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Prologue
Burt Hummel pulled the collar of his jacket to try and block the piercing wind from his face. 'Damn weather… of all days for my car to stop working... I couldn't even fix the damn thing in this weather.'
He ducked into a nearby coffee shop and ordered himself a coffee, to ease some of the numbness in his fingers. He sat down at a window seat and sighed after removing the cup from his lips and looked out the window to watch the bustling people on the sidewalk, all rushing to get somewhere warm and away from the cold. 'Huh, looks like everyone's rushing home.' He checked the time on the clock and sighed, "I guess I should be too, unless I want to camp out here and leave Kurt alone at home…"
He stood up to leave and looked out the window one last time; right before he turned he spotted something moving across the street in an alley. He shook his head and rubbed his hands together to add a little more heat to them before walking out the door of the coffee shop. He looked back at the alley one last time before walking away, 'Kurt would kill me if he found out I was contemplating going into a dark alley. I swear that kid is more of an adult than I am.'
Caught up into his thoughts, he didn't realize the big puddle next to him until he was covered head to toe with dirty water. He narrowed his eyes at the car and cursed a little, "Oh, now of all things… why did…"
He tried to squeeze the water out of most of his clothing but stopped when he heard a faint whimper. He listened again and could hear it a second time; he tried following the sound and his eye trailed onto a box at the corner of a building just next to him. He looked around before approaching cautiously; upon closer inspection, he could make out the faint words of 'free puppies.' He blinked and took a peek into the box; inside he found a puppy with dark brown semi-curly fur, absolutely soaked to the bone, 'no doubt that the crazy driver had aided in that a little' he thought when he saw that it was in close range from where he was standing.
He bent down and inspected the puppy and raised his eyebrows when it looked back at him with huge hazel eyes. He softened up when the pup gave him a hopeful look; "Hey little buddy," he reached in to scratch the wet fur behind its ears, the pup shyly standing from its corner. "That guy soaked us up pretty good, didn't he?" It whimpered in response and he chuckled, "Yeah, probably some crazy kid behind the wheel." Burt took one more look at the pup's big hazel eyes before picking it up and holding it close, "Come on, I know someplace we can both warm up and get dry."
Burt smiled when he saw the puppy sleeping and kept moving towards home, 'Won't Kurt be surprised.' His smile got even bigger at the thought.
At the sight of his house, Burt rushed and closed the door behind him. "Kurt, I'm home!" He could hear the running steps of his little boy and walked into the kitchen to find a dry towel. As soon as he found one, he wrapped up the little pup in it and turned at the sound of his boy.
"Daddy? Where are you?"
"I'm in the kitchen, Kurt." He could hear quieted steps coming towards his direction.
"Daddy, you made a mess! There's water everywhere!" He looked up at Kurt, who tried to look as reprimanding as any 7 year old boy could. He then watched as his face grew worried, "Daddy, why are you all wet? Was it raining really hard? I told you to bring an umbrella!"
Burt chuckled and shook his head, "Nah, I told you it would slow me down." Kurt gave him a look that he could only roll his eyes at; he motioned for him to come closer, "Hey, can you do something for me?"
"I will gladly pick out some dry clothes."
He laughed, "No, no," he held out the towel bundle, "Would you mind taking of care of this for me?"
Kurt blinked and walked forward, "What is it…?"
Burt smiled, "Just bring it upstairs and unwrap it there. You'll know what to do afterwards."
Kurt was skeptical of his dad's instructions, but followed them, nevertheless. He walked upstairs to his room and put the bundle onto his bed. He stared at it for a while before slowly unwrapping the towel; his eyes grew big at the sight of the puppy! He blinked once and again before looking around to see if he was imagining things. Once he was satisfied it wasn't a dream, he drew closer to the sleeping animal. He wasn't really sure what to feel about a pet; pets, besides goldfish, were messy and needed a lot of attention. 'What am I supposed to…' he trailed off when the pup opened its eyes and he found hazel staring back at him.
'No… wait, that's not just hazel…' There were specks of green and gold all mixed up and he couldn't help but fall in love with them. He blinked and stared at the puppy before slowly reaching over; it flinched and withdrew a little but he held his hand midair. He slowly, but surely, made his way over and scratched the pup behind his ears. He smiled when he saw the pup start pushing back against his hand.
"Hello there." He kept scratching its ears before he noticed that the pup was still slightly shivering, despite the warmth of his room. "Oh… you must still be cold… oh, I know!"
He gently picked the pup up and walked to the bathroom, holding it close. He set the puppy down into the bathtub before going over to the cabinet. He had to stand on top of the toilet cover to reach it, and took out a blow dryer. He plugged it in and turned it on high; he saw the puppy flinch and withdraw again so he turned it off. He set it down and went over to the pup; he scratched the back of his ears until it calmed down. "I'm sorry, look," he picked up the hair dryer again and set it on low, "It's not so bad," he aimed it at himself and turned it away.
The puppy blinked up at him and he took this as an okay to turn it towards it. He giggled when he saw the puppy shake his fur and lean towards the hot air. During this little session, Kurt realized that the puppy was a 'he' and kept it locked in his mind as he turned the dryer off. He smiled at him, "Better?"
"Bark!" Kurt's smile got even bigger at the first sound of the puppy
"Sound like someone's doing better!"
Kurt turned around to see his dad standing in the doorway, "Daddy, he' so small!" he smiled widely.
Burt chuckled and moved forward to pet the puppy, who leaned into his touch. "I know, and the poor thing was left all alone out there."
Kurt grew sad at the mention of loneliness and hugged the puppy. He knew the feeling pretty well. He turned towards his dad, "Can we… can we…?" he bit his lip.
"Kurt," he looked up at him, "I didn't bring him home just to put him outside again. He's family now and nobody from our family belongs on the streets." Kurt's smile made Burt's heart swell and wrapped his arms around his little boy when he hugged him, thanking him repeatedly. They both turned to the puppy, who started barking happily, as if wanting to join in.
"Guess what! You get to be in our family now!" Kurt picked up the puppy and started talking animatedly at him.
Burt chuckled and stopped him in his rant before he got too far in to stop, "So," Kurt turned to him, "What are you going to name him?"
His son blinked and looked down at beautiful eyes his puppy had. Then took note of the semi-curly, but neat fur he seemed to have; it looked pretty dapper, Kurt had to admit. 'A dapper pup deserves a dapper name… Oh!'
"Blaine!"