Blaine usually thoroughly enjoyed the evenings, and this one was no different. He stood at the bench, slicing and dicing vegetables for a stir-fry while Maddison sat opposite him happily colouring in one of her books. He actually enjoyed being domestic. There was something extremely calming about it that helped him to relax and forget about everything else.
"Daddy," Maddison said, looking up from her pencils.
"Yes?"
"Today we were drawing pictures of our families." She said.
"Oh really?" he asked. "And where is yours?"
"It's not finished yet. Your hair is hard to draw."
Blaine laughed. "Maddison Hill, always the perfectionist."
She grinned at him. "But, guess what?"
"What?"
"Lily was drawing her family too."
"What a coincidence."
"Huh?" Her face scrunched up in confusion.
"Never mind, keep going." He said, taking another carrot and slicing it up.
"Yeah, well guess what?"
"What?"
"Lily has two daddies too!" She exclaimed.
He paused what he was doing for a second. Of course she did… he… he knew better than anyone that Kurt was gay. Lily having another father shouldn't have been a surprise. Of course Kurt had found someone and was happily married, with an adorable kid.
… Of course their two kids would decide to become best friends.
"Wow." Blaine feigned amazement.
"Yeah. No one else did though. Jacob said it was weird and that people are spose to have a mum and dad, not two dads, but Lily told him to shut up and stop talking like an idiot, which she got in trouble for. And Lily said both her dads live with her… not like how Papa lives in the city though."
Blaine had to take a deep breath. He knew Kurt was married, or at the very least, had someone important in his life and he…
It had been eight years. Blaine didn't know why it hurt a little bit to hear that he was living with another man because it shouldn't have, he'd moved on, but…
"Well, every family is different." He said finally.
"I know." She said simply, suddenly sounding wiser than her four years. "I like my family how it is."
"Good, because I do too. Now, dinner is going to be ready really soon, so can you pack all this away and go and wash your hands."
She nodded and started putting all the pencils back into the pencil case she had before carrying it off to her room.
Blaine sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He always felt like he didn't have a clue about what he was doing and was winging every moment. He didn't know the first thing about being a father. God knows he didn't exactly have the best example growing up.
He put rice into two bowls, piling the stir fry on top and was just about finished when Maddison came back in wriggling her fingers out in front of her.
"All clean. I can't see any germs."
"Wait, inspection." He said, leaning down to her height and playfully scrutinising her hands. "Hmm… let me see the back."
She flipped her hands around for him. He studied them for a moment longer.
"Hurry up with the aspeshion Daddy!"
He nodded. "They pass." He stood up to full height again. "And it's in-spec-tion."
"In-spesh-ion" she repeated.
"Close enough. Now, let's eat."
x x x
A few days passed without him hearing at all from Kurt, Blaine supposed it was a good thing, because it at least meant there hadn't been any problems with the details he'd given him. He'd just gotten home, not having to make a detour via Holly's that afternoon. Just as he walked in the door his phone rang.
Blaine danced along to his ring tone for about five seconds before he realised he should probably answer his phone. He accepted the call without giving it a proper glance.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Blaine?"
The happy smile he'd had on his face dropped instantly.
"Kurt?" he asked.
"Yeah... look, I don't really know how to go about this but-"
"Is there something wrong with the insurance stuff? If you send it back to me I'll double check it all again, I swear I would never try to rip you off."
"What? No, it's not that."
"Oh... what is it then?"
"Uh, well, I hope you don't think I'm over stepping any boundaries. But, I was just picking Lily up from Holly's-"
"Oh, is she alright? Because I know a fantastic paediatrician, seriously, one phone call and I'll get you past all the waiting lists."
"Blaine? Please for the love of God just let me talk."
"Sorry."
"So, I was picking Lily up and uh... this random guy walked in saying he was there to pick Maddy up. And even though she was asking for you, Holly just let him walk off with her."
"Oh... was he by any chance tall, with dark hair and kind of pale?"
"Um, yes..."
"That was Noah." Blaine said with a sigh of relief.
"Who's Noah?"
"My uh... my ex-husband. I guess I forgot to remind her that she was spending this weekend with him."
"Oh." Kurt paused for a second. "I feel like an idiot now."
"No, no don't. Really, thank you for telling me anyway. If there had been a stranger saying he was picking her up I would definitely have liked to have known."
"Yeah," Kurt let out a shaky laugh. "Me too. By the way, if model-esque blonde is ever there to pick up Lily, that's Marcus, my um, husband."
"That's good to know." Blaine said, sitting himself down on the couch, propping his feet up on the coffee table.
"So… ex-husband?"
"Really? We're going to talk about this."
"Call it natural curiosity."
Blaine bit his lip, he didn't know what he was supposed to say to that so he didn't say anything.
"It's a little strange isn't it?" Kurt continued.
"What is?"
"That we're basically strangers now. I guess I don't really know anything about you now."
"It's been a long time."
"So… I was thinking…"
"Oh no." Blaine teased.
"Quiet you. I was thinking about your offer. Lily came home the other day incredibly excited that her, and I quote 'bestest friend ever' has two dads just like her and well… I was… its not really important, but, for Lily's sake, I'd like to take you up on that play date offer."
"Maddy and I would love to have you over. I'll have to get back to you on when though."
"Of course, of course."
"And your um… Marcus is welcome to come along as well if he wants."
"Lily and I will be there."
"Ok, well, good."
"Yeah, it is good."
"Right." Blaine said, nodding though Kurt couldn't see him. "I'll let you go then, I'm sure you've got other things to do and I have a thrilling night with Johnny Depp ahead of me, so…"
"Johnny Depp? I'm jealous."
"Bye Kurt," Blaine said firmly, ready to the end the conversation before it started again.
There was a faint sigh from the other end. "Bye Blaine."
A/N: See? This one was a little longer. Explanations about things such as Noah, and why Maddy's last name is Hill and not Anderson will come in later chapters. Hope you enjoyed it :)