A/N: Woot! I actually got this done last night, and part of chapter 15! I feel proud of myself. Anyways, thanks to the always wonderful redrosegal for staying up until 2AM (or, 2 am my time, similar there at the least) to beta this and make it make more sense, rather than my endless rambling. Anyways, I think that this chapter is what really draws the story into the main plot. Not much happens in it, it's kind of like an informative chapter. But a bit more back story of Blaine, yes yes? Always fun!
Slowly blinking his eyes open, Blaine looked around the room, trying to remember where he was, when everything that happened earlier in the day flashed back threw his mind.
Glee club. Kurt's dad. Hospital. Kurt. Crying. Mom.
As the last thought dawned upon him, the short tenor looked up at the photos above the fireplace, focusing on the picture of Kurt and his mother at the park. Kurt looked so happy and at ease in the picture… the young boy hadn't even known that his world would start falling apart in just a few months.
Sighing, Blaine rolled his neck a bit before noticing the slight weight against his shoulder. Looking to his right, he discovered a sleeping Kurt cuddled up closely to him, his head rested on the shorter boy's shoulder. Smiling slightly, Blaine let his mind wonder to whether it would be better to wake up the boy or just return to sleep.
Before he could decide, however, he heard a small grumble coming from the sleeping boy's mouth as he slowly began to fidget in his sleep. After a moment or so of mumbling incoherent speech, the countertenor began to stir from his sleep, stretching a bit as he did so.
"Hi," he mumbled tiredly when his eyes opened to see Blaine. "Mm, did we fall asleep?" A small yawn escaped his lips as he asked the question, causing Blaine to chuckle lightly and nod at the question. Adjusting his eyes to the dim light, Kurt turned to face a clock.
"Oh shoot, it's ten. You should probably head home before your parents start to worry," Kurt rambled. It wasn't that he didn't want Blaine to stay – of course he did – it was just that he didn't want him getting trouble on his account. Speaking of which… did Blaine ever even tell his parents he wasn't going home?
Turning his head, about to ask the boy that question, he noticed the slightly panicked look in Blaine's eyes when he mentioned his parents. All earlier ideas of his parents beating him popped back into his mind, causing Kurt to shutter in fear for the older boy.
"Is everything alright, Blaine? Did you even tell your parents you were coming out with me?" Kurt asked, worriedly. Blaine simply bit his lip, and nodded.
"Hmm… I'm fine," he mumbled. "And my parents went out of town this morning… Would you-" Blaine started, before taking a deep breath and continuing, "would you mind if I stayed here for the night? It would just be for tonight…"
Now, Blaine wasn't normally one to lie. But he didn't want Kurt to worry about him. And he really, really didn't want to go home right now. If he was correct, which he likely was, his parents would be having another fight about him right now, and that wasn't something he could deal with right now. He felt like he would just break any second. And breaking wasn't something he wanted to do.
Kurt just looked at Blaine suspiciously before nodding. "Of course you can stay. Do you want to get home and get some of your stuff, or just borrow some of mine? I mean, we have your book bag and everything, so you're set for school and everything… oh Gaga, I'm rambling again aren't I?" Blaine chuckled lightly with a small nod. "Feel free to hit me on the head next time I do that… just don't mess up my hair," he added the last part as an afterthought, grinning as Blaine continued to chuckle and nod.
"If it'd be alright, could I just borrow your stuff?" asked Blaine, returning to the main topic of discussion. He really didn't want to go home until he couldn't avoid it any longer. Kurt simply nodded, and let out another yawn.
"Here, I'll go get you something to change into, be right back." And with that, Blaine watched Kurt walk down the hallway, a slight skip in the boy's step. After all, who wouldn't be glad that his crush was staying over?
But even if he wasn't crushing on Blaine, it was a relief to not have to spend another night alone at his house. Sure, Carole had spent plenty of time here, trying to help out Kurt… but, it just wasn't the same.
Carole was great, yes, but… she thought of her more as his dad's girlfriend than as he mother. He really didn't have any close relations to her. And she'd always returned home every night to her house with Finn, leaving him alone with only his thoughts.
But tonight things would be different. Blaine would be here with him. Quickly changing into a pair of silk blue pajamas, he grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a McKinley Football shirt that he still had from when he was on the team. Holding the items of clothing in his hands, he made his way down the hallway, stopping when he heard a faint sniffle.
Peeking his head around the corner, Kurt quickly found the source of the sounds of quiet crying. Blaine was standing now, looking at a small wall of photos of Kurt and his family. There were pictures of him and his father, his grandparents, even a few of his aunts and uncles there. But Kurt wasn't looking at them.
All he saw was the short boy with the unruly, curly mass of hair on his head that was now breaking away from the plaster of hair gel, quietly crying as he looked at the pictures of his best – and pretty much only – friend's family.
Dropping the clothing on the couch, Kurt walked up behind Blaine, wrapping his arms around the boy in a friendly gesture. Blaine spun around in shock, tensing slightly, but relaxing when he saw it was Kurt. When Kurt let him go, he quickly whipped his eyes and brushed his hand across the base of his nose, sniffling again.
"Sorry…" he mumbled. He didn't even try to hide the emotions that were leaking out of him now – he was upset; upset that he didn't have a family who cared for him. He was jealous; jealous that Kurt did. He was lonely; lonely because he only had one person he could trust. He was angry; angry at himself for letting his walls come down to the one person that actually cared about him in any way, shape or form.
What the hell would Kurt think of him now?
But despite thinking that he would tell him to get out of his house for being such an emotional wreck, Kurt just wrapped his arms around the boy in a tight hug, a small, sad smile on his face.
"It's okay to cry you know, Blaine," he whispered as Blaine began to sob into the boy's silk shirt. "And if you want to talk, I'm here. But don't feel like you have to."
Blaine openly sobbed in Kurt's arms now, just letting his emotions rush out of him. He knew he'd pay for this with a pound of questions from the younger boy later, but right now, he was just glad to have somebody to hold him; somebody to care for him. It felt… nice.
"Hey, hobbit!" Blaine's head snapped from trying to locate his math book from the depths of his locker to the voice that called him from down the hall. His eyes widened when he saw the smirking face down the hall of the football quarterback.
"Stop fawning over me, you stupid fag!" came the growl before he took a few more steps forward and slammed Blaine back into his locker, causing a small whimper to escape his lips. "I came to give you something, so don't you dare go off trying to eye-fuck me or something! You're just disgusting!"
Knowing there was no point in arguing with the jock; Blaine just tilted his head in confusion now. Give him something? What, another shove into the lockers, a punch in the face, what? Bracing himself for the upcoming blow, Blaine didn't expect what did happen.
Having pulled himself into a tight ball, Blaine couldn't move his hands fast enough to catch the math book as it fell down straight onto the top of his head, causing the boy to black out for a few seconds. When he came to, the quarterback – James – was just laughing at him, a few more of his teammates having come and joined in on the laughter.
Blaine's math book lay open next to him, a few of the pages having been bent from the impact on the ground. Groaning in pain, the small boy grabbed onto his book and stayed where he was, waiting for the crowd to leave when they got bored, as they always did.
Receiving a hard kick to his foot that caused it to twist slightly, Blaine looked up to see James looking at him with a sharp, hateful glare.
"Don't think that just because you won't talk that anyone here is going to give you any more state of mind than they already do!" he barked out. "No one cares for you or any of your queer buddies! Hell, we're glad you can't talk, because now we don't have to hear you endlessly going on about how sexy you think we are or something! Just get the hell out of this school; no one wants you, and no one ever will!"
And with that, he and his group of followers strode away, some of them occasionally turning around to cast sharp glares in Blaine's direction. Slinking up further into a ball, Blaine didn't even notice when the class bell rang.
Nor when the next one did.
Not even when the last bell of the day rang, dismissing everyone.
He just sat where he was, ignoring everyone who walked by him or shot hateful words at him. He knew the truth behind James' words, and they stung more than the bump on his head, or the twist in his ankle.
His parents didn't want him. They'd made that clear many times now. He was just a nuisance to them, causing more problems than he was worth. They'd get rid of him in an instant if it didn't ruin their reputation. So instead, they just ignored him, only paying attention to him in the public eye. No, they didn't want him at all, of that he was sure.
No guy would ever want him. Just the thought of some faceless guy holding his hand down a hallway was too hard for Blaine to conjure up in imagination. Why would anyone want someone like him? He was mute, he was full of problems, not to mention, he had nothing to give to anyone. No, he'd never meet that 'special person' that everyone dreams of meeting. He'd be alone for the rest of his life.
'No one wants you, and no one ever will!'
Hearing the boy in his arms whimper slightly, Kurt pulled back from the hug to see Blaine's eyes slightly glazed over. He remembered this look – Blaine was having another flashback.
"Blaine? Blaine, it's all right, look at me. Please, look at me. You're not there, you're here, please, just tell me what happened." Kurt continued to plead with the boy for another minute before he finally blinked his eyes, and looked into Kurt's.
"S-sorry…" he mumbled, but took a small step away from the boy. Kurt's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Wouldn't the boy want comfort after the flashback? Not space? Last time he'd been pretty much sobbing into Kurt's shoulder the entire night. And now, he was avoiding the smallest touch.
"Blaine?" he asked, afraid of scaring the boy off. The one question that kept racing threw his mind was what was wrong with the boy, what had made him so scared, but he was too afraid to ask the boy right now in fears of him just running out, not wanting to answer the likely personal question that would reveal more about his troubled past.
"Why?" was all that came from his mouth. Blaine looked up at Kurt, eyes wide, the question repeating in his eyes. 'Why?'
"Wh-why what?" asked Kurt, completely surprised by the question. Kurt didn't do anything… did he? He was came in on the boy crying, and held onto him when he got the sudden flashback. Had he done something wrong? 'Oh, crap,' thought Kurt. 'Is he going to hate me for something? I just got him back and I can't lose him again…'
"Why… why don't you think I'm stupid? Weird? Problematic? After everything you've learned about me… you're still here," Blaine muttered quietly after a moment of silence. He held his gaze with Kurt's, not letting it waver for a second. His voice was stronger than the usual hoarse sound it usually was, as though his voice was finally beginning to come back to him.
But Kurt didn't notice any of that. His mouth had dropped open in shock. Did Blaine really think he was that shallow as to made decisions on his past? Hell, he had a crush on one of his bullies, why would he hate Blaine for being bullied and having a troubled past? Not even bothering to respond, Kurt pulled Blaine into another tight hug.
"Because you aren't those things. You're you – Blaine Anderson. And I think you're great the way you are," he muttered, smiling as he spoke those entirely oh-so-true words. In his eyes, Blaine really was perfect. He was smart, courageous, handsome, sexy… "Okay, Kurt, can't you stop your hormones for like, one heartfelt moment? Please?"
Pulling back from the hug, Blaine looked straight into Kurt's eyes, not saying a thing. His expression spoke for him – he didn't believe Kurt. He still felt broken, odd, like a problematic misfit.
And Kurt knew he needed to fix him.
"C'mon, Blaine, let's get ready for bed," he smiled, picking the clothing up off the couch and placing it in Blaine's outstretched hands. "And remember; courage. I know you have it, you just have to let it loose."
After leading Blaine to the guest room to get ready for bed, Kurt made his way to his own room, and crawled under his blankets after doing his little amount of Spanish and math homework. But sleep didn't dawn on him immediately. One mantra kept repeating over and over in his head until over an hour later when he finally fell asleep.
'I have to fix him. I have to fix him. I have to fix him.'
A/N: Well, there we go. Also kind of short... but next chapter should be looooonger. I'll do my best. But I think that I'm really being able to get back into the mood of me not even paying attention to what I'm writing, just letting the words come out. I got this done in two hours WITHOUT the nagging of redrosegal, which normally it takes me a good 5 hours even with her reminding me not to get distracted. So let's hope that means I can get better at updating sooner :3
But, god, I have over 100 reviews? I love you guys! You're epicsauce. Have a cookie(except for Tori) *hands cookies*
TonyJ - Thank you :3
Annie24601 - Ya, it likely would unfortunately... like the story said, he just feels more comfortable around Kurt, it's easier for him to be around him. But one day, he may be able to pluck up the courage and sing about all of his love for Kurt in front of the whole glee club! Throw flowers at him and everything! Heh... okay, so maybe not that, but still!
redrosegal - What can I say - I'm a frightening cannibal.
calendarpages - Thanks :3 And ya, it is... I feel like I'm getting soo out of character with them, and I'm not sure if I'm taking it too far and such. I mean, I try to keep things the same about them both (i.e. Blaine sings Katy Perry, and they still play teenage dream and such), but I feel like I'm pulling them too far away from their cannon selves sometimes. And ya, spelling and grammar... unfortunately not my strong points. Heh heh. But yes! Romance! *swoon* Wonderful, wonderful romance! That will come into play... eventually... some point in time. I don't really know what's going to happen, but romance is wonderful wonderfulness!
HPFanFicLuvr - Why thank you! And no, I have not read that, but now I have to! *loves Harry Potter/Glee crossovers* It was just the first movie that came to mind, Disney-wise, because of - yes - Darren's obsession with Disney, and my own obsession with Disney xD
rholou - They are too adorable for their own good.
PCJC24 - Blaine's such an epic singer, their mouths will DROP and they will yell at him for hidding such a tallented voice and Rachel will faint and say he's too epic and their will be a Blaine Anderson Sex Riot! Oh, wait? No. That's just my dreams. Never mind... But ya, they'll likely be pretty shocked. But that's just how epic Blaine is! :D
G Runz With Skizzers - Well, here is another chapter now! :D Thanks for the support~
Tori Sohma - You have a face.
Supermegafoxyawesomehot7 - ..heh heh heh. I like you. *hands some redvines*
Well, now I have to go outside in the rain[Tori: IT'S NOT RAINING] fine, DRIZZLE to help my friend with a project. So, I shall try and get chapter 15 written over this long weekend, but I also have my OWN project to work on after this, which I am very far behind on (AKA, I haven't started and 3 parts were already due). So, I'll do my best, but no promises!
~Joshua