A/N: Here's my second-ever fanfic! It's a one-shot set after Kurt and Blaine are married and living in New York. What would happen when Kurt found out about Night Bird, the superhero personal Blaine adopted after they broke up?
In reading other fanfics, I guess I am supposed to add a little disclaimer here that says I don't own Glee, or Klaine (oh, if I did...), or anything like that. I am just one of many who find it fun to make up my own stories about them. Enjoy, and let me know what you think!
"Oh, come on. I know it's here somewhere," Kurt muttered to himself in frustration as he looked through yet another box. Since he and Blaine had moved back to New York together after the wedding, storage was at kind of a premium. They'd needed to get creative in finding places to store their belongings, but that creativity meant that things were not always in the most logical places.
At the moment, all Kurt needed was to find one lousy photo album. Rachel recently had the unmitigated gall to deny having worn anything as awful as a reindeer sweater, and Kurt knew that he had a photo to prove her wrong. He could not let her get away with it.
He crossed the bedroom and went to the one closet he hadn't checked yet. He opened one box after another, not paying too much attention to the labels until he opened one rather large box that caught him by surprise. The contents on top didn't look familiar. He pulled back and looked at the outside, then realized by the label that it was one of Blaine's boxes. (He also realized that he had WAY more stuff in this apartment than Blaine did, as this was the first of Blaine's belongings he had discovered.) Curiosity piqued, he looked over his shoulder towards the door. Blaine was in the other room at the moment. He wanted to know what types of things his husband had decided to box up at the bottom of the closet, so he decided to snoop.
On top were some programs from show choir competitions, followed by some pictures from prom and graduation – it was a box of high school memorabilia. He smiled at the pictures of the two of them together and the incredible amount of gel Blaine used back in those days. He hadn't given it up entirely, but thank goodness he had toned it down.
Underneath those papers was what appeared to be a garment bag folded up to squeeze in the box. Kurt knew it couldn't be Blaine's Dalton blazer – that hung in the closet quite reverently. He pulled the garment bag out and laid it on the bed. With another quick glance over his shoulder as though afraid of being caught, he unzipped the bag and pulled out the contents.
"Huh," he said aloud. "I was definitely not expecting this." He unfurled what appeared to be a cape of some sort – black sparkling material on the outside, blue on the inside. He turned it around and saw the image of a bird in flight silhouetted against a full moon. Setting the cape aside, he then removed some type of black and blue chest plate with metallic details at the shoulders, along with a long-sleeved black shirt and pants. There were also some miscellaneous accessories and – good grief – was that a utility belt? It looked way too elaborate to be a Halloween costume. Whatever the story was behind this outfit, it was sure to be hilarious, and he just had to know what it was. Right now.
"Uh, Blaine?" he called out.
"Yeah, babe," he heard Blaine reply from the living room where he'd been working.
"Can you come in here for a minute? I need your help with something." He had to concentrate to keep the laughter out of his voice.
"Sure," Blaine said, walking toward the bedroom. When he got to the door, he stopped abruptly, not quite believing what he saw, which was Kurt holding up the black cape in front of him.
Blaine's eyes went wide and the color drained from his face momentarily. "No, n-n-n-n-no," was all he could get out as he rushed to snatch the garment from Kurt's hands. The color returned quickly to his face and he blushed deeply as he looked at Kurt, who was barely suppressing his laughter at his husband's comical reaction.
"So, sweetheart," Kurt began, using the endearment purposefully to calm Blaine down while he put a hand on his arm. After all, he didn't want to upset Blaine, but he wasn't exactly about to let this go, either. "Is there something you want to tell me?" He leaned in with a look of mock seriousness, his eyebrows furrowed but a playful smile beginning to form on his lips.
Blaine recovered his composure as he realized his "secret" was out. He rolled his eyes and let out a sigh, staring back at Kurt.
"What are you doing with this?" Blaine asked. He glanced over and saw the box open on the floor. "Been busy in here, darling?" There was no heat behind his words, but a little bit of snarky emphasis was placed on the pet name.
"Oh, no," Kurt retorted. "You need to answer my question first."
Blaine drew another deep breath and walked past Kurt to the bed where the rest of the costume was laid out. He put the cape down, then turned and sat at the foot of the bed, facing Kurt.
"Well," he began, "in my senior year at McKinley, after you and I had broken up, I kind of started an after-school club. You have to remember, superheroes were the big thing that year, with 'The Avengers' and all. Anyway, a bunch of us created our own superheroes and costumes, and this," he gestured toward the outfit, "was mine."
Kurt's face was a mixture of disbelief and amusement as he let the concept sink in. Blaine. Dressing up like a superhero. At school.
"Okay," Kurt finally said, "break this down for me – what's with the bird and the moon on the back?"
Blaine hesitated and mumbled, "My superhero name was Night Bird."
"What?"
"Night Bird," Blaine said louder, looking back up at Kurt after realizing he was looking at the floor. He knew it was silly, and didn't want Kurt thinking less of him.
"That's fantastic!" Kurt said with a laugh. "Oh, my God, Blaine, I can't believe you never told me this. This is hysterical!"
"Yeah, yeah," Blaine said, shaking his head as Kurt sat down next to him, no longer suppressing his laughter. "I can't imagine why I didn't bring this up earlier," he said sarcastically while giving Kurt a pointed look before returning his gaze to the floor. "I knew you'd make fun of me."
Kurt became serious suddenly, looking at his husband who clearly didn't think this was as funny as he did. He took Blaine's hand in both of his. Affection was in his voice as he looked directly at Blaine and said, "Look at me, Blaine." Blaine complied, and Kurt continued. "I am not making fun of you." Blaine's triangular eyebrows lifted slightly as Kurt corrected himself.
"Okay, yes, I find the concept amusing, but I'm not making fun of you. I think it's sweet and charming and so, well, you to do something like that. But even if I laugh at you a little for it, it's just because you're so adorable and surprising sometimes. I wish you'd told me sooner. I love you and I want to know every crazy, fun, silly thing you did. It's all what made you you and I love that I'm still finding out things about you."
Blaine's eyes softened as he listened to Kurt, melting a little inside at his words. "I know it was silly, but I didn't feel all that great about myself at that time – I'd done something awful to you, we were broken up and you were gone. I wanted to feel better about myself, maybe like I was good enough for you again, you know? So this was my little way to escape and become a hero instead of a villain."
Kurt reached over and wrapped an arm around Blaine, pulling him into a hug and kissing him gently on the cheek. They had long since gotten past the incident, but Kurt still felt a rush of emotion at this revelation.
Blaine smiled into Kurt's neck as they embraced. Then a thought hit him.
"So, this wanting to know about me – is that why you went rummaging through my box in the closet, Mr. Nosey?" he asked as he released Kurt.
"No, I was looking for one of my photo albums so I could find a particular picture of Rachel from our McKinley days, and I didn't see the label on the box before I opened it." Kurt looked a little remorseful as he continued, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snooped."
Now it was Blaine's turn to chuckle. "No worries, Kurt. The cat was bound to come out of the bag sooner or later."
"Don't you mean the bird had to come out of the box?" Kurt teased.
"Shut up."
"Fair enough." Kurt smiled as Blaine patted Kurt's knee and gave him a swift peck on the cheek. He was about to get up, but Kurt grabbed his wrist and pulled him back down. "Blaine?"
"Yes, Kurt?"
"Do me one more favor?" he asked in a sing-song voice, batting his eyelashes over his bright blue eyes.
Blaine narrowed his eyes in suspicion as he replied slowly, "What favor would that be?"
Kurt inched closer and said in a voice just above a whisper, "Put it on."
Knowing that was the question that was coming, Blaine didn't miss a beat as he stood up and said, "Oh, absolutely not. Nope. No way. Not gonna happen."
"Oh, come on, baby! Please, please, pretty please?" Kurt whined, clasping his hands together dramatically and bouncing up and down on the bed.
Blaine smirked at his ridiculous husband and, realizing he had no chance of winning, sighed in defeat, dropping his head back and letting out an overly-dramatic, exasperated, "Fine." Kurt clapped his hands and cheered, making Blaine laugh out loud.
"You're crazy, you know that?" he asked. Kurt hopped up and kissed Blaine quickly out of excitement. "That's not going to help me get changed, Kurt. Why don't you make yourself useful? Go get dinner started and I'll see if this thing still fits."
Kurt practically skipped out of the room, still clapping his hands, leaving Blaine to shake his head, first at his nutty husband and then at the costume lying on the bed.
Blaine had just finished getting dressed and was doing a final check in the mirror, feeling quite proud that everything still fit, when he heard a yell from the living room, followed by a thud and an "Ow!"
"Kurt?" he called as he ran into the living room. "Kurt, are you all right?" He found Kurt sprawled on his back on the living room floor, a look of pain and annoyance on his face and a tipped-over stool next to him. Blaine knelt down next to him.
"Stupid stool!" Kurt yelled, making Blaine relax a little. If his first words were to curse a piece of furniture, he couldn't be hurt that badly.
"You didn't hit your head, did you?" Blaine asked as he reached out and stroked the top of Kurt's head. Kurt shook his head no. "Can you sit up, then?" Blaine asked as he reached an arm behind Kurt's shoulders to help him. "Does it hurt anywhere?" he continued after successfully getting Kurt into a seated posture.
"My left ankle, a little," Kurt said, wincing when Blaine pressed on it.
"Well, then, it's good that Night Bird is here to assist, good sir," Blaine quipped, rising to his feet. Kurt looked up at him, realizing for the first time that Blaine was in his costume. He'd been too distracted by the pain in his ankle and, well, falling flat on his backside, to notice earlier. He looked Blaine up and down and was surprised to discover that the first thought he had was, damn, he doesn't look half bad! Sure it was a little ridiculous, but the tight black pants and shirt, the cape, the mask (he hadn't noticed a mask before) – it kind of worked.
Blaine watched Kurt's expression and saw his reaction. He'd have to remember this for later, as Kurt clearly liked what he saw, but now was not the time. He bent back down, putting Kurt's arm around his neck before putting one arm around his waist and another behind his knees.
"What are you . . . Blaine," Kurt protested as Blaine lifted him up, "I am sure I can walk. You don't have to carry me."
Blaine deposited him gently on the couch before responding, "I don't want you walking on that until we get it checked out. It's probably a sprain, but I think you should get an x-ray to be sure it's not broken."
"I don't want to go to the . . . you know it's impossible for me to have a normal conversation with you in that getup. Anyway, I don't need an x-ray. I'm fine," Kurt called after Blaine, who was already making his way to the bedroom, replying over his shoulder, "No arguments, Kurt. I'm going to go change and we're heading to the med center."
It turned out that it was just a sprain, and a couple of days' worth of rest were all that was required. After a conversation of variations of "I told you so," and "I don't care," the couple settled in for a quiet evening after an eventful afternoon.
They were comfortably ensconced on the couch, Kurt lying on his side with his head on a pillow on Blaine's lap so he could keep his foot elevated, and watching a movie. Out of nowhere, Kurt asked, "What's with us and birds?"
Blaine, who had been stroking Kurt's shoulder with his fingers, stopped in surprise. "What?" he asked, hitting the mute button on the remote and looking down at his husband.
"Birds. What's with us and birds?" Kurt repeated, turning onto his back so he could look up at Blaine.
"Yeah, Kurt, I'm gonna need a little more to work with before I can answer that question."
"Well, first you were a Warbler. Then I was a Warbler. Then I had Pavarotti, a canary. Then I sang 'Blackbird' at which point you realized you had feelings for me." They exchanged a small smile at those words before Kurt continued, "Then you chose 'Night Bird' to be your super . . . hero . . . name. . ."
The realization of what he was saying caused Kurt to hesitate as he spoke the last couple of words. His eyes widened then softened as the full understanding struck him. Night Bird. Blackbird.
"Blaine," he said softly, reaching up to touch his cheek. Blaine looked back with a smile and said, "You know, nobody else ever made the connection. I knew you would. Like I said, you were gone at that time and I missed you so much. I wanted to be better, and I wanted something to remind me of who I was being better for." Kurt leaned up as Blaine leaned down, meeting in the middle for a gentle kiss.
"You named your superhero persona after me," Kurt said when they parted. "That is the sweetest, dorkiest thing you have ever done, and that includes when you used to read 'Star Wars' fanfiction to Sam." Although the words were teasing, Blaine saw the extra brightness of tears forming in Kurt's eyes as he said them. He ran his fingers through Kurt's hair, knowing he could get away with it for once, and leaned in to kiss him again.
The next day, as Kurt was dozing on the couch, Blaine went to the bedroom to pack his memorabilia back into the box and return it to the closet. Kurt made him promise to keep the costume out, and after a few indecent suggestions as to why, Blaine was happy to comply. The rest of the items were stowed away and as he tried to put the box back in its place, he noticed that something was in the way. He reached in and pulled out a photo album. Flipping through the first few pages, he realized it was the one Kurt was trying to find yesterday. Sure enough, there was Rachel in her reindeer sweater. "Oh, honey," he muttered with a shake of his head.
A picture on the next page caught his attention, and after doing a double take, his mouth fell open. There was Kurt, dressed in a costume that was half female and half male, split right down the middle. Hair, makeup, suit – all were divided half and half. And the fringe – good lord, the fringe! He removed the photo from the album and turned it over to check for a date. He realized it was taken shortly before the two had met. Below the date was written, "Le Jazz Hot – Victor/Victoria," which explained things. Blaine looked at the photo again, uttering, "Well, well, well, Mr. I-Want-To-Know-Every-Silly-Thing-You-Did. Looks like I wasn't the only one with a costume that I didn't tell someone about." He stood up and was heading toward the door to exact a little payback when inspiration struck. He peeked out into the living room to make sure Kurt was still asleep, then slipped his phone out of his pocket. He picked a name off of his contact list and raised the phone to his ear. Fortunately, the person he was calling answered.
"Hi, Burt, it's Blaine. Yeah, Kurt and his ankle are fine. He's sleeping right now. Listen, do you still have all that stuff of Kurt's stored in the basement?" When he heard the reply, he looked back up at his peacefully sleeping husband, and with a mischievous grin, continued, "I need you to find something and send it to me . . ."