*I don't own Glee but I would do unspeakable things to Ryan Murphy for the chance to.
A/N- I don't live in NYC, and I never have, so please excuse any mistakes that I make when it comes to interaction with the city! If you want a visual for the Hummel-Anderson house, watch the Cosby show. When you read "Papa" make sure you hold the SECOND "a" and not the first so it's more Italian sounding. Also, we're going to go ahead and pretend that Kurt and Blaine live in a magical world where nothing in society, technology, or culture seriously progresses for the 24 years between their senior year and this fic. K? K.
Part Three
It was late one Friday night when Kurt and Blaine sat close on the couch, watching A Philadelphia Story on one of the HBO channels. Bernie was upstairs, working on finishing up paintings for a forthcoming art show, and Daniel was over at a friend's. Kurt sighed with contentment as he leaned his head on Blaine's shoulder.
"I've always loved this movie. Nothing beats Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn," said Kurt, smiling to himself. Blaine looked down at him, smiling as well.
"And let's not forget the classic performance by Jimmy Stewart, a personal favorite of mine," added Blaine, his fingers gently massaging the back of Kurt's neck. He was leaning down for a kiss when he heard the loud banging of the front door slamming open and he and Kurt were on their feet in a second. There, clutching the door frame for support, was Daniel.
His hair was in a state of absolute chaos and it looked as though someone might have spilled Kool-Aid on a side of it. His cardigan, which was new and a gift from Kurt for joining glee club, was ripped in four different places with red stains seeping out around them. Every inch of him looked filthy; coated in dirt and some dried blood. But the really startling sight was his face. Blood oozed out of a fat lip while his right eye was turned a sickening shade of purple. His cheeks were so red it looked like clown make-up, and there was a gash on his forehead running from left eyebrow to hairline.
"Daniel!" They gasped in unison.
He attempted to stagger in the doorway, but his dads were at his sides before he had the chance to fall flat on his face. They guided him back to the couch, Kurt's face white as a sheet and Blaine's eyebrows knotted low on his brow.
"Blaine; first aid kit and towels," Kurt said, rubbing Dan's back and trying to keep him from closing his eyes. Blaine nodded wordlessly and ran to the stairs. Dan let out a long, low groan and held his stomach. "And a bucket too, please," Kurt yelled in the direction of the stairs. Blaine practically flew up them, not realized he was breathing very hard, but never opened his mouth for fear if he did screaming would automatically erupt from it. As he reached the top of the stairs, Bernie opened her bedroom door and peaked out of it but Blaine did not stop and look at her and instead headed straight for the cabinet in the bathroom.
"Papa, what's going on?" Bernie asked, looking confused and worried. Blaine did not look at her but instead wet a few washcloths before he continued his raid of the bathroom cupboard, pulling out old towels and the first aid kit and tucking them under one arm before tucking the little plastic trash can under the other.
"It's Dan. Something's happened," he said, beginning to run back downstairs.
"What?" she shouted down after him. "What's happened?" No one answered.
Blaine was already back downstairs, handing everything to Kurt and taking his place rubbing circles on Dan's back. Kurt dabbed gently at the bleeding wounds with the wet wash cloth and inspected all of his injuries before deciding they didn't need to go to a hospital.
"He's drunk, Blaine," Kurt hissed over Dan's back as he doubled over to throw up in the garbage can.
"No 'm not," slurred Dan, head still partially in the trash. Kurt raised his eyebrow at Blaine. Dan raised his head out of the bin slowly and leaned his head back on the couch, taking a gulp from the glass of water Blaine handed him. "Not that drunk, anyway."
"What happened, sweetie? I thought you were at Greg's house; and I know his parents are home," Kurt said, his tone hardening at the end of the sentence. Someone tapped him on the shoulder and he looked up to see Bernie standing beside, ice pack in hand, holding it out to him. "Thanks honey," he said, off-hand, and placed the ice pack tenderly on Dan's eye.
"I was at Greg's, but…" he looked sheepishly at his father. "Well, we heard Frannie Gorstein was having a party, and she lives in the building right next door to Greg's so…we snuck out the fire escape." Kurt's eyes bulged.
"Daniel Scott Hummel-Anderson, how dare-"Kurt began, but he was cut off my Blaine.
"Kurt. I don't think that's the end of the story," Blaine said sternly, still looking at Dan. "What happened after you got to the party, Dan?" Daniel took a few more gulps of water and deep breaths before diving back into the story.
"We got to the party and I promised not to get too drunk so that I could get us back into Greg's apartment later. It was packed. Everyone was there." He took one long deep breath. "Unfortunately, that meant Damien Cooper and his little gang were there too. After about an hour at the party, and only a few drinks he really set into me. I ran out through Frannie's fire escape and walked back here." Kurt and Blaine looked at each other, horrified and confused.
"Who's Damien Cooper, Dan?" Kurt asked. But Dan's head was back in the bucket and he was retching again. Kurt heard a soft voice behind him.
"He's this druggie who bullies Dan into cheating for him." Bernie said, her eyes never leaving the back of her brother's head. Dan turned to glare at her, eyes red. "What? I know you didn't plan on telling anyone Daniel, so I did it for you. If you don't do something about it he's just going to keep doing it!"
"I can handle him myself," grunted Dan. Bernie snorted with malicious laughter.
"Oh, obviously," she says, motioning to his bleeding lip and puffy right eye.
"Bernie," Blaine said in a serious tone, "go back to bed please." Bernie glared at Dan for a few more seconds before her look softened to one of pity and she turned to walk back up the stairs. They sat in silence for a few moments, Dan taking sips of water and not looking at either of his fathers.
"Is that true, Daniel? What she said?" Kurt asked, quietly.
"Not anymore," Dan replied, his voice hoarse. "A couple weeks ago I told him I wasn't going to cheat for him anymore. He's sorta been after me ever since. But he's never been able to do anything since I've always been at school." More silence.
"Not that I'm not wondrously proud of you, but why did you decide to stop helping him cheat?" Blaine asked, running fingers through Dan's hair looking for bumps and massaging his scalp soothingly. Dan sighed and his cheeks flushed.
"At school," he began, slowly, "I've always been the nerd. Those were my only friends; that was my group. And doing homework for people bigger and more violent than you is just part of that lifestyle." He took one long deep breath. "But then I joined glee club. And there were all these different people from different cliques joined together just because they love to sing. And I just thought 'None of my new friends do other people's work for them. Why should I? Why should that be who I am?'" Blaine looked to Kurt, whose face was deeply flushed and looked as if he was about to cry.
"Blaine," said Kurt, his voice cracking slightly, "could you get him some more water please?" Blaine nodded, realizing that his husband needed a private moment with his son, and took the cup into the kitchen, letting the door swing behind him. As Blaine left the room, Dan turned to look at Kurt, who was smiling sadly at him. One look at his perfectly understanding face and Daniel finally gave into heaving sobs. Kurt pulled him into his arms and held his head to his chest.
"Dad…" he sobbed into Kurt's chest.
"Shh, I know sweetheart. Trust me, I know exactly how you're feeling right now." Dan continued to cry into his father's chest. "But I am so proud of you. You were so brave, standing up for yourself. And we're going to make sure this Damien kid gets what's coming for him. No one does this," he holds Dan's chin delicately between in his hand and looks at the fat lip, gash, and black eye, "to my son's perfect face and gets away with it." Dan sniffled before wrapping his father in a tight hug.
"Thank you." Kurt can barely hear him say what comes next; his face is buried in his shoulder. "I love you, Daddy." Kurt hurriedly swallows the gigantic lump forming in his throat. After sixteen years of fights, awkwardness, miscommunication, growing up, growing old, and growing apart, his son, his little baby boy, still needed his daddy.
A/N – I just really love this family! AKA I'm really writing this for my own shits and giggles now so it could get incredibly sappy up in here. :D Please review and tell me what you think! I'm going to do some more Bernie-focused things soon so gets yourselves ready!
