Title: Animalium (Of Animals)
Summary: "We're known as animalium." - There were many stories Blaine had heard growing up about the humans who weren't so human. They were feared, different.

A/N: So I was amusing myself looking at art of Kurt as different animals this morning and well.. this came out. It's something new for me but it was interesting to write. This is also partially written for cass-dawg who requested a chapter like this in 'Hug.' Well, you got an entire fic instead. Enjoy :)

There were many stories Blaine had heard growing up about the humans who weren't so human. They were feared, different, and before he'd really worked them out for himself, he'd spent nights awake, fearing men with claws or razors for teeth. No one told him how far away from the truth that really was.

At the age of sixteen, he saw one. It stopped him on a staircase and asked for help and Blaine blinked up at it – no, him – and stumbled over a breath. He was beautiful. Tall, pale and the opposite of every whisper and rumor he'd ever heard. He may be not-so-human but he certainly felt like a fully formed, normal boy as Blaine took his hand and pulled him through corridors and as he sang, there seemed nothing wrong with the slight twitch of Kurt's chestnut ears, that sat a top his head, between strands of perfectly styled hair. He quite literally blushed to the tips of them, the insides turning a darker shade, as Blaine flashed him a smile and passed him coffee.

Courage, Blaine had said to him. Courage.

Blaine took a little of that courage for himself a month or two later. Kurt lay stretched out on his front on his dorm bed, tail waving aimlessly from side to side as he flicked through their latest set text, pen scribbling over the page every now and then and Blaine watched him intently from his place by the desk.

"Kurt?" Kurt hummed in response and didn't look away from his work. Blaine twiddled his thumbs in his lap and kicked lightly at the floor. "Can I ask you something?"

"Two seconds." Kurt made a final note in his book, slid his pen inside as a place keeper and looked up at Blaine. "Ask away."

Blaine cleared his throat. "It's uh, about your ears and tail." Kurt pressed his lips together and nodded. "I don't want to seem rude or anything but I don't know anything about this stuff except for stories when I was little." He couldn't quite read Kurt's expression so he said quietly, "I want to understand."

Kurt stayed silent for a long while. His tail had stopped moving and there was only the occasional movement of an ear. "We're known as animalium." Blaine sat patiently, waiting for more. "It's Latin for 'of animals.' No one quite knows how long we've existed, but the name was thought to have come about during the years that Latin died out as a spoken language on its own. It's…" He stopped for a moment and swung his legs around to sit cross-legged with his hands curled around his knees. "It was after that many went into hiding. Although we had a name, which meant people were accepting our existence, they weren't ready to accept what we actually are. Like I said, the translation is 'of animals' and that has a lot of bad connotations for a lot of people. Some even believe we're born through bestiality." Blaine's breath audibly hitched and Kurt scratched irritably at his thigh. "We're not of course, but they won't think for a second that human DNA could go this wrong." He lifted his arms a little, looked down at himself then dropped them with a sigh. "I don't know how it happened or how it still happens, but it does," he shrugged. He glanced up at Blaine who had his head cocked to one side with an almost shy smile on his face.

"I don't think it went wrong. It's just another quirk of the human race."

One corner of Kurt's mouth twitched up. "Yes, well. Not everyone would agree." An awkward silence settled between them. "Um, do you want to know any of the science or anything? I don't know a lot but-"

"Yeah," Blaine nodded. "I mean- just… yeah."

"Well we all have a string of DNA that differs from humans. It's not the exact copy of the animal we have the traits of but there are elements of it in there and depending on how much each one of us has, it changes how much of an animal we are. Many of us have a small amount so they look like me with just ears and a tail. It's incredibly rare for us to have more than around 20% of an animals DNA but uh…" He drummed his fingers once on his kneecap. "Have you heard of centaurs?"

"They're real!" Blaine said before he could stop himself. He clapped a hand over his mouth and mumbled an apology into it. Kurt reassured him it was fine and continued.

"They've become parts of myths and legends over time because nothing quite like them has existed for a long time. There was only a few of them and they each had no more than 70% of animal DNA."

"Wow," Blaine breathed, slipping down a little in his chair. "So you have 20% of a cats DNA?"

"Mmmhmmm. Most of it contributes to the tail and the ears but some of it is hormonal and… stuff."

"Stuff?" Blaine asked with a slight laugh.

Kurt waved a hand around in thought. "It's like we take on some animal behaviours, so sometimes I can have a craving for milk. Things like that."

"Ah," Blaine nodded. "Thank you," he then added. "For telling me all that."

Kurt smiled and rubbed a hand over one of his cat ears. "It's fine. A lot of humans are scared to ask in case they don't like what they hear. They don't want to understand."

"I'm not a lot of humans." Blaine swung back round to the desk, leaving Kurt to blink at the back of his head with wide eyes, mouth slightly agape.

Blaine chewed on the end of his pen, work forgotten, as he stared at Kurt across the room, giggling and singing along with Nick and Jeff every now and then. Kurt was sat on the sofa opposite the two boys, his tail curving up behind his back and curling away from his head, occasionally rippling against his spine as he laughed. Wes plopped himself down next to Blaine and nudged him in the shoulder.

"You could just tell him you know?"

"Hmm?" Blaine hummed absently, turning his head slowly away from Kurt. Wes rolled his eyes and clicked his tongue.

"Tell him you like him."

"But I-"

Wes raised a finger to silence him. "Everyone from here to the South Pole can see you do." Blaine shrunk a little and tapped his pen nervously against his palm. Wes eyed him curiously. "I was only joking, Blaine. I didn't mean to be rude or anything."

"No, no, it's fine," Blaine said in a rush. "I do like him but he told me a few things the other day that got me thinking is all."

"Can I ask what they were?"

Blaine's gaze flicked briefly to Kurt who flushed as he looked away. The inside of his ears darkened like they had the first time Blaine sung to him. "I, uh-"

"I understand if he's trusting you with some private information," Wes said, raising his hands. "I'll ask no more."

Blaine scratched at his forehead. "He thinks no one will ever love him."

"Oh. Because of…"

"Yeah," Blaine sighed, dropping his chin to his chest. "I'm scared he'll think I'm doing it out of pity."

Wes looked over at Kurt to catch him eyeing Blaine again, nibbling lightly on his bottom lip. "Maybe you should try telling him anyway. You're good friends and if it doesn't work out, you'll still have that."

"Mmm." Blaine twirled his pen through his fingers and smiled up at Wes. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Wes grinned, delving into his bag and laying his own work out on the table, distracting Blaine with algebra for a good portion of the afternoon.

"I," Kurt said as he burst into Blaine's room, kicking the door shut behind him, "need a cat nap." Blaine was sat up against his pillows reading and he remained still as Kurt crawled onto the bed, took the book from his lap and curled into his side. Kurt maneuvered one of Blaine's arms to lie across his shoulders and Blaine looked down at the top of Kurt's head where it rested against his chest. His ears were still and Blaine lifted a curious hand to trail his index finger from the tip to the base of the left one. Kurt made a content noise and rubbed his cheek against Blaine's t-shirt, just over his heart where Blaine was sure he'd be able to feel the steadily increasing thump.

"I like your ears," Blaine said absently, now running all four fingers over the one he'd previously touched. It twitched a little against his fingers.

"They're weird," Kurt mumbled. "And useless." Despite his words, he arched into Blaine's hand where his fingers now tangled through his hair between the ears and his thumb flicked at the pointed tip of one.

"Can you hear through them?"

"No. Hence the useless."

"You can feel me touching them though?" Blaine got his answer, although he already knew it, as he scratched lightly at one ear, smiling as Kurt squirmed a little. He stopped when he felt a small vibration rumble through Kurt's chest. "Was that-"

"No," Kurt said quickly. Blaine brought his hand down to the back of Kurt's head and scraped his nails lightly against Kurt's skin through his hair. "Blaine," he whined, curling his fingers into Blaine's shirt as it happened again.

"You're purring," Blaine grinned. Kurt shook his head and pushed away to sit at the other end of the bed. He crossed his arms and refused to meet Blaine's gaze. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No its… I'm just not used to it. It hasn't happened since I was little, when my Dad would scratch behind my ears." Kurt continued more quietly. "It's sort of an… affection thing. I- I thought it was just a family thing but I guess it happens when someone… special does it."

Blaine swallowed heavily. "I'm someone special?"

"Yeah," Kurt whispered. "You mean a lot to me."

"Can you come back over here?" Blaine traced a pattern over the duvet where Kurt was sat before. "I won't touch your ears or anything if you don't want." Kurt slowly moved back up the bed, settling into the position he was before. He looked at down at their feet and stretched his socked toes out against Blaine's bare ankle.

"I don't mean to get weird about stuff sometimes," he said after a while. "I'm still learning new things though and I get a little scared."

"It's okay. We'll learn together." Blaine squeezed Kurt's bicep where his hand rested. "Do you want to watch a movie? Sound of Music's already in the player." Kurt's ears perked up and Blaine chuckled. "I'll take that as a yes."

"That's a hell yes."

Kurt fell asleep during Favourite Things and Blaine refrained from stroking over his ears. Even if Kurt wasn't conscious, Blaine couldn't betray his trust. Instead he ran his hand up and down Kurt's spine in a long, firm line. Kurt snuffled lightly every once in a while and his tail moved a little with the noise, eventually winding once around Blaine's forearm.

"Animal behaviour indeed," Blaine said to himself with a smile.

"Oh my God," Kurt groaned as he woke up, blinking against the light. He slumped against the bed, frowning as he rolled over into someone else.

"Whazzah?" Kurt lifted his head and snorted as he took in the sight of Blaine. His hair was mussed, falling in gel covered curls over his forehead. He looked down at Kurt. "Oh… hey."

"Hey," Kurt smiled, settling on his front with an arm bent across Blaine's stomach just under his chest and his chin resting on the back of his palm. "How quickly did I fall asleep?"

"Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes," Blaine sang.

"Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes," Kurt continued, bobbing his head from side to side. Blaine laughed a little and trailed off into a sigh. He reached out a hand to move a piece of hair from Kurt's forehead but pulled it back at the last moment to scratch at the back of his neck.

"How you doing?"

"Okay," Kurt shrugged. Blaine kept watching him, seeing the blue fade into flecks of green and brown around his pupils.

"You know what you said yesterday about me being special?" Kurt flushed a little and nodded. "Is it okay if you're someone special to me too?"

"I thought it was a mutual thing anyway," Kurt said quietly. Blaine's eyes flicked to his tail as it straightened up towards the ceiling then folded forward into a loose curl over his back. Blaine then looked past it into empty space.

"I like you, Kurt."

"As… more than friends?" Kurt asked hesitantly, picking at the side of Blaine's t-shirt with his free hand.

Blaine nodded and ran a hand over his face. "I wanted to tell you before but when you talked to me about thinking no one could love you… I didn't know how you'd react."

"Sorry." Kurt got up onto his knees and sat back on his heels.

As Blaine sat himself up against the headboard he said, "No, don't apologise. Everyone has that fear and I can't imagine what it's like for your kind. But I really do like you, Kurt." He gave Kurt an earnest look and was glad when he shuffled a little closer, to kneel by his torso. He drew patterns on Kurt's knee, watching his finger move around. "It's not pity, I promise." He glanced up at Kurt. "You're beautiful. I've thought so since the staircase."

Kurt's own hand moved along his thigh and he reached his index finger out to knock against Blaine's. They danced around each other for a while then locked together. "So you actually do like my ears?"

"And your tail," Blaine added. "It adds to who you are. They've made you, well, you."

"And you like me?" Kurt asked shyly, twisting their linked fingers and unfurling the others as Blaine did the same so they slid over each other.

"I do." Blaine flattened their palms against each other and slotted his fingers into the spaces between Kurt's. Kurt's breath caught in his throat and he coughed lightly, drawing Blaine's attention. "Are you scared?"

"Not of you," Kurt said slowly. "I don't really know what of."

Blaine squeezed his hand. "It's okay. We'll learn together."

Kurt smiled and moved a little closer so his knees pushed against Blaine's hip. He swallowed and leant towards Blaine, splaying his free hand out over his chest. Blaine kept his eyes trained on Kurt's, afraid that if he blinked, he might be gone. The contact was lost as Kurt glanced down at his mouth, faces hovering close and both of them slid into darkness as Kurt twisted down just so and pressed their lips together. Blaine exhaled heavily through his nose at the feel of Kurt's eyelashes fluttering against his temple. His free hand lingered over Kurt's shoulder and he finally let it fall, swiping his thumb over the collarbone below. The unfamiliar rumble pulsed through Kurt's chest and he moaned against Blaine's mouth before pulling away.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly, petting at Blaine's chest. "Still not used to that."

"I like that too," Blaine murmured. He kissed at Kurt's collarbone through his shirt and Kurt shivered, closing his eyes and biting his lip through the purr. Blaine pulled back, seeing Kurt's tail ripple from base to tip out of the corner of his eye. "I like knowing I'm the only one who can make you do that."

"It- it's nice," Kurt said, eyes still closed. Blaine kissed him once then slumped back down to the bed. Kurt's eyes opened and he took his legs out from under himself, keeping his and Blaine's hands joined between them. Without another word, Kurt settled beside him, much like the night before, and Blaine set the DVD player going, singing idly along with the music and playing with Kurt's ears just to hear him purr.

They arrived early to Warbler practice the next week. Blaine fell into one of the sofas with an exhausted sigh and Kurt did the same, throwing his legs over Blaine's lap and lolling his head against the top of the sofa cushion, one of his ears slightly rubbing against Blaine's arm that lay across it. Blaine opened his mouth to speak when Wes' head popped between them. He grinned at Blaine.

"You told him then?"

Kurt lifted an arm and pressed two fingers to Wes' forehead, pushing him backwards. "Don't ask questions you know the answer to."

"Aww he's a grumpy kitty today," Jeff said with a pout as he came in with Nick. Kurt rolled his eyes and Blaine scratched at his scalp while looking at Jeff.

"He knows how to hiss, Jeff." He arched an eyebrow. "It's kinda scary."

Jeff crossed his arms over his chest. "That's an unfair advantage. I could hiss back but it would be unimpressive." Nick began to hum and Kurt threw a cushion at him as he recognized the tune.

"What?" Blaine frowned, looking between the two.

"Everybody wants to be a cat," Nick sang. "Because a cat's the only cat, who knows where it's at."

Blaine groaned and followed Kurt's lead by throwing a cushion. "Don't be cruel."

"Everybody's pickin' up on that feline beat," David danced into the room, clicking his fingers, "'cause everything is obsolete." Kurt giggled a little as they continued, Warblers slowly filing into the room and joining in. Blaine played with the fur of Kurt's tail as he slid its tip through his fingers, watching Kurt with a smile as the other boys sang.

Courage, Blaine had said. And courage Kurt had.

Leave a review on your way out? :)