Wow, guys. You. Are. AWESOME. Over 100 reviews? I think this calls for a pizza party. Or pie. Virtual pie for all! Seriously, thank you. This is actually really, really cool.
Thanks!
"Peekaboo!"
Blaine giggled as Kurt pushed down the plastic shopping bags to reveal the rabbit's face. Kurt grinned at him before pulling the edge of the bag over the toy again.
"Peekaboo!"
Burt fought hard not to watch the two boys in the rear view mirror and instead focus all of his attention on the road ahead. The game had started shortly after they had left the parking lot. Blaine had been struggling to put on his seatbelt with the load of bags and bunny on his lap, so Kurt had volunteered to hold them. Passing them back, Kurt lost sight of the toy.
"Where'd your rabbit go," he'd asked, craning his neck to see if it had fallen on the floor of the truck. Blaine leaned forward with Kurt, mirroring his body. Kurt looked at Blaine's eye but the boy immediately broke contact. "Did you drop it?"
Blaine shook his head.
"Where'd it go?"
Blaine leaned back slightly, giving Kurt a clear view of the bags. Using his index finger, the boy gently pulled the edge of one down, revealing the rabbit's mangled face.
"Oh, there it is!"
Whether it was the enthusiasm in Kurt's voice, the sudden loudness, or the delighted expression on Kurt's face, none of them knew, but Blaine had burst into a fit of quiet raspy giggles. Looking mischievously between Kurt and the rabbit, Blaine hesitantly grabbed the edge of the plastic bag before pulling it up and over his toy slowly. He kept his eye on Kurt, mouth open and eye wide in excited anticipation as he pulled the edge down again.
"Peekaboo," Kurt exclaimed, unable to contain his smile as Blaine bounced happily in his seat, giggling uncontrollably.
And thus began their game.
"Peekaboo!"
Burt chanced a look at his wife. She had turned to watch the boys; one hand clasped over her mouth, her fingers grazing her cheek lightly while the other rested on the back of her seat. She turned her face to look back at him, eyes tearing as a smile broke through from behind her hand.
Burt bit his own lip as he turned back to the road, reveling in the sound of Blaine's joy. If Carole or Kurt noticed as he drove past their street, neither said. Nor did they say anything as he circled the block three times before reluctantly pulling into the driveway.
Blaine's laughter had steadied, but his breathing was still harsh. They piled out of the truck again, but as Blaine made the last step down he stumbled, falling into Carole for the second time that day.
"I've got you," she whispered when he'd tensed in her arms. She brushed his hair out of his eye before offering him a small smile, which he returned hesitantly. "It's been a long day, huh, sweetie. It's okay, we'll just get you cleaned up, then we'll have something to eat, and then we're all done. How does that sound?"
"It sounds very good, Mrs. Carole, thank you."
Placing both her hands on his shoulders she gently guided him into the house where Finn was waiting sadly.
"I can't believe you all went out without me," Finn pouted as Carole closed the door.
"Finn, you knew where we were going."
"Yeah, but I didn't know Kurt was gonna go too," he mumbled, kicking his socked foot into the carpet.
"You can come next time, okay, Finn," Kurt said as he re-entered the room, bending over to pick up the bags he had left on the floor, "Now Blaine, would you like to show everyone what you bought?"
Carole began to object, but beside her Blaine immediately perked up.
"Yes, Mr. Kurt, I would like that, sir," he exclaimed with giddy excitement, going to Kurt to collect his bags. Kurt called out for his dad to join them and he, Carole, and Finn moved into the living room and sat down on the couch.
"Blaine, are you alright?"
The boy had made it as far as the edge of the carpet before he had flopped himself down onto the hard flooring. He was in the middle of sifting through the bags when Carole spoke, and he smiled up at her from his place on the floor.
"Yes, Mrs. Carole, thank you. Are you alright, Ma'am?" Carole managed a small smile back at him.
"I'm fine, thank you, Blaine. I just wanted to know why you're sitting so far away from everyone else."
Blaine bit his lip and furrowed his brow as he stared intently at the spot in front of the couch.
"I'm not allowed on the carpet, Mrs. Carole," he said as Burt entered the room. The older man scoffed before walking over to Blaine, bending down to pick up the boy's bags. Blaine looked heartbroken as he watched Burt take his new clothes away with him, but the man turned around quickly and jerked his head in the direction of the couch.
"C'mon, kid, you're allowed anywhere in this house that you wanna go, and that includes on carpets and couches and stuff, so come sit with the family, alright, Blaine?"
The boy wasn`t moving. Instead, he stared at the bags of clothes Burt was resting on the floor in front of the couch.
"Blaine," Finn called, leaning forward towards the boy. Blaine's bottom lip quivered slightly and he swallowed loudly, chin jutting out as he did so, though his eyes never left the clothes. They tried calling his name again, though it was clear after the second attempt that the boy wasn't listening to a word that any of them said.
Finn slid off of the couch and leaned in so that he was eye level with Blaine. Tracing the path with his own eyes he settled on the bag of clothes.
"Oh," he exclaimed proudly as he put it together. Finn threw his arm behind the pile of bags and scooped them forward towards Blaine. The adoptive immediately broke from his trance and looked at Finn apprehensively.
"I-I can have them back, sir?"
" 'Course you can, we weren't taking them away from you or anything, we just thought it might be more comfy over there on the couch. But if you don't wanna go there we can all come here, okay?" He motioned behind him for the others to follow. Blaine started to protest but the others were already coming over to sit on the edge of the carpet with Blaine. Blaine looked around at the family that had gathered together on the floor and gave them a tentative smile.
Kurt began pulling out clothes and passing them to Blaine to hold up. Most of the talking was left to Kurt, though Blaine was always eager to answer when he was asked a question directly.
"Ooh, you picked this one out, Blaine?"
"Yes, Mrs. Carole, and I picked out that one, too."
"Cool shoes, Blaine!"
"Thank you, Mr. Finn, I like those because I don't have to tie them, but I can still practice my knots."
His answers were quiet and timid, but he was speaking more freely than he had before. Burt chuckled along to his remarks and stared at his own son in admiration. He still didn't know what had happened in the store, but there had been an immediate shift in Blaine's behaviour afterwards. His voice wasn't sounding as guarded as it did that morning – he wasn't speaking in calculated sentences as much. And too, his eye kept progressively getting higher. He wasn't anywhere close to looking them in the eyes voluntarily, but his eye level had remained consistently mid-chest on all of them. Burt knew that nothing with Blaine would ever be easy, but he silently celebrated the small victories they had had today.
When they had finished showing the clothes Carole gathered them up quickly, stating that they needed to be washed immediately before Blaine was to wear them. Blaine, who had been in the middle of showing his bunny to Finn, jumped up himself to take the clothes from Carole.
"I can wash my laundry, Mrs. Carole."
"I know you can, sweetheart, but right now you need to go get yourself cleaned up."
"Yes, Mrs. Carole," he replied, still looking hesitant about the clothing.
"I want to wash your rabbit too, Blaine. It's pretty dirty, and the last thing you need is to be getting an eye infection from your toy. Can I have it please, Blaine?"
Blaine bit his lip and frowned down at the rabbit. His hands clenched tightly around it, and his arms jerked as though he was resisting pulling it close to his body.
"Yes, Mrs. Carole," he mumbled sadly, passing the rabbit off to her with hesitant arms.
"Don't worry, honey, you'll have it back by dinner, okay? And while you're both getting clean you can think of names, how about that?" Carole reached over to squeeze Blaine's shoulder. He smiled softly at her stomach before directing his eye to the toy. He still seemed hesitant to let the rabbit and clothes go, but she hoped that once Blaine was given his things back he'd understand that they wouldn't be taking them from him. "You remember where to go, right, Blaine?"
"Yes, Mrs. Carole."
"Good. Just grab a towel from the closet outside of the bathroom and go get clean, okay? I don't know if any of your clothes will be clean by the time you're done, but we'll find something for you until then."
"Yes, Mrs. Carole."
Blaine scampered off down the hall and a moment later they heard the closet door open.
"Here, I'll go start the laundry so you can wash that thing," Kurt frowned at the bunny as he took the clothes from Carole. Chuckling, Burt moved to take the stuffed animal from her arms.
"And I'll take care of this if you start dinner," he said. The two walked across the room and into the kitchen.
"Do you even know how to wash a stuffed animal?"
"Nope, but I have a feeling if I start doing it wrong you'll let me know pretty fast."
Carole instructed Burt on how to start as she pulled out the leftover lasagna from the fridge and placed it in the oven. Returning to the fridge she pulled out the ingredients to make a salad. She laughed quietly to herself as she looked over to see Burt elbow deep in suds, using an old rag to gently scrub at the bunny's coarse fur.
"Just make sure you don't put it all the way in the water or Blaine won't be able to get it back until September."
Burt grunted in reply, pulling one hand out of the suds to flick some at Carole. Giggling, she swatted his arm before continuing to make dinner. Burt smiled at her back for a moment
"There, whadya think?"
Carole leaned over Burt to see the finished product. The rabbit had turned a few shades lighter in color, and it was just as mangy as before, but Carole wrapped both of her arms around her husband and kissed his cheek.
"It's perfect," she whispered in his ear, "now go dry it off."
"Shouldn't I just wait to throw it in the dryer with his other stuff?"
"Oh Burt, you'll ruin it!" Burt laughed and held the rabbit up in Carole's face.
"Ruin this?" He quickly sidestepped as Carole swatted at him again.
"Go," she demanded, slapping his back lightly. She turned back to the salad and continued preparing the meal. Just as she pulled bowls to set on the table Burt came back in with the still wet rabbit clutched in hand.
"Didn't you tell Blaine to go have a bath?"
Carole set down the bowls and frowned at her husband.
"Yes, why, what's he doing?"
"I don't know, but he's not in the bathroom." The two left the kitchen together and walked down the hall to the empty bathroom.
"Maybe he's just downstairs," Burt said, scratching his arm.
"No, there's just a shower down there, he can't use it because of the pressure on his face."
They checked anyway, and Carole ran upstairs again to ask the boys if they'd seen him.
"Blaine," Burt called, but there was no answer. Carole came down the stairs again looking worried.
"The boys haven't seen him, Burt."
"Maybe he left something in the car, I'll go check." Burt didn't think that Blaine would go out on his own, but the house wasn't that big, and there weren't many other places that he could be.
'Maybe he ran away.'
Burt shook the thought away as quickly as it had come. Blaine wasn't a puppy. If he had run away there would be nowhere for him to even go. He didn't know the area, and so far he seemed to almost like them. It wouldn't make sense for him to run.
Burt went all the way out to the truck, going so far as to open the doors and check the truck bed, but there was no Blaine.
Burt took a long, deep breath, hoping that Carole had found him inside. Making his way back to the house he stopped in his track. Around the side of the house there was a trail of water leaking down the pavement. Burt hurried towards it, and as he rounded the corner he saw Blaine: naked and shivering and drenched to the bone. He was struggling to hold up the garden hose and scrub at his hair at the same time, his body was shaking too much to stand straight. He was bent at the torso, trying to keep what little body heat he had in his body.
"What are you doing," Burt called out, almost running towards Blaine. The boy jumped, hose slipping from his grip. He fumbled with it, trying to regain his grip before he fell heavily to his knees, keeping the hose pointed at his lap so that it wouldn't spray Burt.
"I'm sorry, sir, did I take too long, Mr. Burt?"
Burt ran over to turn off the hose, pulling it from Blaine's grip.
"What the hell do you think you're doing," he yelled. As soon as he said it he wished he could take it back. Blaine threw himself forward at Burt's feet.
"Please sir, I'm sorry," he whimpered into Burt's shoes. Burt moved to step back from Blaine, causing the boy to flinch back and whimper again, preparing himself for a kick from the older man.
Burt grabbed the towel that Blaine had left folded on the deck and wrapped it around the trembling boy.
"Don't apologize, Blaine, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you, but just… what are you doing out here?"
"I thought Mrs. Carole told me to wash myself, I thought it was okay, sir." Burt rubbed the towel over his body as the boy's shivering became more intense.
"C'mon, kid, let's get you warm." Burt almost had to drag Blaine off of the pavement, half carrying his body into the house. He made sure that the towel was wrapped snugly around his waist before they started through the door.
"Sir, I can't go inside, I can't, sir," he protested, planting his feet and pushing himself against Burt.
"Why not?"
"I'm not dry, Mr. Burt. I'll wet the floor, sir," he jumped away from Burt suddenly, "I've made you wet, sir. I'm sorry, Mr. Burt."
Burt grunted as Blaine collapsed to the ground again. This time he did have to drag the adoptive through the door, more concerned about stopping Blaine from catching a cold in the chilly dusk air than coaxing him inside gently.
"Carole, can you start the bath, please," he yelled out over a mumbling Blaine. Burt struggled to pull Blaine into an upright position and haul him down the hall to the bathroom. The boy was still apologizing profusely as they pushed past Carole. Burt somehow managed to maneuver Blaine into the warm soapy water, towel and all. Burt began to pull away but Blaine stopped him. The boy had twisted his body to grip the edge of the tub. He hadn't touched Burt, but he could tell that Blaine had wanted to reach for him instead.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, staring at Burt's knee with a sad eye. Burt ran his hand through Blaine's tangled, cold hair.
"Why did you think we wouldn't let you take a bath inside," he asked quietly. Blaine shook his head.
"I've never been allowed, sir. I didn't know. I'm sorry."
Burt continued to stroke Blaine's hair softly while Carole turned off the water. They stayed silent for a few minutes until Blaine's shivers subsided. He kept his hand on the boy's head as Carole passed him soap and shampoo. When Blaine started to lather the shampoo into his hair Burt had to stop him. Blaine couldn't wash his own hair without having the shampoo run onto his face.
"Don't want it getting in your eye," Burt had said as Blaine began to protest. Partway through the routine Burt noticed that Carole had left and come back with Blaine's rabbit. Blaine turned his head to watch Carole plug in the hairdryer and start drying the floppy thing. He wasn't smiling, but his eye shone with longing for his toy.
They finished shortly after and Burt pulled out the soft robe Carole had set out for Blaine and wrapped it around the no longer shaking boy.
"Here, I'll trade you." Carole passed Burt the hairdryer and pulled Blaine to stand in front of the mirror. "Is it okay if I cut your hair, Blaine?"
"Yes, Mrs. Carole."
"And here, if you turn this way you can even watch your bunny."
Blaine's head perked up a little when Burt held it out to him.
"You wanna help me dry it," he asked. Blaine nodded and took it. The three of them stood together for half an hour until Carole had finished cutting Blaine's hair.
"There you go, want to see, Blaine?"
Blaine turned away from the rabbit to face the mirror. He inhaled sharply when he saw his short hair. Reaching up he touched his hair lightly, tousling it a little between his fingers.
"You like it?"
"Yes, Mrs. Carole."
Burt ruffled his hair before leading the three of them out to the kitchen where Kurt and Finn were already at the table waiting.
"Looking good, man!" Finn ran over to rub Blaine's hair while Kurt started spooning salad into bowls. The boys had laid out five places at the table, but Burt was certain that Blaine would end up being on the floor.
"Want to try sitting here Blaine," he asked, pulling out a chair. The boy hugged the rabbit close to his body and sunk to his knees, head low. "Okay, you can eat there." Burt moved his dish in front of him before returning to his own spot at the table.
The dinner conversation was kept fairly light. Finn updated the family about his relationship woes with Rachel, Kurt gushed about a jacket he had found online, and Carole and Burt offered side comments when necessary. Blaine had been very quiet since he had been brought back inside, and none of them seemed to know how to get him to talk. It had been a silent understanding that they should leave him alone for the time being, hoping that he was just tired. When dinner was finished, Carole immediately sent Blaine downstairs, not wanting him to feel as though he had to help clean up. She had watched him struggling to stay awake long enough to finish eating while clutching the rabbit in his arm throughout the entire meal, and it was clear that the boy just wanted to sleep.
She followed him downstairs, grabbing her purse from beside the door as she went. Halfway down the stairs Blaine stumbled and slid down the remaining few steps. Carole tried to help him up but the boy shrugged her off forcefully, visibly shaken and embarrassed by his fall. She could see both of his eyes beginning to water but she let it go. She'd seen Finn pull out the same face when he was younger. He wasn't in pain, he was just tired.
"Go brush your teeth and I'll be back with your clothes." She gestured to his washroom before leaving the room to grab his laundry. Coming back again Carole saw that the bathroom was empty, so she instead knocked on the open doorframe.
"Can I come in?"
"Yes, Mrs. Carole."
She pushed the already half-open door further so she could squeeze herself and her armload of clothes into the room. She passed him a pair of sweatpants and Finn's jersey, waiting for him to start putting them on so that she could go through her purse.
When he was done changing Carole silently started applying the ointment Dr. Edwards had given Blaine for his face. After that, she pulled out a long black box and opened it, pulling out its contents and placing them on the small table beside Blaine's bed. Pulling the covers down, she gestured for the boy to lie down before she picked it up again.
"You don't have to wear this now, Blaine, but we got you a new collar." She held it out to him and he took it slowly. "We tried to find one that was soft so it wouldn't rub your neck, but this is the best one they had."
The collar itself was black leather and padded with some kind of soft short faux fur. As plain as it was, it had been expensive. They had both hoped that as far as collars went, Blaine would like it.
She was rewarded with a small smile from the boy, who clutched the collar with one hand and snuggled his face into the toy that was being held in the other.
"Thank you, Mrs. Carole," he said into the rabbit. She smiled back, taking the collar and setting it on the table again.
"We'll come to get you in the morning around eight, so don't worry about what time you have to be up." She patted his shoulder before standing to leave. "Oh, did you think of a name yet for your rabbit, Blaine?"
The boy stared at the toy long and hard before he nodded.
"Carrot," he said, looking to Carole for approval.
"Carrot, I like it, Blaine. Is Carrot a boy or a girl rabbit?" Blaine shrugged. "Alright, just Carrot, then. It's a nice name, Blaine. Sweet dreams." Leaning over, Carole kissed Blaine's forehead and ran her fingers through his hair one last time before walking out the door, turning off the light as she went.
Blaine watched her silhouette go, gripping Carrot tightly as he did so. He liked Mrs. Carole. He liked the whole family. They were nice, and Blaine liked how they made him feel. Nuzzling his face further into the bunny he shimmied himself deeper into the pile of blankets. The day hadn't started too well for him, but it had gotten better. They had all seemed to like him. But then he'd ruined it again. He had been bad. That was twice already. Tomorrow he would have his real test. If Mr. Burt didn't like how he worked tomorrow he would be back to the Home, and he didn't want that.
But they were patient and gentle with him. Maybe he would be given more than one chance at work. Maybe they would be nice enough to let him try to do better. Blaine was going to do the best he could, but he didn't know whether or not it would be good enough.
Blaine pushed his head forward to kiss Carrot's head the same way Mrs. Carole had kissed his. It had felt so nice to be touched gently, and in turn it felt nice to pass those gentle touches on to something else, even though it wasn't a real person.
He smiled to himself as he remembered the car ride home from the store. Blaine still wasn't entirely sure what the point of their whole game had been, but for some unknown reason hiding the rabbit had made Mr. Kurt laugh. Blaine had made him laugh. It still baffled him that something as simple as hiding a toy could make Kurt smile the way he did, but it had worked, so Blaine had kept going. He had made Mr. Kurt happy, so maybe, if he stayed good, Mr. Kurt would help convince the family to keep him if he wasn't as good at working as he used to be.
Blaine closed his eye and began to relax into Carrot. He was glad that Mrs. Carole had liked the name, and he had been equally as glad when she hadn't asked him for the reason why he'd chosen that as a name. Blaine had felt rather clever when he'd come up with it, and had been worried that, if asked, he would tell. Of course he could have said that the only reason he picked the name was because everyone knows that rabbits eat carrots, but Blaine was proud of the other reason, the one he didn't want to share.
Carrot was an obvious name for a rabbit. But it also didn't hurt that to Blaine, the word, 'carrot' sounded an awful lot like the name, 'Kurt'.
1trulove: Thank you! Blaine does try; all he wants is to be loved. Poor guy.
blainescrys: ooo thank you! As I have said many, many times, Kurt is terrifying, so I'm glad you liked him!
Nurse Kate: I do like Nice Kurt - and Mean Kurt, but only if Mean Kurt is being Mean Kurt for Nice Kurt reasons.
Rory46: My fic loves you. It may not be able to give you super perfect chapters, but it gives you its eternal love. I hope that's an okay trade off.
platowasabore: Why thank you! I actually wasn't a fan of that one when I wrote it, but it got a pretty good response so I guess I should go with it!
LL: Thank you, you wonderful perfect human being!
One-Eyed Lady: Oh goodness, yes. I almost gave him a clown, but figured that a mangled rabbit would be more Blaine-friendly than a super creepy clown. I'm so glad you liked it. Again, I hadn't been sure about that one, but hey, if people enjoy it!
Whenever I read anything I'm for the most part thinking of things that I would have done differently, so saying that you wouldn't change it...ugh, you have no idea how honored I feel to have you say that. Like, wow. Thank you so much.
randomchild: Don't die, please! If you do I'll have to send Blaine in for some mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and I don't know if you'd want that...
Haha, I got two reviews from you (I think, unless I'm losing it which I very well could be) one from randomchild and another from ranandomchild. It seriously confused me to no end so I figured I'd reply to both, but now we're both confused, and that ain't no good!
mushs-grl13: I think we should all have a giant cuddle-puddle to just get all our feels out. We'll bring our bunnies and Blaines' and just super cuddle hug the night away!
Kate: I'm glad it makes you happy! I pretty much modeled those texts after the type my mom always sends me. Woman can't text worth shiz.
KlainePotter: Aww, I know! Everyone needs stuffed animal friends! Thank you!
Miss Olivia Cellophane: Thank you, and no problem! And again, thank you for suggesting Kurt. Seriously did not cross my mind at all before you said it, and it made so much more sense your way. I'm such a boob.
Thanks everyone for reading, reviewing, and alerting! Y'all are great, beautiful, sexy people! :D