Summary: As Iron Man flew towards the Chitauri portal he had only one person on his mind: his youngest son, Blaine Anderson. Blaine has always been Tony's best kept (read only) secret. He really should've known that one little phone call was going to change everything. But what he didn't know was that he wasn't the only Avenger whose life was going to change.
Pairings: Established Vague!Clintasha, Pepperony, Klaine, Finnchel. Pucktana, Puckleberry, Brittana, Pezberry friendships. And as always, Blamman bromance with The Science Bros and their plus one (Clint).
Warnings: Language, I guess, because I have a potty mouth damn it. Also a strong possibility for crackish behaviors, Sam being a fangirl and Kurt bashing. Spoilers for The Avengers and up to season four of Glee.
Disclaimer: I own nothing! This is set at the end of the season three of Glee and the end of The Avengers.
Author's Note: Thanks so much for the reviews for last chapter. They mean a lot. I hope that you will all continue to enjoy this chapter as well. I took out the hinted pairings note. I don't really think this story is going to be focused on 'ships unless it's breaking them up. They have enough to worry about without worrying about that! So hope you all enjoy!
Hakuna Matata
When Blaine woke up the next morning, there were several thoughts clamoring for his attention and struggling against the early morning haze that normally fogged up his brain. The first thing was that his phone was chirping loudly and, most importantly, annoyingly by his head. He managed to crack an eye open long enough to see that he had about 20 missed calls and texts from Kurt. It seemed that his boyfriend was less than pleased with his decision to skip out of the rest of the party in order to go bowling with the others. Blaine would feel bad about that but … he didn't. Last night was the most fun he had in a while. So yeah, definitely no regrets about that one. The second thing that he noticed was that his house smelled pretty freaking wonderful. It was almost like someone was cooking but that almost never happened here. His mother was definitely not the domestic type (hence why she was hardly ever home), Stanley was a disaster in the kitchen and Cooper somehow inherited some bizarre mix of the two of them. So that ruled out any member of his family (i.e. the only people that should be in the house right now). That of course explained his third observation. And that was that he was not in his bed alone anymore. He tensed before he finally caught a whiff of the familiar gasoline and grease smell that had his mind settling and body relaxing into the warmth beside him.
"Took you long enough to notice," a voice muttered. Blaine cracked an eye open to glare over at his father who was stretched out on the bed beside him. He had a couple of bandaged scratches on his face and there were bags under his eyes but he looked otherwise healthy. He looked alive. "You know, I pay your mother a small fortune a month in child support. What exactly is she using that money on? Because it's definitely not on home security. The Capsicle broke in here with no problem and he's been on ice for the past seventy years."
"You do know there is a key under the mat, right?"
Tony gasped in mock horror, his hand flying to his reliable, steadily glowing arc reactor dramatically. "This is the 21st century and you people still leave keys under mats?! What is wrong with you guys? Don't you know what kind of world we live in?"
"I know what kind of world you live in. But in my world, the most dangerous thing I have to contend with is the homophobic hockey team."
Tony tensed, the playful atmosphere dropping for a moment. "They're not still giving you a problem, are they?"
"What are you going to do? Threaten them with the suit?"
Tony nudged him on the leg with his toe. "Believe it or not, I don't use the suit for everything, brat. Besides I'm a billionaire. That means I don't have to fight my own battles. I would totally ask Natasha to do it. Beating up a bunch of ignorant mouth-breathing teenagers would probably be her version of Christmas. Oh, maybe Legolas will want in on that. God knows he's been a grumpy little archer since everything went down. Maybe beating homophobes might help cheer him up a bit."
"You're right. Your new friends do sound fun." Blaine yawned, sitting up somewhat. He sniffed the air again. "Seriously, who's cooking?"
"Lego... Clint," Tony replied. "He came in, took one look at your fridge, and almost had what I swear was a mini stroke before dragging Bruce and Steve back out to the nearest Wal-Mart where apparently they bought the entire grocery section."
Blaine grabbed his phone from the end table beside him and frowned. "It's barely six in the morning. How long have you been here? Also why are you here? I thought you said that you would be leaving in a couple of days."
"I lied," his father shrugged before draping an arm around Blaine's shoulders, pulling him close in their first hug in several months. It had been way too long since he saw his father. Too damn long. "Missed you, kiddo."
"Missed you too, dad."
"Seriously though, your security? It's crap. You might not have terrorists and aliens walking the streets, but this world has ways of creating dangers that you never see coming. I don't like you being unprotected."
"I know, Dad, trust me I know. It's just that Mom was not a fan of the original system I built," Blaine admitted, leaning his head against his father's. "I designed it to fire a non lethal jolt of electricity at anyone that was deemed to be a hostile threat to the safety and sanctity of the household."
"Okay, that sounded promising. So what was your mother's beef with that?"
"The system deemed Cooper to be a hostile threat," Blaine smirked. Tony snorted before elbowing him in the side. Blaine shifted away from him with a laugh. "Have you seen his commercials, Dad? They're bordering on abusively awful. It's not my fault that the system took violent offense to it. But anyway, Mom couldn't stand her precious Cooper being hurt in any way even though I would like to point out that he wasn't even hurt! There were no long lasting negative side effects after he regained consciousness so I don't know what the big deal was. Oh wait, yes I do. It's Cooper. So I got grounded and we put up that crap system we have now."
His father sighed. "Sometimes I regret being Iron Man. Mostly in moments like these. And also when flying into alien wormholes with nuclear missiles on my back."
"What? Why? You love being Iron Man. Aside from the aforementioned whole alien wormhole missile moments."
"Yes, but being Iron Man and having the whole world know about it, makes it a little difficult to also be a father. I don't want to bring you into my crazy world, kid. But I hate the idea of leaving you here with your mom even more."
Blaine chewed on his lip. He knew that this was a sensitive topic for his father… hell for him too. In the past four years, the idea of Blaine living with Tony had come up more than once or twice… a month. But the general consensus was always that it wasn't safe. Blaine had enjoyed a life of relative safety (minus encounters with homophobic jocks) but that was mostly because he didn't grow up with his father. Being around Tony would lead to a life in the spotlight that Blaine wasn't sure he was ready for. But he got that much closer to being ready every time he had to watch his mother fawn over her precious Cooper or his stepfather question not just his sexual orientation but also his fascination with machines because it was yet another reminder that Blaine was not his biological child. Sometimes Blaine would feel bad about how readily he accepted Tony as his father when he constantly pushed Stanley away. But then he would remember how Stanley kept him at arms' length just as much. Tony took one look at him once the paternity news was broken and was already plotting all the ways they could raise hell together. Yeah, Blaine didn't really feel too bad about referring to Stanley as Step-Stan.
"Let's not think about that right now," Blaine said, forcing cheer into his voice. He met his father's nearly identical brown eyed gaze and mustered a more sincere smile. "I believe breakfast is about to be served and I don't know about you but it's been months since I had a home cooked breakfast."
"Things like this really make me want to take Pepper up on her daily offers to punch your mom in the face." Blaine snickered.
"Have I ever told you that Pepper is like the best thing that ever happened to you?"
"Second best," Tony corrected. Blaine opened his mouth to ask what the first thing was but closed it just as quickly. Oh, yeah, right that would be him. Oh. "Alright, enough sap. Get dressed and get your butt downstairs. You have enough time to eat and meet and greet the others if I get Happy to drop you off at school."
"Awesome," Blaine grinned before bouncing off the bed. He then thought back to the previous day and the utter pit of depression he fell into until Puck dragged him out along with the others. He really wanted to do something to repay all of them but at the moment he had way of paying one of them at least. "Uh, dad? I have this friend who really helped me out yesterday. He actually doesn't live that far from here… you think Happy could pick him up too?"
"Sure," Tony shrugged. He then grinned slyly. "Look at you, making friends. Brings a tear to my eye, it does. I'm so proud of you, kid."
Blaine rolled his eyes before tuning his father out as he considered his outfit for the day. He looked up from his contemplation of a purple bowtie versus black when there was a soft knock followed by a head of curly red hair appearing through the slightly opened door.
"Clint wants everyone to know that breakfast is ready. I suggest we hurry. Banner's eyes are glowing green and I think he's about to consume the Hulk's weight in bacon and waffles. And despite Clint and Steve buying what appears to be the entire grocery section, I don't think they bought enough for that." She smiled softly at Tony's feigned gasp of surprise. "Look, let's all just be grateful Thor isn't here. Well he's not here yet. Because you know he's coming back as soon as that Loki business is settled. I think he really wants a rematch with the Hulk for that sucker punch."
Tony snorted before gesturing towards Blaine with his head. "Natasha Romanoff, meet Blaine. Blaine, this is the infamous Black Widow."
"Oh, she's the one that infiltrated your office undercover last year," Blaine said. Natasha raised an eyebrow in Tony's direction. His father shrugged.
"Just because SHIELD doesn't know about Blaine doesn't mean that Blaine doesn't know about SHIELD. Besides he's my kid. He would've found out somehow one day. Hell, he figured out I was his dad before I did."
"Cooper helped."
"Was that before or after he threw up on Stella?"
"Before. And it's a shame about Stella. He really liked that plant. But I told him not to leave it out when Step Stan is smoking. He has no problems putting his nasty cancer sticks out on any available surface. Even plastic plant shaped available surfaces. It was a sad way for Stella to go but I'm not going to lie. The breakdown was epic."
"It was. Thanks for filming that by the way."
"No problem. Cooper's embarrassment is my pleasure."
Natasha snickered, drawing their attention back to the redheaded assassin. "I still can't believe you managed to hide not one but two sons from SHIELD. You, the same person who blurted out that they were Iron Man literally like a day after anyone found out he existed. I'm impressed, Stark. But are you completely sure that Cooper isn't actually your biological child? He acts scarily like you before Pepper tamed you."
"Oh god, what did he do now?" Blaine asked, already embarrassed on his brother's behalf. Because everyone knew Cooper had no shame… he really was a lot like Tony in that regard.
"The second he laid eyes on Natasha, he started hitting on her. When she shut him down, he turned his attention to Clint who also shut him down. Then he moved onto Steve who's too embarrassed and confused to do more than gape at him. Cooper's taking that as consent to keep flirting. It's nice to know he's flexible in terms of who he's sleeping with these days." Blaine laughed, already having a mental image in his head. Cooper was a shameless flirt. He was also very much not into labels about his sexual preferences. He was going to have a talk with his brother about not trying to bang any of the Avengers while they were here visiting.
"Like I said, he's definitely your son," Natasha grinned. "Anyway you have five minutes to get downstairs. Otherwise I'm letting Bruce have at it."
"You wouldn't starve my kid in his own house, would you?"
"Cooper already saved him a plate. That was mostly directed towards you, Stark. Get your ass in gear," Natasha called over her shoulder.
"You know you love me!"
"I tolerate you!" Natasha's retort echoed up the stairs.
Tony laughed, settling back on the bed. "I told Pep I was wearing her down."
Blaine shook his head at his father's antics. He smirked, knowing he looked more like his father in that moment than ever before. "Look at you, making friends. Brings a tear to my eye, it does. I'm so proud of you, dad."
"Get dressed, smart ass."
It took only five seconds for Blaine to understand how and why his father clicked with these particular people. Dr. Banner, or Bruce as he insisted Blaine call him, was a more grounded and sane version of his father. Smart yet tortured by demons from his past as well as the literal rage monster he could become at the drop of a pin. But Blaine could see him slowly emerging from his shell as the older scientist listened to Tony and Natasha bickering between themselves while also trying to drag Clint into their conversation. Blaine was intrigued by the quiet archer. He was pretty good at reading people and he could tell that the quiet was a new thing. Clint looked like he was normally bigger than life. Blaine could tell that the archer still wasn't used to not voicing his opinions aloud and Natasha wasn't used to him being quiet either. Blaine could tell something serious happened to the agent based off the amount of concerned looks he was getting. But Blaine could also tell that Clint was going to be okay with time. In the half an hour he managed to spend with his father's new friends before it was time for Happy to whisk him off for school, Blaine witnessed the archer almost smile a few times as well as stifling a laugh behind his hands. Yeah, he would definitely be okay.
But of all of his father's new friends, it was Steve Rogers that truly caught Blaine's attention. From the minute he laid eyes on the literal embodiment of an American hero, there was something about him that seemed familiar to Blaine. It wasn't just the stories that Tony told him that were passed down from his Grandfather but something more. He didn't quite understand what it was about the man but he knew that the Avengers seemed to be practically moving into his house for at least a few weeks. He figured he had more than enough time to figure out what it was about the man that stood out to him. Speaking of time…
He pulled his phone out and dialed Puck's number. The older teen picked up on the second ring while simultaneously yelling at someone in the background. "Did I interrupt something?" Blaine asked, snickering.
"Nah, just people around here don't realize it's too damn early in the morning to be so freaking hyper! What the hell are you even so happy about anyway? We're just going to school, loser!" Puck retorted. His voice was slightly muffled as he continued to berate someone on the other end of the line. There was another burst of laughter from Puck's morning companion. Puck huffed. "I seriously hate you. Anyway, Blaine, what can I do for you?"
"It's actually what I can do for you. My dad showed up early. He got me a ride to school today and I know you don't live that far from me…. so I was wondering if you wanted a lift?"
"That sounds awesome and thanks for the offer but I can't. I'm not alone."
"Oh, you have to take your sister to school?"
"No, Sarah takes the school bus. What I mean is that Sam ended up coming over here after Kurt totally bitched him out when he got home last night. Carole and Burt are cool but they weren't trying to get in the middle of that. Finn naturally took Kurt's side. So Sam crashed here last night because things got really awkward."
Blaine winced. He probably should've known that Kurt was going to make life miserable for someone last night. And since apparently he couldn't get to Blaine, he went for Sam instead. He really should've thought about that but he hadn't. Well, he wanted to thank his friends for taking him out yesterday and now he could cross two of them off that list.
"So, bring him with you. My dad's car is big enough to fit the three of us, you know."
"Yeah, okay. That could work," Puck laughed quietly. "We'll see you in a few then."
"I'll text when I'm closer."
"Cool… and thanks, Blaine."
"No problem."
Blaine hung the phone up with a small smile on his face. Tony arched an eyebrow leaning closer to his son. "You sure this guy is just a friend? Or is he a boyfriend?"
Blaine rolled his eyes even as Clint threw a slice of toast at Tony. True to his code name, Clint's aim was accurate as ever and the buttered bread bopped the genius on the forehead before sliding down in a rather messy way. Blaine bit on his lip to hide a smile. Clint tipped his head in Blaine's direction before gathering up the dirty dishes. Tony narrowed his eyes at the archer but didn't retaliate or complain. Now that was interesting.
"And on that note, I think I'm going to tell Happy that I'm ready for school now."
"Oh no you don't, kiddo. I'm definitely coming with you now. I'm staying around for a few days and I want to get to know your friends."
"Dad, you never want to know my friends."
"Not true. You just never had any friends worth knowing." Blaine furrowed his brow as he tried to think of a counter argument for that one. There was none. Damn his life before McKinley was kind of sad. Tony flicked him on the arm. "Don't feel so bad. Besides Rhodey, Pep and Happy, I didn't actually have any friends worth knowing before these guys came along either."
Blaine nodded accepting the sentiment behind the words. Still he and his father shared a lot in common besides a lack of strong interpersonal communication skills. They were both sarcastic and emotion phobic. Blaine smirked, clapping his father on the arm. "That was quite possibly the sweetest thing I've ever heard you say, dad. Remind me to call Uncle Rhodey and let him know how you feel about him."
Tony rolled his eyes but smiled anyway. "Shut up and get in the damn car."
Blaine laughed and followed through with his father's command. He bid goodbye to the rest of the Avengers and followed Happy out to the car with his father following behind soon after. As they drove the short distance to Puck's house, Blaine couldn't help but feel that today was going to be a good day. And it only got better once he spotted Puck and Sam standing at the end of the driveway waiting for them to pull up. Blaine had to laugh as Puck tried his best to hold Sam back from all but hurling himself at Tony.
But if Sam's exuberant reaction to just meeting Tony was amusing, the spastic response to Tony's invitation to the two boys (and an extension to Santana and Brittany as well) to come by the house that afternoon just solidified Blaine's feeling that today was going to be an awesome day. He had his father (and his father's new friends) as well as new friends of his own. Blaine wasn't about to let the unresolved tension between him and Kurt as well as his father's curious reaction to Puck get to him. Although that last part was a concern. When they first got in the car, Tony kept staring at Puck. When he was finally called on it, Tony mumbled something about Puck seeming familiar but he had no idea why. But Puck didn't seem to mind, so Blaine let it go….. For now. He knew his father. He would either figure out who it was or he would lose interest and find something else to focus on. So Blaine let it go.
Happy let them out a few blocks away from the school. So far only the members of New Directions knew that Tony was his father and honestly Blaine was looking to make sure it stayed that way. And so they sacrificed getting dropped off at the door to protect Blaine's identity. Blaine didn't mind the short walk as they filled the time by teasing Sam for his instant descent into a fanboy in the presence of Tony. Blaine was enjoying the blush that filled Sam's cheeks as he loudly protested his friends' comments. He was totally caught up in the way that Sam's green eyes sparkled as he laughed despite himself at Puck's over the top reenactment of his first meeting with Tony. That might have explained why he missed that the parking lot of the school was a lot more crowded than usual. But he would've been an idiot to miss the gaggle of reporters that were suddenly in his face as they approached the front doors of the school.
"Blaine, Blaine, how old were you when you found out that you were Tony Stark's son?"
"Blaine, do you know where your father is now?"
"Blaine, how do you feel knowing your father saved the world?"
Blaine felt a chill race down his spine. They knew. They knew who he was. These reporters knew who he was. He glanced around the parking lot. There were news trucks from almost every single news channel he could think of. Not to mention the gawking students watching the scene with wide eyes. He felt overwhelmed. He was also frozen to the spot. How the hell did this happen? The reporters kept closing in on him until he finally felt two separate sets of hands gripping his elbows and pushing him through the still questioning reporters. The hands kept him moving until they were inside the school building. He looked up to see Sue and Will standing in front of them.
"Always knew there was something different about you," Sue murmured as she moved around the three teens and walked outside to yell at the reporters still clamoring to get in the school. Will motioned for Sam and Puck to bring Blaine into the choir room where they could have a modicum amount of privacy. They found Santana and Brittany already waiting in the room. Santana was pacing back and forth while Brittany was sitting lotus style on one of the desks. Both girls looked up when the boys arrived. Santana's scowl was all the indication in the world that they both knew and were less than pleased about the subject.
"What the hell is going on?" Puck asked once they were in the room with the doors locked. "How did the press find out about Blaine's dad?" Santana raised an eyebrow and glared in Puck's direction. It said something about the growing bond between the five friends that Blaine knew the usually fiery Latina wasn't pissed at Puck. Puck knew too as he merely nodded before frowning. "Oh, you're freaking kidding me?!"
"What?" Blaine finally asked. "Who was it?"
Brittany pulled him into a hug and whispered the name that Blaine suspected but had seriously hoped she would never say. "It was Kurt."
"No," Blaine protested, though he really didn't feel it. "Why would… why would he do that? To me? Why would he do that to me?"
"Jealousy? He's a spoiled asshole? He can't see past his own butt hurt feelings about not being in the know? Who knows who cares?" Santana hissed. "But I do know that Porcelain has been cruising for a serious beat down for years and I'm more than willing to give it to him."
Puck draped an arm around her shoulders. "Relax, Rocky. I'd say this is more Blaine's fight than ours, wouldn't you? Let's see what he wants to do before you start beating the world down."
"I totally would," Santana muttered against Puck's shoulder. He hugged her closer. "Why do you only hug me when I want to hurt people?"
"Why do you always want to hurt people?"
"Valid point. Continue hugging."
Blaine snickered softly at the slight return to normalcy. He took a deep breath and tried to settle his very rattled nerves.
"So what do you want to do, Blaine?" Will asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "I talked to Principal Figgins. He and Sue are going to make sure that the press is kept out of the school. You'll be safe here."
"No, I really won't," Blaine laughed slightly hysterical. "Because if reporters are here then that means a lot more people than just the school know. That means that any minute now…." he trailed off as his phone rang. "My dad is going to find out." His friends winced out of sympathy and moved slightly away to give him a moment to talk to his father. "Hey, dad."
"Hey, dad? Hey, dad? That's all you have to say? Your face is all over TMZ right now."
"Like father like son?"
"Kid, I normally appreciate your ability to laugh in the face of tragedy but now is not the time," Tony chided. "What the hell happened?"
"Kurt happened. Apparently he blabbed to somebody about you and now everyone knows I'm your son."
"I'm coming to get you. Pepper is already working on controlling the media. We can figure out how to slow the damage down at school."
"Dad, the damage is done. Everyone knows who I am already. Leaving now is pointless. It's not going to make anything any less insane. It's already out there on every media outlet known to man."
"It's not the media that I'm worrying about."
"I know. But it's cool. I've got my friends. Santana has already declared blood vengeance on Kurt. Pretty sure that goes for any other student that messes with me as well."
"Damn straight it does," Santana murmured. Puck snorted in agreement. Blaine grinned.
"I'm okay, Dad. I promise. I'm just going to suck it up and deal with the crap. It's not going to be any easier tomorrow. So I might as well deal with it now."
There was a moment of silence before Tony sighed. "I don't where you got this maturity from. Definitely not me or your mother but I admit I'm impressed."
"I think you underestimate yourself, Dad. But thanks."
"You try and stick out the day but if it gets too much for you to deal with, you call me. I'll be there to pick you up. And by you, I mean all of you. I'll definitely be there to pick you up this afternoon. And your friends are definitely coming with us."
"Yeah, they are," Blaine agreed, glancing up at his friends. "We'll see you at three o'clock." He paused. "And Dad?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't blow up my house trying to upgrade the security, okay?"
Tony sniggered. "You know me so well. Oh, and tell your clique to come hungry. There are currently about two dozen cookies in the oven with plenty more rolling out. Apparently the Hawk stress bakes. This is really good to know given the high amount of emo he's going through at the moment."
"You have issues, father."
"No shit, Sherlock. I'll see you later. Go learn something."
With that Tony hung up and Blaine pocketed his phone once again. He felt slightly less on the edge after talking to his father. He knew that Pepper would have the media situation under control in a matter of hours. No, the real struggle was going to be school. And he thought that he just being openly gay and in the glee club was enough of a reason to be a target at school. Add in there the son of a billionaire genius superhero and yeah… this was not going to be pleasant. He glanced up at the four smirking teenage faces and faintly bemused teacher. Yeah, it wasn't going to be pleasant for anyone that messed with Blaine that day.
Blaine sighed with relief as the final bell for the day rang. It had been rough but not nearly as terrible as he imagined. That was definitely due to the support of not only his self appointed quartet of bodyguards but also the unwavering support of most of the other glee kids. He had first period that morning with Artie, Sam, Tina and Rory. He already knew that Brittany, Santana, Puck and Sam were on his side but he was pleasantly surprised to know that Artie was as well. Artie didn't treat him any differently. Rory and Tina were slightly awed but for the most part willing to act as deflectors when the scrutiny of the other students got to be too much. And they weren't the only ones. For the most part, the other gleeks were definitely on board with pretending that nothing was different as well as fending off the rest of the curious student body. Blaine was quietly grateful but still more than a little excited for the final bell. He could finally leave the building without having to deal with the rest of the students.
"Finally, freedom!" Sam cheered jumping off the desk where he was previously seated keeping Blaine company in the empty classroom. Blaine managed a wan smile for his friend. "Why the long face? We made it through the day just fine. Santana only had to threaten one reporter. No one got detention or expelled. See it was a good day!"
Blaine snorted. "You're only like this because you're about to meet Captain America."
"It's only because we're friends that I will admit that… yes, yes I am. No shame in my game," Sam winked even as he danced towards the doors of the school. It was a much easier trip this time. They didn't have to deal with the throngs of gawking students that seemed to be following Blaine all day. They were more than halfway to the door when Blaine realized that he didn't have his history textbook. He really contemplated just leaving but they had their final that week. He couldn't afford to pass up one day of studying.
"Hey, I'll meet you outside," Blaine said, halting his and Sam's journey to the doors. The blonde gave him a quizzical look. "I left my History text in my locker. I'm just going to grab and meet you outside. Happy and Dad should be here any minute now."
"I'll come with you."
"Dude, I think I'll be fine." He threw a hand up in the air and gestured passively around the empty halls. "Everyone else has gone home already. I'll be out soon."
Sam sighed heavily causing his bangs to blow with the breeze. "Fine but if you're not outside in five minutes, I'm totally giving Santana clearance to come in here and get you."
"Agreed," Blaine laughed. "I'll be right back."
"Whatever," Sam grinned before resuming the journey to the parking lot while Blaine headed back to his locker.
He really wasn't surprised to find Kurt leaning against his locker. He was actually shocked that Kurt hadn't tried to approach him sooner. Then again, he doubted that would've worked. Rachel seemed to be as annoyed with Kurt as Santana and was keeping him on a pretty tight leash during the day. Only Rachel didn't seem to be around and neither were the rest of the Blaine protection crew. Didn't that just figure?
"Do you mind? I need to get in my locker," Blaine said flatly.
"Why are acting like this?" Kurt asked, though he did move away from the locker. "You've been ignoring me all day. What's wrong with you?"
"You're serious right now? You opened your big mouth to the wrong person and now the whole damn world knows about me."
"What's the big deal? Unless your dad was hiding you because he doesn't like you being gay." Blaine couldn't help the growl that escaped his lips in that moment. His hands clenched into fists as his side.
"That's the last time you say anything about my father. Don't presume that you have the only father that accepts you just the way you are. You don't know a damn thing about Dad."
"You're right. I don't know a damn thing about your father seeing as how I just learned yesterday that he is your father! Why didn't you tell me?! Don't you trust me?"
"Oh my god, do you even hear yourself when you talk?" Blaine asked incredulously. "Ever since yesterday, you've been making this about you. Newsflash, it's not about you. I watched my father almost die yesterday. Actually, scratch that. According to Captain Rogers and Dr. Banner he did die for a little while. And yet you, my supposedly loving boyfriend, have yet to ask me if I'm okay with any of that. Because I'm not. I'm not okay. So I'm so sorry that in the midst of thinking that I might down the only parent that actually cares about me that my first thought was not of you and your feelings about Tony Stark being my father."
Kurt let a slow exhale. "I'm sorry. You're right. It's just… I've told you things about me. I thought that you trusted me. But I was wrong. Because it might have been terrible timing yesterday but the fact still remains that you could've told me before then. I shouldn't have had to find out that way."
Blaine laughed humorlessly. "Either you're really dumb or you're being purposely oblivious but I guess I have to spell this out for you. My dad is a superhero. He's also super rich and used to make his money off of weapons manufacturing. It's actually the old family business. When my dad was growing up, he was subjected to numerous kidnapping attempts not to mention actual successful kidnapping incidents. He never wanted that for me or for Cooper. So he let us grow up in anonymity. Anonymity that you just sacrificed because you're butt hurt about not knowing something that you should be lucky that I even considered telling you in the future." Kurt opened his mouth to say something but Blaine cut him off.
"I see now that I was right to hesitate with telling you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go. My dad is probably here already. And apparently there are cookies!"
With that Blaine spun on his heels and stalked away from his boyfriend. Though he seriously doubted that was going to be a thing much longer. He always knew that Kurt could be a little self centered at times but this? He tried to shrug the negative thoughts off and remember that today was supposed to be a good day. One little talk with Kurt and all of that positive cheer went right down the drain.
He pushed the double doors that led to the school parking lot with a world weary sigh. Maybe he should've stuck to his rule of not getting attached. Or maybe Kurt was right and he should've told him about his connection to Tony. He really was going to but there never seemed like a right time. And he just couldn't anticipate what Kurt's reaction would be.
"Guess I know now," he muttered. He idly scanned the parking lot for signs of a sign of Happy, his father or Sam. He didn't know why he bothered actually looking. He heard them long before he saw them. Sam's excited voice echoed across the nearly empty lot as did Santana's infectious and mocking giggles.
He strolled in that direction and was surprised to see Brittany, Santana and Sam standing opposite Tony and Steve. Happy was nowhere in sight and instead of the limo, his father was leaning up against the SUV he saw parked in the garage this morning. Interesting. As they were all occupied with laughing at Sam's fanboy antics combined with Steve's blushing acceptance, none of them noticed his approach. Well, none save for his father. Tony quickly abandoned his post against the car to move to Blaine's side.
"Why the long face?"
"Just talked to Kurt.
"Kurt, the guy you're dating?"
"Kurt, the guy that blew up my whole world this morning and still refuses to acknowledge that he was wrong in any way."
Tony hummed slipping an arm around Blaine. "Don't stress this too much, kid. I'm sure he'll come around eventually."
"I guess," Blaine murmured. He wasn't as sure as his father. He really didn't think Kurt was going to come around that easily. He also wasn't sure that he was going to care if Kurt did come around soon. He took a deep breath and focused on his friends. "Wait, where's Puck?"
"Oh, Coach Bieste wanted to see him," Brittany answered as father and son drifted closer. "Something about the last test he took."
Blaine and Sam immediately exchanged concerned looks. They knew that Puck was counting on getting a passing grade on that test. A passing grade meant that he had a chance to graduate. Brittany somehow made it through the grace of some deity and would be graduating after all. Blaine didn't know what it would do to Puck if he found out that he was the sole senior member of the glee club that wouldn't be graduating this year. He really hoped that Shannon had good news for Puck. He got his answer sooner than he thought. A few minutes later, the doors opened once again this time revealing Puck.
The older teen walked towards them with his eyes downcast staring at a piece of paper in his hands. Blaine couldn't read his expression. He didn't look sad but he didn't look happy either. He looked to Sam and Brittany to see if they had any indication. Both blondes were chewing on their lips anxiously. Great they were of no help. Finally Blaine settled on Santana. She was staring at Puck with narrowed eyes. Finally her lips twitched upwards and she clapped her hands together. Almost as if he were waiting for one of them to figure it out, Puck glanced up with the widest smile Blaine had ever seen on him.
"So guess whose graduating?!"
"Yes!" Brittany, Blaine and Sam chorused.
"I knew you could do it," Santana smiled at him.
"I'm glad you did because I honestly had no clue," Puck retorted, earning a smack on the arm from Santana and Brittany. He laughed and dodged away from the two girls. It was then that he noticed the two Avengers standing by the side. "Oh, hey. Right, hello Mr. Stark."
"I told you to call me Tony already," Tony said with a grin. "Congratulations on graduating, Puck. And allow me to introduce Captain Awesome. Steve, this is Noah Puckerman. Noah Puckerman, this is the Capsicle."
Puck stuck his hand out in greeting to Steve but the gesture was unreturned. Instead Steve seemed to be staring at him with intensity. Puck dropped his hand to his side and looked back at Steve warily. "What?"
Steve shook his head. "Oh, I'm sorry. It's just that… your eyes."
"What about them?"
"They just reminded me of someone that's all. Sorry. It's really nice to meet you." Steve held his hand out to Puck now and smiled brightly when the teen shook his hand firmly.
Out the corner of his eye Blaine could see his father staring blatantly between Puck and Steve. He could practically see the gears in his father's brain working over time. There was something about Steve and Puck that was grabbing Tony's attention and Blaine knew that he wasn't going to rest until he figured out what it was. Blaine made a silent prayer that all parties would emerge from this with their sanity in check. He watched as Tony continued to build theories silently before shaking his head as if physically dislodging the ideas. He clapped his hands together.
"Alright, let's get this party on the road, shall we?"
"Wait, where's Happy?"
"He flew back to Malibu to help Pepper with dealing with the whole I have a kid thing," Tony shrugged. Blaine gave him a look. "Whatever. All I know is that your delightfully insane cheerleading friend here has promised to teach Steve how to the use the internet. If this doesn't get Barton to laugh then I don't know what it's going to take. I tried just about everything short of startling Bruce enough to trigger a Hulk moment."
Blaine gasped in mock surprise. "Oh my god, you care! You actually do care about someone who is not me, Coop, Pepper or Uncle Rhodey!"
"Shut your filthy heathen mouth, I do not!"
"You so do!" Blaine countered with a maniacal grin. "I'm gonna start calling him Uncle Clint."
"You're out of my will!"
"Yeah right, Pepper will never let that happen."
Tony paused. "Why is it that my girlfriend likes my kid more than me?"
"Experience?" Steve suggested with a shrug.
Tony glared before pulling the car keys out of Steve's hands. "And just for that, you don't get to drive anymore."
"But you promised."
"Well that was before I remembered that we were driving with my kid and four other kids I'm responsible for while they're in my car. We all know how it ends with you driving. There might not be any icebergs around but there are plenty of ditches."
"I resent that, Tony. It was one time."
"That lasted for seventy years!" Tony countered, already climbing in the car and ignoring Steve's protests. Blaine cracked a smile as they continued to bicker. They saved the world just the day before but that didn't stop them from acting like children.
As he settled in the backseat between Brittany and Santana, Blaine felt his earlier happy mood returning. Despite everything, this was turning out to be a pretty good day anyway.
"And stop calling me Capsicle!"
"Don't let him get to you, Uncle Steve. It's just his way of showing that he cares."
"I will find a way to disown you, Blaine. Pepper is not the boss of me."
"Yes, she is."
"No, she…." Tony trailed off before sighing. "Yeah, she is."
*The end for now!
