I own nothing, especially not Glee. *sadface*
Klaine Advent Challenge-Day 7: Guide
By-andthenIfound5dollars
A/N: I am two weeks behind on posting a chapter of Part 3. *hangs head in shame* But guess what I've been working on? The Klaine Christmas Advent Challenge! That's right! I wrote all 24 drabbles of the Advent inside the Family Verse. Here we go!
Liam was told his whole life that he was his Papa made over. His dad called him "Little Kurt" most of his childhood. His Grandpa Burt (lovingly called Grampy) would often comment about how he was sure the years had turned when Liam walked into the room, positive his baby boy was a baby again. People would hold up his and his Papa's baby pictures side by side and dare people to pick out who was who…people rarely could.
But…for all that Liam looked like he belonged, and as much as he loved his dads and his sisters, he very often felt like an outsider.
His whole family and home life seemed centered around the arts in some way. His Papa co-founded one of the most reputable online fashion magazines in the country and ran a very successful line of women's and men's clothing. All his friends knew who he was.
His Dad lit up the stage night after night and had even dipped his feet in the small screen and lent his voice to the silver screen a few times as well. All his girlfriends wanted to meet him.
His older sister was an amazing painter and sculptor, and his baby sister was an accomplished cellist that had been accepted to Julliard before she even finished high school.
Liam could throw a mean football, but lacked the passion or the skill to make it beyond playing a few seasons of college ball…it wasn't what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. He got decent enough grades, but was never going to be a great scholar. He was smart and educated, but didn't know how to turn any of that into a career. He never had any interest in music beyond listening to it. He never picked up a pencil or saw a pallet of colors and felt the urge to create something…he sometimes felt like he had been born into the wrong family. He may look like he belonged, but very often felt like he didn't.
His dads had known what they wanted to do since they were kids. Sophie had one hand in an art project since she was old enough to have control of her limbs. Maddie picked up the cello before she was really big enough to play it…they all seemed like they were born to make and create. Liam felt like he was born to make the jokes, nobody took him seriously.
He wandered around Penn State for four years, hoping something would stick…but it never did. He took a year off after graduating with a BA in Human Studies and biked his way through Europe, trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his life...trying to figure out who he really was. He was lost, and didn't know how to find who he was supposed to be.
He felt guilty. He had all this education and opportunities, other people had so little and fought for everything they had…but didn't know what to do with any of the things he was given. When the bike trip was over, his dads begged him to come home. They missed him and told him that he could figure things out from home…they would help him, they would guide him, they could figure out together who he was supposed to be.
Liam knew it didn't work like that.
On his trip his team biked through a small town in Italy called Stigliano, and when the year was up, he moved back there and worked in a vineyard for two years.
He worked with his hands every day. He called his dads once a week, Skyped with his sisters. He rented a tiny "villa" (really more of a small house on a small piece of land that nobody wanted) and began fixing it up for part of the rent. He got the dog he'd wanted his whole life and named her Elphaba because even he couldn't deny roots run deep.
But he couldn't hide forever, and his dads showed up one Friday night in early December.
"When you said you weren't coming home for Christmas, we took matters into our own hands," Kurt said as he dropped their bags on the newly finished floor of the small sitting room. "We missed our jellybelly."
Liam rolled his eyes at the old nickname, but sank into their arms gratefully. As caught off guard as he was, he missed his dads like crazy.
He changed the sheets in his bed for his dads and insisted on sleeping on the couch (Really guys, I end up there more nights than not. It's a comfy couch).
Long after they had gone to bed, Liam lay awake on the couch, petting his hands through Elphie's soft fur. He suddenly saw the light from the kitchen filling the room and someone making noises.
Elphie heard them too and jumped down to investigate. Liam followed her and found Kurt at the stove, heating up a saucepan full of milk.
"Can't sleep?"
Kurt looked up with a startled grin. Liam could see how much the time had aged him. The lines in his face that he'd worked his whole life to avoid were depending under his eyes and on his forehead. His hair hadn't thinned like Grampy had always warned, but it was much lighter with gray. His eyes were the same though…and just like Liam's.
"Jet-lag."
Liam nodded and sat down at the tiny table he'd bought at a market one day. It only sat two, he had pulled up an empty crate to sit on during dinner earlier with his dads. "Only you two would show up in Italy because they wanted to check up on their twenty-four year old son."
Kurt shrugged and set the two mugs on the table, one for Liam and one for himself. "Drastic times call for drastic measures."
Liam snorted out a small laugh and set down the mug after taking a sip, the taste throwing him back to when he was growing up. It was like coming home, even though he was thousands of miles away.
"Your dad made me promise not to bug you…that we were just here to see you and spend time with you, not pester you into telling us what's going on with you." Liam raised his eyebrow in a look so like Kurt's own that the man had to laugh. "We both know that was never going to happen."
Liam nodded into his mug and sighed. Kurt was quiet for a few moments before he finally couldn't take it anymore. "What's up bud? Please tell me? I can see how troubled you are, it's killing me that I can't fix it for you."
Liam looked down at the table and shook his head. "You can't fix it, Papa."
"Maybe I can," Kurt insisted, reaching his hand over to grasp Liam's. "If you tell me, we can work it out together."
Liam started to get frustrated and shook his head, but didn't pull away. "Pop, you can't fix it. If I can't fix it…nobody can. You can't fix everyone and everything!"
Kurt visibly reacted to Liam's outburst, but stood his ground. "Liam, I don't understand…please, please help me understand what's going on with you? You were always so…"
"You don't get it," Liam interrupted. "And you never will, you've known what you wanted since birth! You've known exactly who you were and who you wanted to be since you were old enough to sing a note or hold a pencil. All you ever had to worry about was what thing you would be the most great at."
Kurt's eyes softened and he shook his head. "Oh Li, no. No no no…"
But Liam ignored him, sighed and bit his lip."Do you know what it's like to grow up in a family where everyone is spectacular, and you are barely mediocre?" Liam asked, his voice cracking and Kurt's heart breaking.
"Bud, you are not mediocre.
Liam shook his head vehemently and pulled away. He turned and reached down to pet Elphaba's soft fur again. "Liam, Jack of all trades…master of none."
"I'll never be the man you and dad wan–"
"Laim! No. Never, okay. We never wanted you to be anything but yourself. Ever!" Kurt stood up and moved his chair closer to his only son, wrapping his arm around Liam's shoulder. "Baby, you are so much more than mediocre. Have you ever heard the end of that saying?"
Liam hurriedly brushed his hand under his eye and shook his head.
"Jack of all trades, master of none…though ofttimes better than a master of one."
Liam huffed out a wet chuckle as Kurt continued.
"And…it took me a long time to finally be comfortable in my skin, and I was still figuring out what I wanted to do after I graduated from college too. I know it sometimes looks like people have it all together, but they rarely do, all of the time." Liam nodded but still hung his head. "I'm not saying what you're feeling isn't valid, or that being scared and confused is a bad thing…but beating yourself up, stashing yourself in Italy, no matter how beautiful and how amazing the food is, is not the way to figure out what's really wrong."
Liam moved his head minimally in a nod that Kurt took as acceptance.
"And neither is making yourself feel like your dad and I would, or ever could, love you any less because you aren't what you think we expect out of you.
"We always told you guys you could be anything you wanted to be…and if that means you need to be confused until you figure it out, then that's what it means. Just let us help you through it." Liam lifted his head as if to argue that last bit but Kurt shook his head. "And if we can't guide you through it, at least let us be there to support you until you figure it out for yourself."
Liam sat there for a few minutes and thought until he finally mustered a small grin. "Can I bring my dog?"
Kurt laughed and wrapped up his mini-me in his arms. Of all the things he inherited, why did it have to be my compulsive need to internalize things?He thought.
"I think she'd like the city, don't you?"
