, the dog was gone. My dad put him up for adoption. I was so angry with him… but I understood, eventually."
"Did you…?" Blaine began to ask, but just then a doctor came through those damn doors.
"Mr. Anderson?"
Blaine was on his feet so quickly that he almost got dizzy. Kurt followed, and put a steadying hand on his back. "Yes, yes. How's Max?"
"He's doing okay, Mr. Anderson," the doctor said with a calming smile. "As you probably guessed, he had an allergic reaction. He was having trouble breathing so we used an EpiPen and then administered some Benadryl. His swelling is already nearly gone. He's going to be just fine."
Blaine breathed out, and Kurt's arm wrapped around his shoulders tightly. "Can I see him?"
"Of course," the doctor said. "If you'd please follow me."
Blaine grabbed Kurt's hand and pulled him in with him as they followed the doctor through the doors and down a long corridor. Max was in a small room with a nurse, looking at her with distrust over the head of a teddy bear someone must have given to him to calm him. There were tear tracks running down his cheeks and he looked so scared Blaine's heart nearly broke in half.
He dropped the teddy bear and began babbling incoherently as soon as he saw them come in.
Blaine ran the rest of the distance towards him and hugged him close, kissing the top of his head and saying how sorry he was over and over and over again. Then he pulled away a little bit to examine him, as if he needed to make sure with his own two eyes that he was just fine.
"You'll find a big bruise on his thigh," the nurse told him. "It's from the EpiPen. We'll show you how to use them and give you a prescription so you have a back-up at home in case this happens again. But I'll give you a few minutes with your son, and then we can talk about those precautions, okay?"
Blaine didn't bother correcting her. He didn't bother telling her that his real father was Cooper, who should have been here holding his kid tightly, grateful for every little breath he took. He was too relieved to see Max was okay to care.
Kurt approached them slowly, smiling at them. "I told you he's strong. Had a bit of a scare, Max? You're going to give your uncle a heart attack one of these days."
Blaine chuckled and cried all at the same time. "Heart attack? My heart needs to be in my chest for that. I'm pretty sure I dropped it on the kitchen floor when I looked at him."
They spent a few minutes trying to cheer up the clearly upset kid, who looked at Blaine like he was super offended for being left to the care of complete strangers, and Blaine nearly fainted all over again when he saw the big blue bruise on Max's little thigh. He apologized again, whispering into his thin black hair, as Kurt rubbed his back and hoped there was more he could do to help.
Finally, the nurse came back and gave them a smile. "You ready to learn a few new things?"
"Of course," Blaine, replied, all serious and committed.
Kurt sat with Max and they played with the teddy bear while Blaine and the nurse talked in the other end of the room, keeping the EpiPen away from Max's sight in case he freaked out. Then she handed him the doctor's orders for the Benadryl and the EpiPen, and told them they were free to go, since Max had gone all back to normal now.
Blaine joined them, and planted one more guilty kiss on Max's head. "Remind me to teach you how to use the EpiPen in case of… uhm."
"Of course. It's not going to happen again, but of course," Kurt said, a reassuring smile on his face.
After Blaine was done with all the paperwork, they walked out of the hospital. It was a little past noon, the sun was high up in the sky, and it didn't look like the world had stopped while Blaine was panicking in a waiting room. Nothing had happened to Max, but if it had, nothing would have changed out here, and that thought killed him. This tiny human being, who was the most important part of Blaine's life. How could the world not stop while he was hurt?
As they waited for a taxi, they both watched Max, who seemed to have gone completely back to normal. They marveled at the kid's resilience, and Max smiled back at them as if saying "Did you think I was going to let a fucking walnut ruin my day? Think again."
God, they loved him.
Blaine looked at Kurt, like he was truly seeing him for the first time since he had arrived at the hospital. "I'm sorry for calling you like this on a Sunday. I just… I didn't know what else to do and I was freaking out by myself."
"Blaine, always call me if you need me," Kurt said, his blue eyes fixed on his, to let him know he meant it. "I don't care what time it is, or what day it is. You call me."
"Were you in the middle of something?" Blaine asked guiltily, as they climbed into a vacant cab.
Kurt rolled his eyes. "Just in the middle of a yoga session with Rachel. Hence my super fashionable outfit," he pointed down at himself. "Don't ever tell anyone you saw me like this, or I will have to end you."
Blaine laughed. "I'm still sorry for interrupting. I feel like I should make it up to you…" He shook his head. "Actually, why don't we go have lunch? Now that the panic left my stomach, I've noticed it's completely empty. We can grab a bite somewhere. Unless… you just want to go home."
"No, lunch sounds nice," Kurt smiled, and then booped Max's nose. "Just not walnuts."
"God, no. Never again," Blaine groaned, letting his head fall back against the seat, and then told the driver they had changed their minds and to take them somewhere else instead.
They ended up in a quaint pizza place just three blocks from Blaine's apartment. They chose a little table by the window and drowned their last few hours of stress in cheesy goodness. Max wasn't in the mood for food, understandably, and fell asleep against Blaine's chest. Kurt watched him fondly.
They talked. They weren't in the mood to tap into serious topics, or to revisit any more childhood allergy anecdotes, so they talked about other things instead, things they still didn't know about each other despite the increasing amount of time they seemed to be spending together. Blaine babbled about his favorite books and every reason why Kurt needed to read them, and Kurt talked about all the Broadway shows he had seen when he first moved to New York, and how he hadn't found the time or money to go to any new ones in a long time. They talked about their favorite movies, and laughed at the fact that they could reenact the entirety of the When Harry Met Sally New Year's Eve scene without missing a single word. Kurt told him about how he loved designing his own clothes, but how he didn't have enough time for that lately. Blaine told him how much he loved to travel, but how it looked like an almost impossible thing to do at the moment.
Not once did Blaine check his phone. He completely forgot about the picnic basket sitting on his kitchen counter and the plans he had made for his Sunday before a simple walnut derailed the day.
They walked back to Blaine's apartment together, Max still half asleep in Blaine's arms. It was still a beautiful day, and they enjoyed the fresh air as they walked, knowing soon it would be freezing cold again. As they rode up in the elevator, Blaine tried to fish his keys out of his pocket, but it was a little difficult while holding Max. He passed him carefully to Kurt as the doors of the elevator opened on his floor.
"I forgot my keys in my bag. I didn't even think to grab it before I left the apartment," Kurt said, readjusting Max against his shoulder as Blaine successfully pulled the keys free.
"It's fine, I'm surprised I remembered to grab them at all," he replied, and then froze, when he realized there was someone standing at his front door, hand raised as if to knock.
Daniel turned to them, shocked at first. Then his eyebrows lowered over his eyes, and something else flickered in them. Disappointment? Hurt? It was gone too quickly to properly identify it. He glanced at the three of them, at Max comfortably snuggled against Kurt's chest, at how easy their whole dynamic was, and stepped away from the door.
"Daniel…" Blaine breathed, and then closed his eyes. "Shoot. I forgot to call you."
"I sent you a million messages when you didn't show up," Daniel said seriously. "I got worried when you didn't reply and came here to check on you. But it looks like you were busy somewhere else…"
"I had to take Max to the hospital," Blaine explained tiredly. "Allergic reaction. I just… god, it was awful. I'll tell you about it later, but I honestly don't want to think about it for now."
"I see," Daniel said, his gaze flying back to Kurt for a moment before settling on Blaine again.
Kurt shifted uncomfortably on his feet. He knew when he wasn't needed. He knew when he was out of place.
He dropped a kiss on Max's forehead and put the sleeping kid on Blaine's arms. "I should go, anyway. Rachel must be waiting for me. Uhm, it was nice seeing you again, Daniel."
He fled before Blaine could even thank him again. He passed the keys to Daniel and said "Could you open the door for me?"
Daniel wordlessly grabbed the keys and opened the door, letting Blaine and Max in first before following them in. Blaine went straight for Max's room, to let the little boy in his crib, and then into the kitchen to get rid of those fucking walnuts for good.
Daniel watched him from the entrance, as Blaine frantically explained what had happened, and how scared he had been. He told him how he had called Kurt because he had been so nervous he hadn't known what to do. "I was so relieved when I saw Max again and knew he was fine that I completely forgot about anything else. I'm so sorry I didn't call you," he said, as he kneeled and used a sponge to clean the floor with bleach. He was going to clean the whole fucking apartment until there was no evidence whatsoever that a walnut had ever even existed in here.
"I just wish you would have called me when you were at the hospital," Daniel said in a low voice. "I would have gone to keep you company, to help."
"I just couldn't even think," Blaine muttered, looking up at him, sincerely sorry.
Daniel was silent as Blaine moved around the kitchen, cleaning almost maniacally. Then he said, in a whisper: "You know, Blaine. I don't ever want to have to go through what my ex did to me again. I don't think I can do that."
Blaine frowned at him, like he had no idea what he was talking about. "What…? I know. That was a terrible thing."
"So if you have feelings for someone else…" Daniel looked at him pointedly. "I would like to know that before I let myself get in too deep with you."
Blinking in confusion, Blaine tried to figure out what this had to do with what had happened today. But it seemed important for Daniel, somehow, and at the lack of anything else to say, he simply replied: "Okay. But we're fine. There's no one else."
Daniel looked at him like he didn't believe him.
So much happened in this chapter! What did you think? Reviews are love :)
See you all next weekend!
Love,
L.-