This is for paddyofurniture, who had the one hundredth comment on I'm Being Followed by a Moon Shadow. This is just a fluffy little one shot based on her prompt. It's woefully thin on plot, but I thought it was cute and we can all use a little mindless fluff before tonight. Hope you enjoy.
This is vaguely in the same verse as "The Chaperone," but you don't really have to read that one or anything.
It was the first Halloween where Rose, Kurt and Blaine's daughter, was old enough to go trick or treating. For the first four years of her life, Rose had watched excited children, in all manner of costumes, come to the door to get candy from her Daddies and now she was finally five and it was her turn. Kurt couldn't tell who was more excited, Rose or Blaine.
"It's Halloweeeeeeeeen," Rose shouted as she ran down the stairs to eat breakfast with her fathers. Blaine was sitting at the kitchen table putting the finishing touches on her costume. Kurt was serving up three plates of pumpkin pancakes in celebration. "When can I go trick or treating?"
Kurt laughed and put the plate down in front of her, "not yet, sweetie. You have to go to school first, but Daddy B was telling me that Mrs. Summers has a bunch of really fun Halloween activities for you guys to do so it will go by in no time at all." Blaine worked as a second grade teacher in the local elementary school. If Rose was any older, she may have found having him around all the time embarrassing, but at this age it was just handy.
"Yeah!" Blaine cut in. "You're painting pumpkins and reading ghost stories and I think the class moms are going to bring in cookies and cider!" Blaine said enthusiastically around an oversized bite of pancake. "These are great by the way," Blaine said looking at Kurt and pointing to his plate. Kurt thought about scolding him for talking with his mouth full, but he was too cute so he just leaned over and kissed him on the cheek instead.
Rose finished her pancakes and chugged down her obligatory milk and then Kurt was shooing her back to her room to get dressed and ready for school.
"I'll close up the shop a little early today and then we can both pick her up from school like we planned," Kurt said collecting the dishes from breakfast and placing them in the sink for later. " I want to give her as much time as possible before it gets dark."
"Sounds good to me," Blaine replied putting together his school papers.
After a few minutes, they heard Rose bounding down the stairs again, dressed and ready for school. She was wearing black leggings and the orange dress that Carole had gotten her for Christmas. She had a sparkly purple sash tied around her waist and a plastic tiara on her head.
"Lookin' sharp, Rosie," Blaine said, giving her tiny hand a high five. Blaine had read in one of his parenting books that it was best to let children dress themselves, something about not stifling creativity. Kurt protested that he wasn't going to let his daughter be unfashionable. Blaine had won that particular argument, insisting that they would be the ones choosing the clothes, she would just be choosing the combinations. Kurt had to admit, however kooky she sometimes looked, his daughter had a certain flare for the dramatic. "Go put your shoes on. I'll be right there and we can head out."
Once Rose was out of the kitchen and busy with her silver ballet flats, Blaine turned to Kurt to give him a firm kiss on the lips, "Have a good day. I love you."
"Love you too, B. I'll see you and Rose at two thirty."
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Kurt was generally the the one in charge of sewing in their household, but Blaine's enthusiasm for the holiday outweighed his lesser skill and Kurt had to hand it to him. He had really outdone himself. His and Blaine's costumes were pretty simple. They were both wearing long sleeve white shirts with black, felt spots sewn all over and Blaine had fashioned them dog ears out of more felt and head bands from the drug store. The pièce de résistance, however, was Rose. Decked out in a black and red gown, trimmed with fake Dalmatian fur and a black and white wig perched on her head, she was the very image of a mini Cruella DeVille.
"Rosie, you look great!" Kurt cooed bending down to her level and giving her a kiss on the cheek. He had seen bits and pieces of the outfit while Blaine was sewing them, but this was the first time he saw it all put together. "Now just take a seat on the couch so we can go over some rules," Rose nodded and sat down as her fathers sat flanking her on either side.
"The rules are a little different tonight, sweetie," Blaine began. "Remember how you're usually not supposed to talk to strangers? Well tonight is a little bit of an exception. I know you know most of our neighbors, but if someone comes to the door that you don't know you can talk to them and thank them for the candy."
When they were sure she understood, Kurt continued, "Also, no eating any of the candy until we get home and Daddy B or I check to make sure it's okay."
"I promise I won't. Can we go now?" Rose said, getting impatient.
Blaine chuckled, "Yes, Rosie, we can go now. Go get your pumpkin bag."
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They were on there way down the driveway from their seventh house of the afternoon when they heard someone crying on the sidewalk. Before Kurt and Blaine could hold her back, Rose pulled away from their hands and ran up to a little boy who was dressed as a blue crayon.
"Why are you sad?" Rose asked tapping the boy on the shoulder. "It's Halloween, you're supposed to be happy on Halloween."
The boy finally looked up, turning his tear streaked face towards Rose, "I was with a big group," the boy said. He looked like he was about two years older than Rose. "I got separated and now I don't know where anyone it," he continued, wiping his runny nose on his sleeve.
"Well, my Daddies are just over there," Rose said, pointing behind her. "I bet they could help you.."
"I'm not allowed to talk to grown up strangers!" the boy practically wailed, cutting Rosie off. She didn't know what to say to that. The boy had a point, but thankfully Daddy B came to her rescue.
"Don't worry, Owen," Blaine said crouching down to the boy's level an patting him on the back, "I'm not a stranger."
"Mr. Anderson?" the boy asked, slowly lowering his hands from where they were covering his face. "What...what are you doing here?"
Blaine chuckled a little. He remembered the feeling of seeing one of your teachers outside of school. It was a bit like watching dogs play poker, it just wasn't right. He had only in recent years managed to get used to being on the other side of the feeling, "same as you, buddy. I'm trick or treating with my family. This is my daughter Rose and this is my partner. He's also Mr. Anderson, but you can call him Mr. Kurt for now. I hear you got lost. Why don't you stay with Rose and Mr. Kurt for a minute and I'm going to see if I can get in touch with your aunt."
Blaine stood up again and gave Kurt a nod before retreating a few feet away and pulling out his iPhone. He had the class phone list in his email somewhere. Owen was a good kid. Maybe not one of the brightest students he'd ever had, but at this age that didn't really mean much about his future and he was polite, if a little shy. He had lived with his Aunt and Uncle since he was two.
"Hello, Mrs. Stein?" Blaine said, when a female voice answered the phone. "This is Blaine Anderson. I'm Owen's teacher. I just ran into him on Walnut Street. It looks like he got separated from the group he was with."
"Oh, thank god you found him. Ellen just called me in a panic saying they couldn't find him," Blaine recognized that as the name of the mother of another one of his students. "I can come get him. Just let me know what address."
"That's totally fine and I definitely understand if you'd feel more comfortable picking him up, but I'm out with my daughter anyway. I don't mind taking him around for the rest of the afternoon," Blaine said. "I'd hate to make him go home early on top of the trauma of getting lost. Halloween can be really important to kids his age. I'll even drop him off at around six."
"Really?" the woman said, seemingly shocked that he would willingly hand around with another person's kid. "That would be amazing. I would take him myself, but I have a ten month old and my husbands still at work..."
"Don't even think twice about it. I got it," Blaine said reassuringly.
"Thank you so much. I'll just call Ellen and let her know what's going on."
Once Blaine hung up the phone, he walked back over to his family and Owen to tell them the plan. Owen looked a little nervous, but grateful that his trick or treating wouldn't be cut short.
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The group made their way through the neighborhood, Kurt and Blaine allowed the two kids to walk a few paces ahead of them as they seemed to get along well.
"Your Daddies are nice," Owen said, shyly, "I already knew Mr. Anderson was nice, but Mr. Kurt is nice too."
Rose giggled a little at hearing her parents referred to that way, "I know. They're the best daddies ever," Rose paused for a minute, chewing on her lip. "You um...don't think it's weird that I don't have a Mommy? The kids at school think it's weird," Rose wasn't teased, per say, but most of her classmates didn't really understand her family.
"No," Owen said easily. "I don't have a Mommy either. I have an Auntie and Uncle."
"Oh," she responded, "race you to the next house?" she said changing the flow of conversation with an ease that only young children could achieve.
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Later that night, when Rose's sugar rush had worn off and Blaine and Kurt had finally managed to get her to bed, the two men collapsed into an exhausted heap on their bed.
"Ugh...I am so glad this holiday only comes around once a year," Kurt groaned into the pillow, as Blaine propped himself up on his elbow and started to kneed the tension out of Kurt's neck and shoulders. "I love spending time as a family, but Rose on that much sugar is not something I ever want to see again, at least not for a very long time."
"Aww...it wasn't so bad. It didn't go quite as we expected, but I thought it was fun," Blaine said, finishing his ministrations with a brief squeeze to Kurt's shoulder, and snuggling down so that his body was half covering Kurt's and he could whisper in his ear. "I sort of...liked seeing Rosie...you know, interacting with another kid."
Kurt went still under Blaine and quickly flipped onto his back so he could face him, "are you trying to say what I think you're trying to say?" Kurt asked with an unreadable look on his face.
Blaine quickly tried to back track, "I mean, if you're not ready. I know we discussed having another kid, but it was a long time ago. I totally understand if you've changed..."
Blaine couldn't go any further because Kurt had pulled him in for a searing kiss, "how do you always manage to read my mind," Kurt said with a glossy, disbelieving look in his eye. "I am so ready to have another kid with you."
"Even if it means double sugar rush on Halloween?" Blaine asked with a cheeky smirk.
"I think I can struggle through," Kurt said with a laugh, pulling Blaine in for more kisses. They would have to talk about it more, but that could wait until tomorrow. For now, all Kurt wanted was to spend the night enjoying the warmth of Blaine's arms around him.