IT'S NOT FLESH AND BLOOD BUT THE HEART
(which makes us fathers and sons)

The Hamptons in summer were filled with outrageously rich people showing off their wealth to one another. They would spend the whole year preparing for it, so they meant serious business.

No day passed without a party in one of the big houses, a brunch on some yacht or a rich people's version of a simple picnic, which included security guarding the perimeter of a park – reserved just for the guests – champagne and caviar. Everyone was always invited either because their presence would increase the importance of the event or because they had to see how much more wealthy their hosts were. The only people around were adults. Kids and teens were usually sent abroad for the summer, where they would spend their time and their parents' money in way normal people couldn't even imagine.

Blaine knew it wasn't exactly the funniest place to take his five years old children on vacation, but it would have to do for the moment. Hopefully in six months he would be granted permission to take the twins out of the States for a week or two and he would show them Europe for the first time. For now, they had to make do with the Hamptons.

Luckily, he seemed the only one to mind. They all had been overly excited since he broke the news during dinner three weeks before. None of them had ever seen the old house he had reacquired and by the way they were imagine it, Blaine was really hoping they would not be left disappointed. It was one of those old beautiful houses all painted in white, with columns on the front and a huge park all around it. It would be huge if compared with the apartment they had in Lima, but very small if compared with all the other houses around it. He wasn't really worried about the twins noticing – they would be too busy exploring the place – but with kids you could never know. Lately, Harper made a habit of telling everyone what she thought of them, and she was unforgiving. You couldn't be fat, small, ugly or bald without her telling you so with the tone of someone who expected you to do something about it. For a man used to embarrass other people, Blaine experienced quite a few awkward moments in the past few weeks.

“Are we ready?” He asked. He hoped the answer was yes because the SUV was already more loaded with luggage than he felt comfortable with. It was already enough that he had to sell the Audi. He really couldn't bear to ride around in a car that screamed out loud that he was a family man, now. That didn't work well with his mid-life crisis.

“Wait! What about this?”

Blaine sighed and looked at the first aid kit Cody was showing to him. It was not the little box that could be shoved in the trunk and left there in case someone fell and scratched his knees or little more. It was a suitcase and, by the size of it, it contained some Frankenstein-like equipment to resurrect a corpse given the right amount of cut-and-sew and a proper storm. “Don't you think you're a little overacting here, pet?”

“What if they hurt themselves?”

“I think it's safe to say that a box of band aids will be enough,” Blaine smiled.
Most of the times band aids were all that was needed. Band aids – especially the cute ones with cartoons on them – worked with everything, including tummy aches. You kissed the hurting part and put a band aid on it, both Harper and Logan would consider themselves cured.

“What if something happens to them?” Cody insisted.

Blaine gently took the first aid suitcase from his hands and brought it back in the house. “Nothing will happen. Besides, we're going to the Hamptons, not in the desert. It's only a four hours car trip and there's plenty of hospitals there. Actually, you can say that doctors are all there is in the Hamptons. There's no need to worry.”

Luckily he had never got rid of his loft in New York or either they would have been forced to take two flights or, in the worst case scenario, embark in a thirteen hours car trip with two little kids, which pretty much accounted for suicide. Instead, they had spent one of his three weeks with the kids in New York and they were going to spend the most part of the remaining two in the Hamptons before going back home in Lima.

“Come on, pet. Everything's gonna be fine,” Blaine smiled even more, hoping this would be enough to stop his boyfriend to freak out. This was not the first time Cody had to deal with the kids more than one night, but somehow this happening away from Lima upset him greatly.

Cody took a deep breath and then nodded. “Alright. Sorry. I was just--”

“Freaking out, I know.” Blaine chuckled and kissed him on his forehead. “Go get them, I'll start the car. We need to get going.”

Cody disappeared in the house again and when he came back, he was holding a very sleepy Logan in his arms and holding Harper by the hand. The sight made Blaine smiled warmly. Cody was so good with them; it didn't really take long for them to like him. Actually, Harper was amazed by his ability to draw everything she asked him to and Logan went as far as declaring he was going to marry him when he grew up, and would follow him around everywhere he went. Really, Blaine couldn't ask for more.

The only way this could have been more perfect was if Timmy had been with them, but that would have taken much more time. He was a teen, which was a synonym for pain in the ass. Unlike his younger siblings, he couldn't be convinced to try and see if this new arrangement in their lives would work. Timmy simply thought that it was like giving up, clearly avoiding acknowledging that there was nothing to give up on anymore. He was angry with him and still felt a vague sense of betrayal that he was the only one to feel by now. Hopefully, his father was going to use this time alone with him to discuss it once again. If, by the end of the year, Blaine was going to spend Christmas with all three of his children, he would have considered it a success.

The trip was just half the nightmare he had thought it would have been. Logan threw up only twice and, except Harper's usual twenty minutes long fit about her wanting to listen to her favorite song over and over, everything went quite smoothly. They even saw some ducks with their ducklings in the little pond near a service station, which filled the kids with wonder as they had never seen a real duckling before. Harper kept pointing at the little yellow animals while her brother screamed in joy and jumped on the spot in the grip of pure ecstasy.

It was almost dinnertime when they arrived, and the kids were barely enough awake to eat at that point. Blaine ordered pizza and left them chewing at it in front of the TV as he helped Cody unpack. He entered their bedroom with the last of the suitcases and dropped on the bed, looking at him upside down. “I must be the worst father in the world right now,” he chuckled.

“And why is that?” Cody's sweet smile was always a balm for him, whether he was tired or sad. Luckily, this time it was only the former.

“My kids are dining in front of the TV with pizza. Can it be any worse than that?”

Cody chuckled. “I don't think that's so bad. They're not really watching TV, just looking at it. They are too sleepy to do more than chewing at the moment. I was the same. After a long trip you could have placed me in front of a shoebox and I would stare at it as it were interesting. I would not be even aware of where I was. It was like I was sleeping already but with my eyes open.”

“That's terrifying,” Blaine commented.

“A little,” Cody agreed, good-humouredly. Then he screamed when Blaine suddenly grabbed him by his hips and dragged him down on the bed. “Blaine!”

Blaine laughed like a kid and hugged him, leaving a playful kiss on his temple. “You're so cute when I get you by surprise. It's like, you never see it coming,” he murmured against his cheek.

“Shut up,” Cody said in that pale imitation of pout he could manage. It had been something new for Blaine. Cody never really pouted. Never really got mad at him or in general. If something was wrong with him or with them, he would say it. Even though he couldn't and didn't want to make parallelisms, life was indeed easier. At least in that.

Blaine laughed again. “Okay, let's do this. Why don't we put the kids to bed and then I make up to you for this disgraceful act of silliness towards you?” He proposed.

Cody pretended to be thinking about it. “I'll let you know if I see the solution fit,” he said and then laughed when Blaine tickled him.

“Were you saying?”

“Alright, alright!” Cody chuckled, fidgeting in his arms as he tried to get free. “I get it. Go take care of the kids. I'll be right here.”

Blaine instantly stopped tickling him. “Don't you want to help me?” He asked. “You've been declared the second best story teller of the family. It's an honor!”

“And I'm really grateful for that. But do you really think they need a story today?”

They didn't, but it was cute to have Cody there while he was saying goodnight, so Blaine brought him too. The twins' room was big enough for the two of them. It had been Timmy's room when he was little and he had had too many toys to fit elsewhere. Now that he was seventeen, the room at the end of the hallway was enough for him. Blaine had put a TV in there and a computer and everything he thought his son could like. He couldn't wait for him to see that. However, this was the last of his problems with him now and he really needed to put the whole Timmy thing aside if he wanted to enjoy this time with the twins.

Cody read this in his eyes and gently pulled him back to their room again.

*

“Everything's gonna be fine,” Cody said as he pushed him on the bed.

As far as Blaine remembered, this was what Cody said to him when everything went downhill, and he was also the first person who took the time to say it to him. Blaine had needed badly to hear those words, but he was alone, he was the one to blame. Nobody would care to reassure him that he was not going to die for the pain. Cody was there for him, even though he was not sure that he was going to be wanted after everything was said and done.

Blaine could not thank Cody enough for sticking with him without asking for anything. Knowing what both of them had done to Blaine's possible marriage, Cody had not tried to fill a place he was not supposed to take. Even now that everything was decided, Cody was building a new life at his side, without trying – even for a moment – to mimic the one Blaine had had before. He obviously took it in great consideration, but that was it. Blaine was sure this was the reason why everything went quite well in the end. Cody always knew when to stand aside and let Blaine deal with the other important things in his life. Cody was insecure about many things but not Blaine's love for him – possibly because Blaine had never failed him in that sense – so he could let Blaine's old life come between them every once in a while because he didn't feel threatened at all.

Blaine was quiet sure it wouldn't have worked the other way around.

He pulled Cody closer and nuzzled his neck. “It's already fine,” he smiled, leaving a little kiss there. “I promise you, this is gonna be the best holiday you've ever had.”

Cody chuckled, a hand playing messily in Blaine's hair and his nose pushing childishly against Blaine's. “It already is.”

There was something entrancing in the sweet way they were whispering reassurances to one another and it didn't take long before it led them to another path, which was filled with desire as much as it was with tenderness. Those two things seemed always to call for each other in Blaine's head.

He kissed his way along Cody's jawline up to his cherry-red full lips. He enjoyed their taste and the way they instantly gave in, letting him inside his mouth. Cody's compliance was never weak but trustful, which made it even more precious. Cody was not the fragile thing he had been when he was younger. He had actually proved himself to be way stronger than Blaine in many ways, but what he was doing now – not only the sex but being with him, with his kids, starting this new life with him – was more than just accepting him. Each day they spent together, Cody was willingly giving Blaine ways to hurt him badly if he ever screwed up. And Blaine was well aware of that.

That was why he had promised to himself to never do the same mistake again.

Cody unbuttoned his shirt, slipping gentle fingers underneath it as soon as Blaine's chest was revealed. He stroked him gently, his mouth and hands both waking him up, inviting more than asking him to respond to his ministrations. All that once was Cody – his cuteness, his shyness – was still there, but the way he moved on him, the way he touched him spoke of self-control and self-awareness.

Cody had changed in those last few years. He grew up away from Blaine and came back to him, and that was refreshing and healthy in ways Blaine couldn't even begin to explain. He was responsible for the way he treated him now, not for what he had become. And he became marvelous, and Blaine loved him.

Blaine undressed him quickly, getting rid of the t-shirt and jeans and hoodie that triggered some parts of his brains and always left him breathless and sadder than when they had begun. Only when he had Cody's naked body in his arms he felt at peace, able to discern what was now and what had been just by smelling his skin, recognizing Cody's scent.

Cody slowly parted his legs, making room for his body. He welcomed him between his tights with a low groan filled with ill-concealed desire. Blaine ground down on him, slowly turning every sound Cody was making into lustful moans. One strong rub after the other he watched as Cody descended into that state where he didn't know nor care what was happening around him. One kiss after the other he brought Cody to press against himself, pleading him silently, the dark blue of his glaze piercing him through heavy eyelids.

Blaine entered him in one single but agonizingly slow thrust. His eyes never left Cody's face to catch all the smallest changes in it as he was opening him up inch by inch. Cody bit at his lower lip, staring back at him and closing strongly around him as soon as Blaine's cock was completely sheathed deep in his body. For a moment they were still, enjoying the feeling of being so close to each other, only tasting the pleasure that was about to come. And then Blaine moved, breaking the silence with both his grunts and Cody's desperate moans.

Cody's fingers sunk deeper in Blaine's shoulders, and the man's hands closed around Cody's slim hips, pulling him closer, keeping him still as, thrust after thrust, he declared his desire for him, his love, and the need he had to feel him under his fingertips. Cody responded with the same intensity as he matched his strong thrusts, searching for his lips and asking for kisses that had always been about to come anyway.

Soon the room was filled with their voices, softened by preying lips to keep them quiet.
Blaine let him come first, and kept him stroking him gently as he came too, riding the last shivers of both their bodies. Just a moment passed before they were hugging and kissing, already settling down in the perfect enclosed world they had just created.

*

The day after was madness.

To keep them quiet during the trip, Blaine had told the kids they were going to the beach as soon as they got to the Hamptons. By the time they actually got to the house, Harper and Logan had been too tired to do anything but sleep and Blaine had made the horrible mistake of thinking that they weren't going to remember what he had promised them. He should have known better.

So, at nine o'clock sharp – basically dawn on a vacation day – Harper came knocking at their door, followed by her sleeping brother holding the entirety of his blankets. Knocking had been a hard concept to grasp for Harper. Before her father took her aside and explained to her that adults need a thing called privacy, she would burst into every room without asking anything. It had took all her parents ability to dissimulate what they were doing when she came in in the middle of the night, and all their patience to make her learn. Eventually, she did understood but she was still not getting why.

“Come in”, Blaine sighed, after he and Cody had put some pants on.

Harper pushed the door open and Blaine was amused to see that she was already wearing her miniature pink bikini. It was a frilly thing, made out of a butterflies fantasy fabric. Blaine was ready to bet the top would be thrown away within ten minutes from their arrival on the beach. “Can we go to the beach now?” She asked, while her brother lifted both his arms so Cody could pick him up and place him on the bed.

“Don't you want to have breakfast first?” Blaine asked, hopefully.

She shook her head. “Dad said I can't go to swim if I have breakfast,” she explained.

“Dad is right,” Blaine nodded, picking her up too.

“I wanna swim,” Harper said again.

“I wanna swim too,” Logan nodded eagerly. “But I'm hungry.”

Blaine laughed wholeheartedly. “What about we put some pants on...” he said, tickling Harper's tummy and making her chuckle, “we go to the beach, have a quick dip and have breakfast on the beach? What do you say?”

“Yes!” Both kids screamed.

“Will Cody come too?” Logan asked after a moment of hesitation.

“Do you want him to?” Blaine asked. Logan nodded eagerly. “Then, I think he will come. Is it okay for you, pet?”

Cody nodded too. “I wanted to go to the beach early anyway,” he said. “Less people.”
Blaine wasn't sure they were going to be able to take the kids back home before the crowd arrived but he preferred not to say anything to keep both Cody's hopes and his own up.

Getting ready didn't take much time.
Harper stuffed her little backpack with beach toys by herself with a little help from Logan, and they were out of the house just half an hour later, heading for the nearest beach. The kids were ecstatic, literally bunching in their baby seats. Logan asked all kind of questions. How big the ocean was. If it was bigger than their house. If there were sharks in it, to which his sister answered yes, panicking him. Luckily, everything was forgotten when the blue line of the water appeared behind a curve of the street.

Logan's first experience with the ocean ended in tears.
Despite being in his father arms and the water being barely lapping at his knees, he was scared to drown and just screamed and cried that he wanted to go back to the sand where nothing were moving under his tiny feet. Then, after seeing his sister fearlessly conquering the weaves, he entered the water again and magically salt water was not a problem anymore. Even dropping on all his four and barely having his head out of the water didn't scare him anymore.

A cute breakfast on the beach, consisting in fruits, followed. Logan, in particular, was very happy with peaches because he was a great fan of them, even if he couldn't eat them properly for his life and needed Cody's help to peel them and actually put them in his mouth. After that, Blaine could righteously sunbath, with his son sprawled on a miniature beach towel next to him, doing exactly the same, while Harper coerced Cody into making sandcastles, one bigger and more ornate than the other, forgetting that he was an illustrator and not a sculptor. However, since her uncle Adam always made sandcastles with her at the park, and he drew and did sculptures, then in Harper's eyes there was no difference between Cody and Adam's ability. Cody would have liked to disagree, but he kept quiet and complied to the little dictator's orders.

Blaine was really content for the first time in months, probably.

Things had been rough at the beginning with all the fights, the screaming, and the calls from their lawyers. They had even gone as far as threatening one another of taking away the kids. Luckily, at some point they calmed down before doing something stupid. They had met and talked, and it had been awful and full of all those mixed feelings that had always brought them back together in the past. However, this time one of them was too angry and hurt to forgive, and the other too tired to fight for something that he felt he had no hope to get back in the end.

After taking the decision, everything had been easier. They knew what they had to do, so they started to cooperate. A schedule popped out. The kids had now two homes, but they had made sure that they were twice as loved. Obviously, something was still awkward. They still couldn't look at each other when they brought the kids over, they could still not talk over the phone without hanging up as soon as possible, saying just what they needed to say. It was going to take time, Blaine knew it, but at least they were going the right way this time.

The only missing piece of the puzzle really was Timmy. That was why Blaine suddenly sat up when his eldest son's name showed up on his cellphone's display. “Hello?” He asked, hesitantly. Timmy had stopped talking to him the moment he had known what he had done. Therefore, the first thing that came in Blaine's mind was that something had happened and he worried.

“Hi,” Timmy's voice was grumpy, struggling to come out. Not that much of a news, actually.
Puberty had hit him, lately, and in the worst way possible.

“Hi Timmy,” Blaine said. “Is everything okay?”
For a moment, Timmy didn't answer. Blaine's heart skipped a beat. In his mind all kind of bad scenarios took place, and he was ready to pack everything up and go back to Lima.

“Yes, everything's fine,” Timmy said, eventually. “Dad wants to know if you arrived safely. You didn't call yesterday.”

Blaine smiled at his I didn't want to call, dad made me tone. He was coerced into calling him. That had been clever from his dad. “Yes, everything's fine,” Blaine answered. He tried to speak naturally, like Timmy calling wasn't a big deal or something he was expecting from him. Timmy was so mad that he thought he had the right to punish him by not speaking to him, and Blaine didn't want to diminish that. “Tell your father I'm sorry if I didn't call. We all fell asleep as soon as we arrived. The kids are alright, tho. They're having fun.”

There was another pause and Blaine held his breath. Timmy had said what he had to say already and he could close the call if he wanted to. Yet, he wasn't hanging up. Blaine heard him sigh. “What are they doing?” Timmy asked, eventually.

Blaine smiled and looked over at Cody who had caught his son's name and was now looking at him, waiting to see what was going to happen. “Oh, you should see them,” Blaine answered, and then proceeded to tell Timmy what his little siblings were about to.

Maybe they weren't going to talk about their problem. The problem, Timmy's anger and his sense of betrayal were still going to be there for a long time. Nevertheless this was a first step. Blaine really couldn't ask for more. And he wasn't going to.