Here is the next chapter for you, it's my longest one yet. I hope you enjoy! And in response to the review, Blaine isn't really going to help Peter solve crimes in the way that Neal does on the show. The only one he is helping with is trying to get Walter Clarington. Thanks again to anyone that has read, reviewed or favorited this story! It means the world to me.
Chapter 11
Blaine found himself in the interrogation room of the FBI building once more. He and Hunter had been separated when they were brought into the building—Hunter being brought into one interrogation room, while Blaine was brought into another. So far Peter, Jones and Diana had just been in to speak with Hunter, or at least that's what Blaine assumed. He hadn't seen them for the last half hour, so figured that they were in there. Blaine was left in the room with a couple agents that he hadn't met before, and he was bored out of his mind. The agents had patted him down and taken everything that he had in his pockets, which included his cell phone, his house keys, and a pack of gum. Both agents were dressed in plain 'FBI' suits and never said a word. Blaine was just happy that he wasn't handcuffed to the table this time. He desperately wanted to get up and move around, but didn't want to risk them deciding it would be best to handcuff him.
Finally, after another fifteen minutes Peter walked into the room. Blaine didn't know if he should be relieved or scared. He was torn, part of him had gotten so bored that anything would be better than that boredom…but would it really be?
"So, want to know something interesting?" Peter asked, sitting down across the table from Blaine.
Blaine looked up at Peter with confusion evident on his face. He wasn't sure that he actually wanted to know what Peter considered to be interesting.
"When we patted down Hunter and took everything that was on him we found this," Peter said, placing a pack of cigarettes on the table.
Blaine forced himself to keep a poker face.
"So Hunter smokes," Blaine said with a shrug. "I could've told you that if you asked."
"Interesting that it's the same type of cigarettes that I found on you, which you claimed to have gotten from a friend," Peter continued.
Blaine seriously wished that his Uncle and legal guardian was anything but an FBI agent. Seriously, why couldn't the guy be a dentist or something?
"Or it's just a massive coincidence," Blaine shrugged, looking anywhere but at his Uncle.
"You know I don't believe in coincidences," Peter stated, staring down Blaine. "I think that you have been meeting with Hunter more than once. I know that you saw him at Breadstix on Friday night, even though you claimed you didn't."
"I never said to you that I didn't see him on Friday night," Blaine argued, knowing it was the thinnest argument in the world. He didn't know what he was trying to achieve by it.
Peter stared at Blaine for a couple more seconds. "Look at me." It was not a suggestion.
Blaine slowly shifted his gaze upwards to look into his Uncle's eyes.
"Was Hunter the one who gave you the cigarettes?" Peter asked Blaine, leaving absolutely no room to wiggle out of the question.
Blaine sighed and barely whispered out a "Yes."
Blaine quickly looked back down at the table in front of him, waiting for the explosions. It never came though. His uncle just remained silent. After a couple moments of silence, Blaine decided to sneak a peek back up. His Uncle was looking at him with disappointment, not anger. To Blaine, that was even worse than what he was expecting.
"What now?" Blaine asked softly, afraid to know the answer.
His Uncle would have every right to send him to juvie. He had broken a part of the deal that was made to keep him out of there.
"What now is I figure out how to make the best of the situation," Peter replied. "We now have Hunter in our custody and he can be a very big help toward finally catching his father."
"You honestly think that Hunter is going to give you valuable information on his father just to send the man to prison?" Blaine asked in disbelief. "I can tell you already he would rather go to jail than nark on his father."
"I would agree with you there," Peter allowed. "But that all changed when we found this on Hunter."
Peter placed a small clear plastic bag with white powder inside of it on the table. This didn't enlighten Blaine any further. It wasn't like anyone wouldn't have guessed that Hunter would have drugs on him.
"It's laced," Peter explained. "We had tests run on it because we were curious as to why Mr. Clarington was so insistent that you were the only one who could pull the job. You were supposed to deliver this to Alexander Milton."
"He wanted me to kill someone?" Blaine asked, his heart pounding in his chest.
"Yes," Peter replied. "We believe this man stole a piece of Mr. Clarington's and he was not too happy about it. The reason that you would be the only one who could pull the job is that Milton knows both Mr. Clarington and Hunter. They forged their short lived alliance after you were arrested. Milton quickly turned on Clarington, only wanting to use the partnership to steal from him."
"I still don't get where I come into this, though," Blaine said in shock. He could not believe that Mr. Clarington actually wanted Blaine to kill someone—well, he wanted Blaine to deliver laced drugs that would do the job.
"Milton likes his cocaine," Peter explained. "You were to use your skills to make friends with him and eventually get him to do a line."
"How was I supposed to do all of this when I have a two-mile radius?" Blaine asked.
"Milton frequents a coffee shop in your radius. He lives in Westchester County," Peter explained.
"How do you know all of this?" Blaine asked.
"Hunter sang like a canary the moment that he found out the drugs were laced," Peter replied.
Blaine nodded, taking all of the information in. It was crazy, and yet it all did make a weird sort of sense. That didn't answer his question, though.
"What happens now?" Blaine asked again. "I mean what happens to Hunter and myself?"
"Bring him in," Peter said to someone that Blaine couldn't see. He figured it would be Jones or Diana.
A few moments later Diana escorted Hunter into the room, his hands cuffed in front of him. She lead him to sit down next to Blaine, and then took a seat next to Peter. Jones came in a couple moments later, taking a seat on the other side of Peter.
"As long as both of you agree to help us catch Walter Clarington, we can keep the two of you out of juvie," Peter began. "Hunter is going to wear a SCRAM anklet."
"A what?" Blaine interrupted.
"Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitoring," Peter explained. "It works both as a GPS tracker, as well as ensuring that he has absolutely no alcohol. This is based off of all our investigation into him which has over time revealed to us how much he drinks. He will also be drug tested on a regular basis."
Blaine gave a sideways glance toward Hunter to see how he was faring through all of this. Hunter seemed resigned. He was staring at the table in front of him, trying to appear as if he wasn't listening even though he clearly was.
"He is going to live with a friend of Burt's who lives two doors down from us," Peter continued. "He's a detective for the local police department."
Blaine heard Hunter take a sharp inhale of breath at that fact. It was clear he knew that he was going to be wearing the anklet, but not that he was to be living with a cop.
"He is going to be attending McKinley High School as well," Peter said.
Blaine nodded, figuring that he would be attending the same school. He kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, though. So far everything that Peter had just said was in relation to Hunter. He still hadn't told Blaine his punishment.
"Now do you two agree to help catch Walter Clarington?" Peter asked.
Blaine looked over at Hunter for a moment, before turning back and nodding at Peter.
"I need verbal answers," Peter said.
"Yes," Blaine said softly.
A couple moments later, "Yes" was answered by Hunter as well.
"Excellent," Peter said, clapping his hands together. "Diana if you will do the honors of getting Hunter's anklet while I discuss some more things with our little troublemakers."
And there it was, the moment that Blaine knew was inevitable.
"Now I know that I can't expect to keep the two of you apart. You are going to be living in close proximity to each other, you will be attending the same school and you will be both helping out the FBI. However, Blaine you knew that a part of your deal was that you were not allowed to see Hunter. You broke that rule and you lied to me about it on multiple occasions."
Blaine really wanted to interject that he really didn't consider it lying, it was more just leaving out some information. He didn't have a death wish, though.
"Instead of just grounding you, I decided that your punishment needs to include something more productive," Peter continued. "So you and Hunter and both going to participate in mandatory community service projects."
"So I'm not grounded?" Blaine asked full of hope.
"You are so grounded it's not even funny," Peter replied, crushing Blaine's hope. "You are just going to be grounded with the addition of community service projects. Now Hunter, your punishment will be decided by Mr. Fulton who will be here soon to pick you up. He will explain all of the rules that law enforcement is laying out for you, as well as his own rules."
The door to the interrogation room opened once more, and Diana walked in with another anklet. This one looked different than Blaine's, it had two boxes with one on each side of it. Diana quickly got to work attaching it to Hunter's leg. Blaine couldn't help but consider himself lucky that he didn't have to wear this version of it. Hunter wasn't allowed to have anything between the anklet and his skin. He couldn't help but wonder how much that was going to chafe.
The rest of the weekend went unbearably slow in Blaine's opinion. After Mr. Futon came to pick Hunter up, Peter brought Blaine back down to his car and the two set on another awkward ride home. Once there, Blaine received the lecture of a lifetime and then was forced to copy the rules of his deal with the FBI about twenty times to ensure that he understood all of them. Monday was definitely a welcome relief.
Hunter and Blaine hardly saw each other throughout the day, with Hunter being in none of the same classes as Blaine. Blaine had a theory about that—he was almost positive that his Uncle had contacted the school to make sure that they wouldn't share the same classes or even the same lunch period. The only time they really saw each other was in passing in the hallway.
Blaine was slightly shocked when he walked into Glee Club at the end of the day and found Hunter talking with Mr. Schue.
"Hey man," Blaine said, walking up to Hunter. "What are you doing here?"
"I have to join an extracurricular," Hunter sighed. "This was the only one that didn't seem entirely lame, plus I knew that you were in it as well."
Blaine nodded in understanding. Both of them liked sports, but had absolutely no interest in playing them. The school didn't have that wide of selection of clubs, which meant that majority of them were not interesting in Blaine's opinion.
Blaine went to sit down in his usual back-row seat and wait for Kurt, while Hunter continued to talk with Mr. Schue. It was about two more minutes before the last of the Glee Club arrived, with Kurt walking in talking with Mercedes. Kurt didn't appear to notice Hunter, and instead just walked up to the back row and sat next to Blaine.
"How was the rest of your weekend?" Kurt asked, but before Blaine had a chance to answer Mr. Schue was calling the class to attention.
"Now I have a couple announcements for you," Mr. Schue began. "First, we have a potential new member who would love to audition for you all. Please give Hunter Clarington your undivided attention."
Blaine heard Kurt gasp next to him and grab on to his arm. Blaine looked over and saw that Kurt was giving him the most confused look in the world.
"What is he doing here?" Kurt asked, having to whisper since Hunter had already begun to sing.
"It's a long story," Blaine whispered in reply. "But, Peter is the reason he's here."
Kurt gave him another confused look, but clearly decided to drop the subject for the moment and focus his attention back on Hunter. Hunter was doing an incredible job with the song. He was singing "If I Die Young" by the Band Perry.
After he was done he was met with a very loud round of applause, and it was immediately clear that he would be accepted into the Glee Club.
"Well I think I speak for all of us when I say welcome to Glee Club," Mr. Schue said, gesturing for Hunter to take a seat with the others. "My other announcement before we get to practicing is to remind you that I need all of your permission forms for the bus ride signed by tomorrow. I will make sure to remember to hand you one before the end of practice, Hunter."
"Er—Mr. Schue," Blaine said awkwardly raising his hand. "Hunter and I are going to be driven there and back by my Uncle."
"You will?" Mr. Schue asked.
"It's just that the competition is out of ou—er—my radius," Blaine said, almost outing the fact that Hunter was wearing an anklet as well.
No one seemed to really catch the slip, other than Kurt. Kurt gave Blaine a look that made it clear they would be talking about this later.
They spent the rest of the Glee Club rehearsing all of the numbers for Sectionals in two days. It was much easier than Blaine thought to add Hunter into all of the choreography. He didn't sing much other than a couple harmonies here and there, but Blaine knew that he didn't mind. They were going to have a mandatory practice the next day during free period and after school and another one on Wednesday during free period.
The Club ended a couple minutes late, and Blaine hurried to gather his things. He was only a couple seconds into picking up his things when he looked up and saw that Peter was standing in the room and talking to Mr. Schue. He didn't have to hurry after all. Kurt immediately came over to him.
"So are you going to explain what's going on here?" Kurt asked, crossing his arms and sitting down in one of the chairs.
"It's a really long story, Kurt," Blaine replied with a sigh.
"I've got time," Kurt replied.
"I don't," Blaine said, gesturing toward where his Uncle was standing.
"What did you do between Friday and today?" Kurt asked, raising an eyebrow at him in suspicion. It was not usual for Peter to walk inside to pick Blaine up.
"It's okay, you can tell him," Hunter said, having overheard a little bit of their conversation.
Blaine looked at Hunter for a moment before turning back to Kurt and explaining.
"Hunter passed a note to me at Breadstix to meet with him the next morning. The FBI was tracking him, though. They followed him to the park where he met up with me. Part of my deal with the FBI was that I wouldn't have any contact with anyone from my old life. As you can imagine, my Uncle was pissed when he found out that I had seen Hunter. He arrested Hunter and took me in as well. Hunter is actually living with a detective friend of your father's."
"With a radius?" Kurt asked. Blaine was right, Kurt had caught Blaine's little slip.
"Yes," Hunter replied for him, looking around and seeing that it was just the three of them and Peter and Mr. Schue left in the room. He lifted up his pant leg to show Kurt the anklet.
"Let me give you a ride home, Kurt. It's really cold out today," Peter said, causing all three boys to look over at him.
"That would be great," Kurt replied, gathering up his books.
The three of them walked out to Peter's car in silence. Blaine felt like it was the oddest mix of people that he could possibly have together. Kurt and Peter represented his new life, while Hunter was a reminder of his past.
"So how is it with Mr. Fulton?" Peter asked, starting his car.
"It's fine," Hunter replied with a shrug. "He's about as strict as I thought he'd be. He already drug tested me once and he won't let me smoke, which is killing me."
Blaine groaned and muttered, "Don't get him started."
Peter glared at Blaine for a second, not able to take his eyes off of the road for too long.
The rest of the trip home was mostly conversation about the upcoming Sectionals. Blaine tried to persuade Peter to let them go on the bus with the others, but he didn't cave. Blaine had lied a little in Glee. It wasn't entirely that it was out of their radius, it was mostly because they were both grounded. Peter didn't believe in loosening the grounding just because Sectionals was happening during it. Mr. Fulton had fully agreed with Peter, not that Blaine was surprised in the slightest.
Blaine wouldn't say that he was nervous for sectionals, it was more excitement that he was feeling. The McKinley High Glee Club were all sitting in the green room back stage waiting to go on. They were the first show choir to perform, so they knew that they had to be extra amazing so that they would be remembered even after the other two schools performed. They were performing against the Dalton Academy Warblers and the Chestnut Hill Chipmunks. (Blaine wasn't entirely sure what Chipmunks had to do with singing, but in comparison to some other school's names it was definitely tame.)
"What do you know about Dalton Academy?" Blaine asked from where he was sitting on the floor and stretching next to Kurt.
"I know that they are a private all boys boarding school and they have a zero-tolerance no bullying policy," Kurt replied and Blaine looked over and studied him for a moment. "I looked it up my freshman year when the bullying was getting really bad."
"It's been better since what happened with Karofsky, hasn't it?" Blaine reasoned.
"But it still exists," Kurt reasoned. "Don't try to tell me that you are not still getting called a fag on a daily basis."
"Well that's true," Blaine gave in. "At least we have each other to get through it though. Think about all the people that are the only out gay kid in their school."
"I don't have to do too much thinking," Kurt replied. "That was literally me before you came to this school."
"Well isn't this cute?" a voice came from behind them, startling them both out of their conversation.
Kurt and Blaine both immediately turned to see who the voice was, both mentally agreeing that they did not like being sneaked up on when they saw who it was.
"Sebastian, what are you doing here?" Blaine asked.
"Isn't it obvious?" Sebastian asked, gesturing down to his uniform. It was a pair of gray slacks with a white button up shirt, a blue and red tie, and a navy blue blazer with red piping and a red D on the breast pocket.
"You go to Dalton Academy?" Kurt guessed and then realized something even further. "You're in the Dalton Academy Warblers."
"Got it in one," Sebastian replied. "I wish that I could say that I knew as much about you though, except for the fact that you go to school with Blaine here."
"I'm Kurt," Kurt growled out in reply, not liking this Sebastian guy in the slightest. He didn't know what came over him and allowed him to make the next statement, but he did. "I am Blaine's boyfriend."
Blaine could not help but smile at that. He liked the sound of being Kurt's boyfriend, even if he knew it just came out because Kurt wanted to make Sebastian jealous. The two hadn't really talked about official titles yet, but it was definitely nice sounding.
"Ah—so you have a bit of a thing for the bad boy too," Sebastian said with a wink.
"Sebastian?" Hunter asked, walking up to the three of them.
"Hunter!" Sebastian cried out in reply. "What are you doing here, man? Dude it's been so long since I've last seen you.
Sebastian turned and walked off with Hunter, the two clearly having known each other for some reason. Blaine and Kurt just stared in confusion as the two walked off.
"Did you know that they knew each other?" Kurt asked after a couple seconds.
"No, I had no idea," Blaine replied with a small laugh.
The performance was such a rush and caused such a high that it seemed to go by in the blink of an eye. The Glee Club received a standing ovation, and he could hear Peter and Cooper cheering him on in the audience. He didn't even care to be embarrassed by them because he was so happy with how well their set went. After they all went backstage and went over a few post performance congratulations, they headed out to the audience to watch the two other schools. As much as Blaine hated to admit it, Sebastian was an amazing singer as well as an incredible performer. The other school was okay. They just were not as good of dancers as the Warblers or as good of vocalists as the New Directions. Blaine had a feeling that when it came down to it, it would be a vote between the New Directions or the Warblers.
Before they knew it, all three schools were standing on stage waiting for the results. The third place went to the Chestnut Hill Chipmunks, not that Blaine was very surprised by that fact.
"And now for the first time in a very long time," the judge began to say. "We have a tie for first—New Directions and the Dalton Academy Warblers!"
It took a moment for everyone to understand what was happening. When they did the two schools started jumping and cheering on stage. They were a little unhappy that they had to tie, but that meant that both schools were going to Regionals!
"Looks like I will be seeing you around," Sebastian's voice came from behind Blaine. "I look forward to our next meeting."
With that said he turned and walked back to join his celebrating team. Blaine shook it off and went and gave Kurt a massive hug.
Blaine and Kurt celebrated for a few more minutes before walking back out into the audience to find Burt, Carole, Peter, Elizabeth, and Cooper.
"Congratulations!" both Carole and Elizabeth squealed as the two boys walked up to them hand in hand.
"Thanks," both Blaine and Kurt sheepishly replied, accepting hugs from both women.
The next morning Blaine woke up to amazing smells wafting up to his room. He had almost forgotten that it was Thanksgiving and that Burt, Carole, Finn and Kurt were all coming over as well as Peter's parents, Elizabeth's parents and Hunter and Mr. Fulton. Blaine hadn't seen his grandparents since he was very little. After his dad died his mom kept them out of his life too. He could barely even remember what they looked like, his mom was not one to keep pictures around the house. They were all in a box in the attic, and his mom yelled at him when she found him looking for them one day. She must have hid them after that, because when he went to look for them when she was not home they were gone.
"Good morning, sweetie," Elizabeth said as Blaine dragged himself into the kitchen. He truly looked like he just woke up. He was still in his navy sweatpants and a white t-shirt with no shoes on. His hair was sleep tousled and curly as anything because he had not had the chance to put gel into it yet. "Have some breakfast. I made pumpkin pancakes."
Blaine happily obliged. He loved Elizabeth's cooking.
"So what time is everyone getting here?" Blaine asked after shoveling a couple bites into his mouth.
"They should be here soon," Elizabeth answered. "I'm not sure about Peter's parents or mine, but I know that Burt and Carole are coming early to help cook. I'm sure Kurt will do some cooking of his own. He makes a delicious pumpkin cheesecake."
"I better go get changed then," Blaine said shoveling the last few bites into his mouth and going to stand up.
At that moment the front door bell rang. Blaine groaned. There was no way for him to get back upstairs without going through the main entryway. He hoped that it was not too early in the relationship for Kurt to see him like this.
"Welcome!" Blaine heard Peter say from the foyer as he walked towards it.
"Nice look," Kurt joked as Blaine entered the entry.
"I didn't realize that you guys would be coming so early," Blaine said with a groan. "I wouldn't have just rolled out of bed and gone downstairs if I knew."
"Well this just gives me a chance to pick out your Thanksgiving outfit then," Kurt said, clapping his hands in excitement. "Let me go see your wardrobe."
"Nothing funny up there!" Burt warned as the two boys walked up the stairs.
"And don't close the door!" Peter added.
Blaine and Kurt were both heavily embarrassed as they entered Blaine's room.
"I love what you've done with the place," Kurt joked as he walked in.
Blaine's room used to be the guestroom at Peter and Elizabeth's house. It was complete with a red floral comforter and pictures of flowers on the walls. Blaine had not really customized anything in the room since moving in. He had always planned on making it more his style, but never really got around to it. He didn't have much at his original house to do so. Most of his stuff was at the Clarington's, so obviously he couldn't go and pick it up. When Peter and Blaine had gone back to his house while his mom was gone, he had just taken his clothes and his guitar. He did not have much else that he wanted to take with him. That was mostly because most everything that he had was just a reminder of bad memories that he had living in that house.
"Thanks," Blaine laughed. "You know if you really think it is that bad then you should help me decorate it sometime. I think if we buttered Elizabeth up just a little she might give us some money to change the décor."
"Blaine, that would be like Christmas for me," Kurt said deadly serious, studying a painting that was on an easel. "Did you paint this?"
"Yeah," Blaine replied, going a little red at the cheeks. "I've had some time on my hands with being grounded so much in the last several weeks. I've painted a lot and played the guitar nonstop."
"Blaine, this is incredible!" Kurt said, trying to really take the whole painting in. There was no question that Blaine was talented.
"Er—thanks," Blaine awkwardly replied. "Well here is my closet, have at it."
Kurt literally squealed and headed into the closet. He started going through Blaine's clothes. Some he nodded his approval of. Others he just groaned and shook his head. The shirts that he rolled his eyes at were the ripped concert t-shirts that Blaine had—so that was majority of his closet that got the groan of disapproval. Clearly, they did not fit his high fashion standards.
"You must go with this," Kurt said after a couple minutes.
He emerged from the closet with a dark navy sweater that had red trim on the collar as well as a brown toggle. On the right sleeve, there were two white stripes. The pants that he had were red high waters. The shoes that he had were brown loafers. These were clothes that Blaine only wore when a con necessitated it, when it wouldn't work to look like a teenager who just rolled out of bed or something.
"So you like me dressed in a very preppy style?" Blaine joked.
"Well your usual rocker ripped jeans look does suit you," Kurt answered, blushing at his admittance. "But this is a holiday, so you must dress up for it."
"Noted," Blaine replied and then realized something. "I'm going to have to turn down the pants."
"Why, they will look so good on you," Kurt stated.
Blaine just pulled up his left pant leg in reply.
"Blaine, every single person at this dinner tonight knows that you wear a tracking anklet," Kurt reasoned. "These pants go perfectly with that sweater. The whole outfit will be ruined because you do not have any other red pants than high waters. In fact you hardly have another other pants than ripped black skinny jeans. You can't wear black with navy."
"Fine, I'll do it for you," Blaine groaned in reply.
He grabbed the clothes from Kurt's hand and walked into the bathroom to get changed. He was still very self-conscious about the tracker, but knew that he would do anything for Kurt. He got changed and went back to Kurt to check that it was the exact look that he was going for.
"See," Kurt said as soon as Blaine walked in. "It's so stylish that you can't even notice."
Blaine looked down. Personally, all he saw when he looked down was an ugly black tracker. He wasn't going to rain on Kurt's parade though.
"Whatever you say," Blaine replied. "Now I'm going to go do my hair."
"Your hair looks so much better curly than it does with all of that gel in it," Kurt stated. "I don't know why you feel the need to plaster it to your head or stick it under hats."
"I got teased a lot when I was growing up," Blaine softly replied. "Kids thought it was a great idea to pull at my curls. I just started gelling it because when I did so then there was nothing for kids to pull at."
"Oh Blaine," Kurt said, pulling his boyfriend into a hug.
"But since today is about giving thanks, and I am very thankful for you, I will just lightly tame my curls instead of plastering them to my head," Blaine replied and leaned in to kiss Kurt.
The kiss started out as a soft and tentative kiss. After a few moments, Kurt deepened it. They were both lost in each other. Blaine never wanted the moment to end but alas…
"Well I was supposed to come up and check that there was no funny business going on…" a voice, which Blaine recognized immediately as his annoying older brother Cooper's, sounded throughout the room.
The moment was very effectively ruined. Kurt and Blaine pulled apart. Kurt was blushing, staring at anywhere but Cooper. Blaine went for the opposite approach and took to glaring directly at Cooper.
"Carole has a question about the sweet potato casserole," Cooper said, grinning like the Cheshire Cat at Blaine.
"Oh, I best go attend to that," Kurt said, turning and running out of the room.
"You are so whipped," Cooper said after Kurt left.
"What?" Blaine asked, his glare softening in his confusion.
"He is already picking out your clothes and getting you to change your hairstyle," Cooper knowingly responded.
"How do you know he picked out my clothes?" Blaine asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Because you would never in a million years pick a pair of pants that showed that," Cooper said with a nod in the direction of the anklet. "Also, I was beginning to wonder if you owned anything that didn't look like you were living on a tour bus with a pop punk band. You proved me wrong."
Blaine self-consciously shifted from foot to foot, clearly unable to give a snarky reply to that because it was all true.
"I should go see if they need help in the kitchen," Blaine said, changing the topic entirely.
"Uh huh," Cooper scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Have fun in your denial little brother!"
Blaine just walked out of his room, completely ignoring his older brother. Blaine walked downstairs and through the living room to get to the kitchen. Peter, Burt, and Finn were watching football in there. Peter, Burt and Finn all glanced at him as he walked by, but fortunately made no comment.
When Blaine got into the kitchen, he was drafted for mashed potato duty after Elizabeth and Carole gushed over his clothes for five minutes. He got started and fell into a comfortable conversation with Kurt, Elizabeth and Carole. They talked about anything and everything, from Vogue to the latest bands and even the different insane parties that Elizabeth had planned over the years.
A couple hours into cooking the doorbell rang once more. Peter called out that he would get it, so they all continued on with their cooking. A couple minutes later, an elderly couple came in that Blaine vaguely recognized as his own grandparents.
"Oh Blaine," his grandmother said and immediately walked over and pulled him into a bone crushing hug. "I was just telling Cooper how happy I am that I get to spend this Thanksgiving with the two of you. It has been much too long since we have last seen you two."
Blaine nodded in reply as she pulled apart.
"Although we are not too happy with the circumstances as to why you are here," his grandfather scolded, clearly glancing down at the flashing anklet.
Blaine really wished that he was wearing longer pants.
"Oh come on dad," Peter said, walking into the kitchen to presumably grab more beers. "You don't have to go all hard ass on him. He has already been punished and lectured about it. Just get to know him."
"It is great to see you," his grandfather said, pulling him into a manly hug.
"Nice to see you too, sir," Blaine replied.
"Now you see what you've done, Harold," Blaine's grandmother scolded. "You see him for the first time in too many years to count, and he already doesn't feel comfortable around you."
"I'm just making sure that he knows that he should be more mature than what his actions in the past have been, Sylvia," Harold stated. "You can call me grandfather though. No need for sir when it comes to your grandfather."
Blaine nodded his understanding and turned back to his kitchen duties, really thankful that Peter didn't make any comment about how he was still acting immature.
"Kurt! I didn't notice you there," Sylvia cried out, rushing to pull Kurt into a hug as well. "I haven't seen you in a while as well. You weren't here for last Thanksgiving."
"Yeah, we went to visit Carole's family for Thanksgiving last year," Kurt supplied.
"So do you go to the same school as Blaine here?" Sylvia asked, washing her hands in the sink after hugging both Carole and Elizabeth.
"Yeah, we met in French class," Kurt replied. "I had no idea that he lived with Peter and Elizabeth and he had no idea that our families were such close friends."
"That is such an amazing coincidence," Sylvia said, clapping her hands. Blaine was definitely getting the vibe that she was a very peppy grandmother. "So Blaine, have you found any lovely ladies at your school."
Blaine had unfortunately taken a sip of water at that point and started choking on it for a moment. Kurt came to his rescue though.
"Blaine and I are actually dating," Kurt said, patting Blaine on the back to try to help him stop coughing.
"Oh, excuse me," Sylvia said quickly. "I didn't know that you were gay. That is so sweet though! And what a romantic place to meet—French class."
Blaine and Kurt were thinking the exact same thing—it would be sweet if it was not for some of the Neanderthals in the class.
Elizabeth's parents joined the party about twenty minutes later. Blaine thought that Elizabeth's mom was a sweetheart, but he didn't care too much for her psychologist father. He spent twenty minutes talking with Blaine trying to figure out the root of his criminal tendencies. Blaine tried to explain that it was just a way to make money and survive, but he seemed to think there was something deep and psychologically wrong with him. It was like Christmas for the man when Hunter arrived and he found out what Hunter had done—not one, but two criminals that he could psychoanalyze. Cooper actually helped them escape that one; he came over and started talking about insanity tests that were used in courts. Blaine and Hunter slipped away with Kurt and had been avoiding the man ever since then.
At around 4 o'clock they all sat around the expanded dining room table to dig into the big meal. Blaine sat in between Cooper and Kurt, with Hunter right across from him, and was in a conversation with the three of them about which was better New York or California. Cooper was vying for California because he found the movie industry more interesting. Kurt of course was a big proponent of New York because of Broadway. Hunter voted California, because he was always up for adventure and something different. Blaine was torn in the middle, he found both equally interesting. He didn't mention it, but after the anklet came off, he might be very tempted by California, solely for the fact that it was so far outside of his two-mile radius.
"I hope Nationals are somewhere far like California. I know Regionals are in Stamford, Connecticut," Kurt said.
"I didn't know that," Blaine said, starting to panic a little. He knew that he was required to join a club, but he did not know if he would be let out of his radius to go all the way to Connecticut.
"I'm sure Peter will work it out," Cooper said, clearly sensing Blaine's distress. "He will most likely just travel with you."
Blaine tried not to groan out loud. That was exactly what he didn't want. He like that school and Glee were typically times that he was parental figure free.
"Oh, I will beg Peter to work it out," Kurt replied, grabbing Blaine's hand. "I really mean this when I say that you are just as talented as Rachel Berry and myself and we need you in this Glee Club."
"Oh, as long as I am as talented as Rachel Berry," Blaine joked.
"Oh, shove off," Kurt replied with a laugh.
"Trust me; I will take your talent over Rachel's any day. Her talent just comes with way too much of an ego," Blaine replied.
"I'm just glad that she has the talent to match the ego," Kurt added. "It would be super annoying if she was that sure of herself and she sucked."
"I always thought the same thing!" Blaine explained.
"Okay, now I have to meet this Rachel girl," Cooper said with a laugh.
"You really don't though," Hunter piped in, shuddering in fake horror. He didn't know how someone that tiny could be that annoying. "I don't know how Finn deals with her."
Blaine and Kurt both laughed. Finn took notice of their conversation after hearing his name.
"What about me?" Finn asked, his fork halfway to his mouth.
Before anyone was able to answer Finn's question, the doorbell rang once more. Everyone looked at each other confused. Everyone that was supposed to be there was already there.
Peter got up from the table to go answer the front door. Blaine figured that it was probably just someone that was lost trying to get to someone else's house. That theory went out the window the moment he heard a voice that he recognized.
"I just want to see him!" the voice yelled.
Cooper stiffened in his seat, clearly recognizing the voice as well.
"He's my son!" the voice yelled.
"But you gave him up!" Peter stated back, his voice raised in level but not yelling like Blaine and Cooper's mother was. "You don't get to choose to randomly come back."
"I just want to see him," she pleaded.
"Why, so you can tear him down because he's gay?" Peter asked, clearly not moving from blocking the doorway.
"Is that what he told you?" his mother spit back. "I mean I may have taken a while to comprehend the fact that he was gay…"
"There is nothing to comprehend. You just accept," Peter replied, his voice sounding more annoyed and done with the situation with each passing moment. Blaine couldn't help but feeling immense gratitude toward his uncle at that moment.
"You can't stop me from seeing him, he's my son," his mother argued.
"Actually I can, you gave up your right to him. You gave him over to me and he is now under my guardianship. According to the state I am in the position of his guardian, not to mention he is technically a ward of the FBI under my supervision," Peter replied. "Now if you do not mind, I would like to get back to my dinner."
Blaine was not overly conscious of doing so, but apparently, he got up from the table and started walking toward the entryway.
"What are you doing here mom?" Blaine asked, approaching the bickering pair in the doorway.
"Oh baby," she said, tearing up at the sight of him.
"You haven't cared about me since I came out," Blaine said, folding his arms over his chest and trying not to let any of his emotion appear on his face. "What could you possibly want now?"
"I just…it did not seem right that on this holiday I didn't get to see you," she stuttered out.
"You made that choice yourself," Cooper said, coming up behind Peter and Blaine.
"Cooper?" she asked, looking like she had just seen a ghost.
"Yeah, remember me? The other son that you pushed out and kept from Blaine?" Cooper sarcastically asked.
"It's time for you to leave, Janet," Peter said crossing his arms over his chest, and pulling himself up to his full height.
Blaine had to admit that Peter was very intimidating when he tried to be. His mother seemed to get the same vibe as well. She nodded and went to turn, but not before adding.
"This is not over."
"Yes, it is mom," Blaine replied. "I'm actually happy here. If you want to start acting like a mother now, then accept the fact that I am happy here with Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Peter."
Janet cringed at that, turned, and walked away. Peter shut the door behind her and turned to look at Blaine who looked visibly shaken.
"What right does she have to pretend like she cares now?" Blaine asked, turning and running up the stairs.
"Blaine!" Cooper called after him, going to follow after his brother.
"Let me take this one," Peter said.
Cooper looked hesitant at first, but nodded and turned to go back to the dining room table. He knew that he was going to be in charge of letting everyone else know what had happened.
Blaine collapsed on his bed and finally allowed the tears that were at bay to fall. He couldn't believe that she thought she had the right to waltz back into his life just because she was lonely on a holiday. You didn't get to choose when you wanted to act like a mother. It should be something that was always happening.
"I would ask are you okay, but I think I know the answer to that," Peter said, sitting down on the bottom of Blaine's bed. "Don't worry; she is not going to get you back."
"I tried hard to be the perfect son for the longest time, before I just gave up," Blaine admitted. "I knew that there was nothing to make her happy once she knew that I was gay."
"You shouldn't have to try to be anyone's perfect son," Peter supplied. "You just need to be yourself. She should've accepted you the way that you are. It's her loss. She made the choice and now she just has to live with it."
"Is it weird to say that I am happy that you caught me?" Blaine asked.
"Not when you understand the circumstances, no," Peter admitted. "I'm happy that you are liking living here so much. You're truly turning into an incredible young man. I am certainly very proud of you, even if you do mess up here and there."
"That means a lot coming from you," Blaine said softly.
"Now come on, there is still a lot of pumpkin pie to be eaten," Peter said.
Blaine smiled, wiped his eyes, and followed his Uncle back down the stairs to the dining room. When he sat down next to Kurt, Kurt grabbed his hand and squeezed it tight. Blaine found that to be the most comforting thing in the whole world. He wanted nothing more than to be here in this moment with these people.