Author's Note

I saw an adorable prompt on Tumblr and really couldn't resist... Here's a bit of fluff for you, featuring Kiddie Klaine and dedicated specifically to fbeauchamphartz for her birthday . Enjoy!

Going the Extra Yard

by lilyvandersteen

"Oh, they've got comic books!" Cooper exclaimed happily. "Do you still have my list, squirt?"

Blaine sighed and handed it over. When Cooper suggested they go check out the yard sale in the Whitman Avenue in Lima, Blaine had agreed enthusiastically and emptied his piggy bank into a big purse his mother had lent him, just in case he found some treasures. But here they were, and any time Blaine saw a stand that looked promising, Cooper tugged him away from it and towards another, which only had Marvel comic books and figurines, neither of which appealed to Blaine. He was getting more and more bored, and fed up with his selfish brother.

Blaine repressed another sigh and looked around. The stand where Cooper was browsing comic books was one of the largest they'd seen yet. Two houses away, Blaine saw a very small stand. Everyone was just passing it by with a cursory glance, and no wonder. Earlier that day, Cooper had explained to Blaine that if ever they did a yard sale, they'd have to make sure there was variety. That was key. Don't just sell comic books, or only DVDs, or nothing but clothes. Make sure there's something for everyone.

Clearly, no-one had ever told that to the boy standing in front of 415, Whitman Avenue. His small stand showed no variety whatsoever. All he sold was stuffed toys, nothing else.

Every time someone passed his stand, his eyes would go a little wider, and the corners of his mouth would quirk up, but nobody stopped or bought anything. Again and again, Blaine saw the boy's smile falter and his shoulders sag, and he knew he had to do something. The yard sale would be over in an hour and a half, and if the boy hadn't sold anything by then, he'd be devastated.

Just then, a heavily tattooed man in a biker jacket with a little girl on his shoulders stopped at the comics stand to browse. The girl tugged at the man's hair. "Daddy, daddy, you promised you'd buy me something!"

The man chuckled. "Sure, Frankie! You keep an eye out for what you want, and I'll buy it for you, princess!"

Blaine smiled at little Frankie and said to her, "The boy over there sells plushies. Look!"

Frankie checked out the stuffed toys from her high vantage point. "There's a pink elephant!"

"Yes," Blaine agreed, "And a pink penguin and a pink rabbit too. Aww, the rabbit is wearing a big bow."

Frankie wiggled on her dad's shoulders. "I want that one! Daddy, can I have that pink rabbit with the bow?"

"Just a sec, baby girl. Daddy needs to pay for these comic books."

After he'd paid, the father took Frankie off his shoulders, and together, they walked to the stand with the stuffed toys. The boy manning the stand smiled from ear to ear when he realised they were actually going to buy some of his stuff. Blaine's stomach somersaulted, and he fist-pumped. He'd helped the boy sell his toys, and made him smile. Score!

Frankie's father had clearly noticed how happy it made the boy that Frankie wanted one of his toys, because now he was urging his daughter on to pick as many of them as she liked, his eyes twinkling at both her elation and the boy's.

Together, they plucked all the pink and purple toys from the display, and the boy put them in a fancy gift bag Frankie squealed over.

Frankie walked away with a bounce in her step, the gift bag swinging between her and her dad.

The boy was counting the money he'd been handed, and smiling hugely.

Blaine grinned and plotted his next move. In the half hour Cooper spent at the comics stand, Blaine sent over to the boy a granny with a whiny toddler, a heavily pregnant woman with a baby in a stroller and a pigtailed girl about his age walking in between her two fathers.

The granny bought the toddler a Thomas the Tank Engine plush, and the pregnant woman bought her baby a plush lamb with a rattle inside. The pigtailed girl was harder to please, making a tantrum because there were no pink plushies. In the end, her fathers persuaded her to choose a plush ballerina bunny backpack. The bunny was white, but its outfit and ribbons were pale pink. She put the backpack on straightaway.

Blaine smiled happily at his success, and was just about to recommend the boy's plushies to a family with four little children when Cooper grabbed his hand. "Okay, squirt, on to the next stand."

Cooper tugged him away with only the barest glance at the boy's stand. "Only plush toys? Huh. Who's going to buy anything from a stand like that? Hurry, there's only an hour left before the yard sale's over and there are several more stands I want to check out."

Blaine, however, was having none of that. He tugged himself loose, crossed his arms and said, "No."

"What, no? Seriously, Blaine, you're eight years old, don't go and have a tantrum as if you were a toddler. Come along!"

"No. You've been going to all the stands YOU wanted to see all afternoon, and any time I wanted to check something out, you wouldn't let me. I'm SICK of it, Coop! You've bought plenty of comic books already, and I've got NOTHING so far, so now it's MY turn!"

Cooper's angry expression melted away. "Oh… Right. Well. Maybe you could look at the stands on your own for a bit now? I know Mom said you had to stay with me at all times, but you're a big boy, aren't you?"

Blaine nodded.

"So you can look at the stands you like, but don't go too far, okay? And when you're done or when the yard sale's over, come back here, so that we can find each other. 415, Whitman Avenue, got it. All right?"

Blaine nodded again. "Okay. See you in an hour, Coop!"

Blaine sped off to the stand where he'd seen a black-and-white polka-dotted bowtie and haggled until he got it at half the price. A bit further, he looked for the Mulan and Shang dolls he'd noticed, and got those at a discount as well. Pleased as Punch, he strolled back to where he'd come from, and saw that the boy was eyeing the remaining toys on his stand unhappily. Clearly, he'd hoped to sell them all, and though Blaine had tried his hardest to steer people in his direction, the boy still had more than half of his plushies left, and the yard sale was nearly over.

Cooper was still nowhere to be seen, though, so Blaine walked up to the boy and said hi. "What's your name?"

The boy looked a bit surprised, but answered readily enough. "Kurt."

"I'm Blaine. I like your plushies. Especially the bear with the bow tie."

Kurt pointedly looked at Blaine's bow tie, grinning. "You would. I made the bow tie myself, by the way."

"No way," Blaine gasped.

"Yep," Kurt confirmed.

"That's so awesome!" Blaine said. "Can I take a closer look?"

Kurt preened a little and handed the toy over.

Blaine examined the bow tie, and when he noticed it wasn't a clip-on but a real one, his admiration for Kurt grew. "Wow. This is brilliant. Maybe next year, you could sell some bow ties you made? Or other stuff? It's always good to branch out. Makes people look at your stand more, if you sell more than just one type of thing."

Kurt cocked his head to the side. "Hmm. You have a point there."

"And I'd definitely buy the bow ties. Just saying."

Kurt laughed. "I'll think about it. Anything from this stand you'd like?"

"Well… When I adopt plushies, I want to know what they're like, you know? I have to make sure they won't fight with the ones I have at home. So tell me about them. What's this one called?"

Kurt giggled, and then launched into a detailed description of each toy's name, temperament and particularities, making Blaine laugh at the droll stories about the naughty stuff Mr Wiggles and Dr Tuffykins got up to at night.

Suddenly, a hand landed on Blaine's shoulder, and he jumped a foot in the air and whirled around. It was Cooper, of course.

"Well, squirt, the yard sale's done," Cooper said. "Did you buy something good?"

"Don't call me squirt, Coop," Blaine snapped. "I'm still buying. Can you wait over there 'till I'm done?"

Cooper rolled his eyes. "You're buying stuffed animals? What are you, three?"

"None of your business."

"All right, all right. Don't take too long."

Cooper sauntered over to the comics stand, and started chatting with the guy manning it.

Blaine turned to Kurt again. "Sorry about that. Now, where were we?"

"Well, apparently, you're buying," Kurt said. "What will it be?"

Blaine took a long look at all the toys on the plaid blanket and then made his decision. "I'll take the lot. How much is that, please?"

Kurt blinked at him. "All of them?"

"Yes, please."

That evening, when Cooper and Blaine got home, Pam was surprised at the amount of plushies Blaine had bought. "Why did you buy so many, honey bee?"

Blaine, thinking of the radiant smile Kurt had given him and feeling his stomach flutter at the memory, shrugged. "I liked them."

Author's Note:

This was the prompt:

Imagine Person A tries to have a yard sale to make some money, but almost no one shows up. Person B sees Person A struggling to sell things, and notices that the sale is scheduled to end within the hour and nothing's been sold. Person B decides to buy everything.

Blaine totally would, wouldn't he?