A/N Here's a big thank you to those running the Klaine Advent 2017. I'm trying to bust out of my writing block by doing these, so hopefully, there will be 24 chapters to this. Reviews are love, and motivation, and hopefully increased impetus for my muse to wake up, so... Please? I'm bashing these out each day whenever possible, so they're not terribly polished, but I'd still appreciate any love you can give me. -Liane
No one at the center had been able to get through to the new boy, Kurt Hummel. He stayed to himself, barely spoke, and would only answer a direct question. He kept his backpack on all the time unless he was in is room, but even slept with it clutched to his chest. He ate fast and hurried out of the meal area as soon as he was done, often still swallowing his final bites as he went.
The counsellors knew the basics of his history from what they'd received from his in-take paperwork: Seventeen, orphan, past abuse in foster care, runaway. He'd been living on the street and beaten up, and when he was released from the hospital, child protective services and his case worker had decided to try him at the center instead of another foster situation.
It was a volunteer who broke his shell. It started with simple things. Blaine Anderson went to hand Kurt a pen to sign for his linens for the week, and the pen fell to the floor, slipping between Blaine's fingers. When Kurt sighed, glared, and picked it up, he looked stunned at the beaming smile from Blaine.
"Thank you, Kurt!"
Kurt side-eyed him and signed the papers, taking his stack of sheets and towels. "Whatever," he muttered, but Blaine just continued smiling like Kurt had hung the moon for him.
At lunch, Blaine sat at Kurt's table, but diagonally across from him. They were having Chinese food, and Kurt was shoveling it in as usual, when one of Blaine's chopsticks rolled away from him, all the way to Kurt's plate. There was a split second when Kurt paused in his eating, and then he kept on. But Blaine reached for the utensil and his arm wasn't long enough. Kurt paused again, and shot a glare to him.
But he shoved the chopstick back across toward Blaine, and Blaine's smile lit the world once again.
"Oh, thank you, Kurt! That's so kind of you."
Kurt shrugged and finished his food, getting up from the table and clearing his dishes, but he met Blaine's eyes for an instant, and nodded once before he scurried off.
Blaine approached Kurt an hour later. "Would you help me set up the chairs over by the piano? I'm going to do a singalong with the younger kids."
Huffing scornfully, Kurt followed and did as he was asked, however, and Blaine's gratitude was effusive.
"You are so helpful, Kurt! I can't tell you how much I appreciate it!"
And Kurt blushed.
He also stayed near the back of the room while Blaine played the silly kid's songs and sang and entertained the ten to twelve year olds. He had the boys clapping along, and two girls actually joined in the singing.
After the activity was over, Kurt looked to Blaine, waiting to be asked to help put the chairs away, but Blaine just started doing it himself.
As soon as Kurt moved to put two of the chairs away, Blaine was alight with joy and praise again.
"Oh, thank you Kurt! You didn't have to do that, but I'm very grateful anyway. So, did you like the music? I saw you tapping your foot."
"I love music," Kurt said, his voice low.
"Yeah? I sing with my school's show choir. Do you sing?"
"I…used to."
"Maybe you could be my assistant for the next music activity for the kids, then! You're so helpful."
"I, um, I guess so."
The boys stayed together for the rest of the afternoon, and Kurt allowed Blaine to hug him before he left for the evening.
Over the rest of the summer, Blaine came to the center almost every day, and became the only person the guarded and suspicious Kurt interacted with who was over the age of twelve. Because Kurt had continued helping with the music activities, and the younger kids all looked to him as a friend and mentor.
When Blaine approached Kurt in August with an offer from his school for a full scholarship, including room and board, Kurt was flabbergasted, but after a visit to Dalton, accepted.
Many years later, after graduating from the private school with top marks and going to college in New York City, Kurt and Blaine together began working with a youth center for gay teens, and they both put into practice the skills they'd learned when dealing with the most withdrawn cases of attachment disorder. Many of their kids from the center were at their wedding, and when the Anderson-Hummels decided to become foster parents and eventually adopt, they had plenty of people willing to attest to their near-magical ability to draw out hard cases.