Ch 4
Once Burt had explained the task and Blaine was working on his own, he thought that this should be a good time to see if he could track down some place for Blaine to stay. He went to the office and made a series of calls from his desk while Kurt pretended he wasn't listening to every word at the other desk.
Half an hour later Burt came to the realization that there were no good alternatives for a place for Blaine to stay. Within a twenty mile radius there was a place for unwed mothers, a place for kids reintegrating with society once they had served terms in custody, and an orphanage for kids under sixteen without parents or parents in jail or something grim, but there was no place for a good kid with parents who chose not to keep him, once he was past sixteen.
When Burt looked up from rubbing his head in frustration, he found Kurt watching him. He'd heard his side of the conversations so Burt didn't need to explain his failure.
"Maybe Blaine could just…" Kurt tried to look nonchalant, while he casually suggested Blaine stay with them.
"No freaking way is he moving into our house." Burt cut Kurt off before he could finish. Blaine could not stay at their house. For one thing, they already had two teenaged boys who were as much as they could handle, both financially and emotionally. There was always one crisis or another to be dealt with at their house, it seemed, between Finn's on and off again love life and his constant tendency to break things and Kurt's bullying issues and fashion fanaticism.
For the second thing…Blaine was gay. Not that Burt had anything against that, but Kurt was gay too. You could feel the attraction between those two like the heat from a bonfire. It would be asking for trouble to have Blaine living in the same house as his son.
Burt believed that so far, Kurt had pretty much stayed away from romantic entanglements and he'd like it to stay that way for as long as possible. On the other hand, Blaine had done nothing to deserve being disowned simply because his parents were intolerant jerks. He couldn't just leave the boy to crash and burn on his own, since he'd never be able to live with himself it he did. It was a matter of time until Blaine got sick from living outdoors, or somebody beat him up… or worse. Burt sighed hopelessly. What the hell was he going to do with the kid?
Kurt was still scowling at him, offended at his father's curt dismissal of his idea of letting Blaine stay with them temporarily until he found something better. It wasn't like Blaine meant anything special to him or anything. Yes, he was incredibly hot, but really dad, he could control himself, he thought to himself resentfully. His father noticed his expression and sighed.
"I'm sorry Kurt, but we can't take him in. Do you have any other ideas? Any other friends who would let Blaine stay with them and maybe he could pay some board or something?" Kurt tilted his head in consideration. Mercedes parents were wonderfully generous, but their house was small and already over full, with her grandparents living with them now too. Santana...oh no, no, no. Um…Really, Brit was the only one…but Rory was already living there in their spare room. Wait…
"There is still lots of space left over up in the shop's mezzanine, dad. We could put the overstock racks on one end, clean it up and set up a bed from our attic upstairs on the window end. There is a washroom down here and a fridge and microwave, so he could make some meals here. It wouldn't be luxurious but it has to be better than the park. At least, it would be warm and dry."
Burt gave the idea a few minutes thought. It would work for a while at least, while they worked on a long term plan. There was still a lot of furniture in the attic from Kurt's old room they could bring over. Blaine would have to come to their house to shower and stuff, but he would be safe and warm in the meanwhile. On the bright side, he would never have an excuse to be late for work.
"Yeah, that would work for a while, Kurt. Good thinking, buddy." Burt said with a pat on Kurt's shoulder. Burt felt better already. They would set it up tonight after work. Kurt felt warmth seep through him knowing that Blaine would be safe and warm because he had come up with a refuge for him.
At lunch time, Blaine joined the other two boys while they went out for lunch, opting for wraps this time. He sat comfortably between Kurt and Finn in Finn's truck, like they had been doing it for weeks, very much aware that his leg was resting against Kurt's as they went through the drive through.
They ate in the park on Kurt's blanket again and Blaine got to appreciate the park, instead of mining it for handouts. He watched the town's police cruiser go by without a qualm, no longer worried about being hassled. What a relief! From up here he could see a corner of his cardboard castle showing between the shrubs, but didn't mention it to the other boys, ashamed of where he had ended up. He hoped the last week was the lowest point he ever had to experience in his life, and felt optimistic about his future for the first time since his parents had evicted him.
They went back to work and delivered Burt's lunch to him. He ate in the office, having decided to let the three boys go out together without his parental presence. He had asked Kurt to try to get some background information out of Blaine, like where he had lived before. Maybe he could talk to his parents and ask them what the hell they were thinking, when they held Blaine responsible for something he couldn't change, no matter how much he would have liked to.
When Blaine went back to work, Kurt told his father Blaine's last name and the fact that he was a Dalton boy, at that fancy school for boys that the rich kids went to. Holy crap! If Blaine's family was that well off, it was even more infuriating that they set him loose without any means of support. He asked Kurt to see if he could find his parent's address. Burt wasn't sure yet what he might say to them, but he wanted to know more about them at any rate. Kurt agreed to look up what he could about them.
That night after supper, during which Burt was relieved to see Blaine ate a lot less voraciously than the night before, they discussed setting Blaine up at the shop. He insisted that he pay some sort of rent so Burt told him he could pay fifty bucks a week, since it wasn't going to cost much to let him use it, but Burt decided to secretly bank it for Blaine to use down the road.
Kurt got some bedding and accessories loaded in the Nav while the other three of them loaded up the furniture from the attic in Finn's pickup, and went back to the shop. They made short work of cleaning and rearranging the place to be comfortable enough. It might be noisy in the day time, but at night it would be quiet and private.
He had to give Blaine the alarm code for the man door but the office had a separate locked door and he was convinced Blaine was trustworthy anyway. The alarm was mostly to keep the shop tools from being stolen. He deposited the cash receipts daily, like it said on his shop's door, so there was little reason for burglars to bust in and so far, he hadn't had a problem. Lima was a safe town, where everybody knew everybody, but the interstate went right by the town, only a few blocks away.
Blaine was tickled pink at having a place of his own. There was an open steel stairway to get upstairs from the hallway at the back of the shop, then you had to thread your way through the shelves to get to the front of the building. He was glad his place had a window overlooking the street to let in light and air. He would have missed being able to see the stars, now that he had gotten used to their company.
Kurt volunteered to make him some curtains for the window and for across the back of the storage area for more privacy when he had a chance, but Blaine said not to bother. He liked it fine the way it was. The slanted ceiling was painted a white that had aged into a soft grey, so it was an advantage to be height-challenged, he decided, when Finn bumped his head twice in the space of ten minutes while they carried in his new bed.
Kurt had brought some colourful accessories to perk up the place with a small area rug, a bed spread and a lamp on a night table beside his hanging white chair and another comfy chair and battered side table Blaine set beside the window to play his guitar in. He knew the place wasn't lavish but it was his and it was warm, safe and dry. Blaine realized now how drastically his priorities had been rearranged once he had been denied access to the enormous designer bedroom he had enjoyed at home, with every electronic device at his convenience.
Once they were done, Burt said goodnight to Blaine and assumed they would all leave him there for the night. Kurt seemed to be stalling, saying he still needed to put some finishing touches on things, so Finn asked to catch a ride home with Burt in the Nav and left Kurt his keys to follow later in his pickup.
It wasn't until Burt was actually pulling out of the driveway that he had the realization that he had just set up Blaine with a private place to be alone with Kurt in his own damn shop. Sheesh, at least if he had let him stay at his house, he could have supervised them. Now they were on their own, with no one around at all to keep them vertical. He decided he would have to trust in Kurt's common sense to keep him out of trouble. Oh boy, what had he done?
Kurt waited until he heard his father's truck leave before he sat in the hanging chair casually. "Do you mind if I hang out here with you for a bit?" He fluttered his eyes at Blaine, flirting shamelessly.
"HELL NO!" Blaine replied a whole lot more excitedly than he had planned. Way to sound cool, Blaine, he told himself. He blushed while Kurt chuckled at his response. "I mean, sure. It's your place, so of course you're welcome."
"Well, this place is yours now, but thank you. What are your plans, Blaine? Is there any family or friends that might be willing to help out? You still have to finish high school. Are you going back to Dalton, or will you go to McKinley?"
"How do you know about Dalton? I didn't tell you that." Blaine said warily. He had no idea yet what he might do or if any family was interested in staying in touch or helping him. He had never considered that he might need them so he never bothered to memorize their contact information. He had some email addresses in his computer at home, but that wasn't any help to him now.
"I recognized you when we were singing last night, from Sectionals with the Warblers. It's kind of scary how much information there is available on people on the internet. I looked you up on Dalton's You Tubes and then got your name from the Dalton site. Then I looked up your family and got your home address and then looked up your father's name and his company's name, Anderson Home Furnishings. I trolled through their web site and discovered he's the CEO. Is that why he was so bent about you coming out?"
Kurt thought maybe he should be grateful that his father was a nobody. His dad had gotten some grief from a few customers about letting his flamboyantly gay son work for him, but he'd always told Kurt he was more important than anyone who had a problem with his son.
"Huh. Well, there's not much more to tell you. I have a brother in L.A but he's really hard to get hold of. I left him an email message the night it happened. I have an aunt who travels a lot for some software company I don't remember the name of and then there's my grandmother. She lives in New York City, but I don't really know her exact address. She's kind of scary. Even my father is afraid of her, so…yeah. I don't think she would take me in, though. She'd probably congratulate him." Blaine said gloomily, as he sat on the bed facing Kurt.
The setting sun was shining in the window on his new friend as he swung gently in the chair and Blaine thought he was incredibly attractive, with the light making a halo around him. It was nice to have Kurt as a distraction, since he somehow didn't feel sorry for himself at all, for the moment.
"Maybe you should find out if they might help for sure, before you write them off." Kurt said with a bit of a shrug and his nose wrinkled up adorably.
"Sure" Blaine replied absently. God, but he was attractive. Just meeting Kurt had put being homeless into a whole new light. There was a bright side to everything, apparently. It seemed that Blaine's natural optimism was re-emerging.
"Um, Kurt, do you think I could use the computer in the office to check my email? Maybe Cooper got back to me? Or I could look up my Nana. My buddies at Dalton would be willing to help me, but I refuse to be a charity case. I can't go back next year anyway, if my parents aren't going to pay the tuition. Do you have any idea what it costs to go there? It's freaking ridiculous."
"Sure, no problem" Kurt got up and led the way back to the office, unlocking the door with his keys and fired up the computer for him. He sat on the desk beside Blaine, being awfully distracting with his extremely tight pants emphasizing his package and his crossed ankles kicking back and forth. Blaine did his best to tear his eyes away and focus on the computer, but kept finding himself drawn back to him every time he had to wait for a screen, since the internet in the shop was very slow compared to his home feed. He signed into his email and found a reply from Cooper dated two days before, along with several emails from his friends.
"Jesus, that blows, Blaine. The pater familius is a cretin. I can send you some money to get you here, if you want. I don't have a lot but, hey man, you're my little brother and I'll hit up everybody I know for you. I don't have a place of my own though to put you in. I'm staying with a buddy right now but that's wearing a little thin and I might be moving soon. Have you called Aunt Lucy? She's pretty cool. When I talked to her about bailing out of Ohio, she told me to go for it. Where are you staying? How can I get hold of you? Your cell phone never answers and I've left you ten messages. Tell me what's going on Bro. Stand up tall, shrimp, Your Big Brudda"
Blaine snorted at his asshole brother, but he appreciated his support. He knew Cooper didn't have much. His father had blocked his access to his trust account too, with the support of his grandmother, both of them extremely unimpressed at Cooper's career choice. He started a reply telling Coop that he had a room over Hummel's Tire and Lube in Lima where he had a job, and with Kurt's permission told him to reply care of KurtHummel It felt pretty good being able to tell Cooper that he was getting by okay, since the news a few days ago would have been a whole lot grimmer. He never wanted to admit to anyone that he had been living in a cardboard box in the park. Then he asked for Aunt Lucy's contact info, and informed him that their father had cut off his phone and debit card.
He replied quickly to a bunch of his friend's emails, in a group message saying he was away for a while and would be out of contact for a bit. He didn't want to explain what had happened until he was in a better situation. He knew Nick, Jeff and Wes would track him down if he didn't get back to them soon though. His phone would likely blow up if he ever got it reconnected, with all the messages they'd probably already left him.
Blaine did some research of his own after that and found his grandmother's address and phone number. He didn't call her yet though. That was something he would have to work up to, maybe in a last resort situation and certainly not with Kurt sitting beside him, in case she rejected him too.
He shut down the computer after that and smiled a thank you to the boy watching him, looking elegant and cool. He had been staring at Blaine's hair and trying to resist the impulse to run his fingers through those soft looking curls. He tore his eyes away when Blaine sat back and smiled at him when he was finished with the computer, making Kurt blush with how amazing his mouth looked when he did that. He didn't smile nearly enough. Their eyes locked again, with both of them gazing at the other. The silence stretched out for a few seconds.
Kurt broke the mood of mutual admiration first, sliding forward off the desk just as Blaine stood and then they were suddenly only inches from each other. They both moved at the same time, leaning toward each other into a kiss. Kurt had always assumed the fireworks they referred to in the movies were sort of an allegory for an emotional response. Nope. There really were rockets going off in his chest and his pants, while he felt Blaine holding him, with his hands clutching him tight against his body.
Blaine felt such an intense feeling of rightness. This was where he belonged, kissing Kurt, he knew immediately. God, he never wanted this to end. He let himself fall into the sensations flooding him, with every nerve ending in his body sizzling in overwhelmed excitement.
The kiss went on for several moments, breaking only for them to gasp for breath and move to their faces and necks. Blaine wasn't sure how they'd gotten there, but now they were leaning against the wall beside the door and he felt the full length of Kurt's body against him, with his one ankle wrapped around his knee, kissing him just as hungrily.
A ring tone from Kurt's phone in his pocket grew gradually louder, penetrating their passion. They pulled apart, staring into each other's eyes with shocked surprise. The surprise turned into a sudden awareness that the phone had now gone silent. The shop phone on the desk beside them went off next, making them both jump apart. Blaine released his arms from around Kurt, intensely aware that he was raging hard and panting…and so was Kurt.
Blaine watched Kurt close his eyes and breathe deeply once or twice, then move to pick up the phone, saying smoothly, "Hummel Tire and Lube. This is Kurt speaking. How can I help you?" He listened for a bit, the high colour in his cheeks slowly fading. "Oh, hi dad. Yes, I'm still here. We were checking Blaine's email on the shop computer. Oh, sorry. I must have left my phone in my jacket. Yes, dad. I'll be home soon." He hung up the phone and stared at it for a minute, unwilling to meet Blaine's eyes. He was still trying to come to terms with how hot that kiss had gotten in two seconds flat. He glanced to Blaine, who was staring at the floor, looking rather flustered himself.
"Sorry about that" Blaine muttered, as he scratched his neck self-consciously. Wow. He'd kissed a couple of guys along the way at Dalton, though he'd never actually dated anybody. But never, ever had he felt this way before about another boy. There was something enchanting about Kurt. He glanced at him, and caught him looking back at him. They smiled at each other, both aware they had accidentally discovered something extremely powerful. Oh man, they'd been steam-rollered by their out of control reactions.
"I should go…before my dad comes back here to get me. I don't think he trusts me, for some reason." Kurt grinned at Blaine naughtily with a chuckle, both of them well aware that Burt's worrying had been entirely justified. God knows what might have happened if he hadn't called just then.
"Yeah, I'd be cutting my own throat if I got him mad at me. But I…god Kurt, I really, really like you. Could I see you, like officially, on a date or something, once I get back on my feet?" Blaine asked hopefully. "Would he mind? If we dated? He seems okay with us being gay, but that's a lot different from us being together." Blaine already knew how much Burt loved his son. He also knew that it was that love that made him help Blaine, when he thought of the same thing happening to his own son.
"I don't know. He can be awfully protective of me. Maybe we should let him get more attached to you first. We can always date later." Kurt moved closer to Blaine and leaned to leave a slow gentle kiss on his lips. "Goodnight Blaine. Call me tomorrow…after eleven though. I need my beauty sleep. You can come over for breakfast. I'll make you some waffles, if you like. Then I'm supposed to go to the mall tomorrow afternoon with Mercedes, my best friend. You're welcome to come with us, if you want."
"Thanks Kurt, but I think I'll decline. I don't have money for shopping and I promised to mow the lawn tomorrow. I'll see you tomorrow then. Goodnight." Blaine leaned in to kiss Kurt again lightly, before he got into it too much, then turned and left him, climbing back up the stairs again. He still hadn't caught up on his sleep, exhausted after sleeping outdoors for most of the week and on the couch last night. He was looking forward to an uninterrupted night of deep sleep in a real bed again. His head had barely hit the pillow before he was deeply asleep.