Author's Note: I was recently plunged back into the word on Artemis Fowl by a significant turning point in my AF fic & conversations with several of my readers. One of these conversations became a series of role-play messages. This of course distracted me from getting this chapter up, but here it is now and I hope you enjoy it. You meet Blaine's father here. No, you won't like him.
-SQ
Disclaimer. Just no.
Chapter Twenty-Five: Family Matters
Blaine inserted his key into the lock and let himself into his house. He had declined Kurt and Finn's offer to walk him to the door. He had told them it was because if they came in they would never leave and he had work he really had to get done, but the real reason was that he didn't want them there if his father were home.
When he walked into the front room he quickly ascertained that this had been the right decision.
"Blaine."
"Hello, Dad," said Blaine warily.
Leo Anderson leaned forward on the couch, his large hands pressing against his knees. "So nice of you to drop by."
"I left a message," said Blaine.
"A message," said Leo, making it sound like a bad word. "You think you can go off gallivanting wherever and whenever you choose with whomever you choose. You keep your mother up all night worrying about your sorry ass, though personally I'm not sure why she bothers, but it's okay because you left a message."
"Don't bring Mom into this," said Blaine tightly. "Don't try to make me feel guilty."
"You should feel guilty," growled his father. "You think I don't know who you were with last night, what you were doing?"
"You have no idea what I was doing," snapped Blaine.
"I think I have a pretty shrewd idea," said Mr. Anderson with a sneer.
"I'm going up to my room," said Blaine in a controlled voice.
Leo stood and put himself in between Blaine and the doorway. "I'm not done with you."
"I have work to do," said Blaine impatiently, attempting to get around his father.
"Maybe you should have been doing that yesterday instead of debasing yourself with that fag."
"Shut up," snapped Blaine.
"You think I don't know what you've been doing in Lima?" said Mr. Anderson, "You think I don't know that you've got some boy hidden away down there?"
"Shut up!" said Blaine, attempting to shove his way past his father. He knew it was a bad idea to get angry at his father, it was just asking for trouble, but he couldn't help it. "You don't know anything about me! You haven't bothered to since I was thirteen!"
"Don't tell me to shut up," said Leo, slamming the palm of his hand against his son's chest, knocking him back against the wall. "I was good to you, I gave you everything, and you threw it all back in my face when you decided to start messing around with guys!"
"I don't 'mess around'," spat Blaine, shoving his father hard in the chest. "Yes, I have a boyfriend. And I don't hide him anywhere. You hide things you're ashamed of. I'm not ashamed of him, I am proud of him. A lot prouder than I am of myself," he added in a mumble. He raised his voice again. "He makes me happy for once in my sorry life, so I really don't give a fuck what you think about it!" Blaine took a swing at his father's face, which was inches from his own, but the larger man caught his wrists in his hands and slammed them back against the wall.
"You are the most selfish, ungrateful piece of shit I have ever met. Do you have no respect for your mother and myself? I am ashamed to call you my son!"
"Yeah, well, I'm not exactly thrilled about it either!" shouted Blaine. He wrenched his wrists out of his father's grasp and jammed his elbow into Leo's protruding gut. The man grunted, his face twisting with rage. He had lifted his hand to strike his son across the face when the sound of the front door opening caused both Anderson men to freeze.
Keys clinked; a coat was shrugged off and hung in the coat closet while Blaine and his father stood like statues, holding their breath.
"Hello! Leo? Blaine?"
The spell broke and Blaine and Leo stepped away from each other, still glaring murderously.
"Go to your room," said Leo shortly, straightening his collar.
"My pleasure," spat Blaine, still seething. He stormed out of the room and up the stairs while his father went to greet his wife with a kiss and a genial, loving smile.
*****BB*****
Blaine slammed his door shut and threw himself down on his bed. He hated his father, he really did. No matter what he did he always found a way to shoot him down.
It hadn't always been like that. When Blaine was little the two of them had had a great relationship, them and Blaine's older brother, Cooper. But when Blaine has started to take an interest in "sissy" things like singing and theatre and fashion mgazines, their relationship had begun to deteriorate. By the time Blaine had been outed to his parents at the age of fifteen, it had simply been the icing on the cake of mutual animosity.
He wanted to talk to Kurt, but Kurt would be suspicious if Blaine called him so soon after he had dropped him off, and it wasn't fair for him to unload all of his problems on his boyfriend.
Instead, he pulled his laptop toward him and booted it up. Logging into his facebook, he saw that Wes was online. Thank God for small favors.
Wes?
Hey, Blaine! How are you? :)
Not so great
Oh? What's up?
My dad
Did you fight again?
Yeah
Fuck. Are you okay?
I'm fine, just pissed
He has no RIGHT!
I know, Blaine, I know. He's a bastard.
—David Thompson has joined the conversation—
Blaine, are you alright?
Hi, David
Do you need me to come get you?
No, I'm fine
'Cause we can, you know
I know, Wes, thanks. I just need to vent to someone.
We're all ears
Thanks. I just…I spent the night w/ Kurt & a bunch of ND members Mercedes's house. I left a message at home, but of course that wasn't good enough for my dad.
I don't know what he wants! He doesn't want me here, he doesn't want me away… Kurt makes me happy. Is that such a bad thing?
No!
No!
Blaine smiled. He was so lucky to have these guys as his friends.
I'm not good enough for him
Your dad?
No. Well, him too. I meant Kurt.
Kurt's crazy about you
I know. Half of me still can't believe it. Even after I tried to leave him.
Well, that was a stupid thing to do
Wes!
What?
You're being insensitive
Insensitive? I'm very sensitive. I'm the king of sensitive
Whatever. Blaine, you should tell Kurt.
About what?
All of it
No
Blaine…
Blaine…
Guys, no
He deserves to know
He's not gonna think any worse of you
You don't know that. And he deserves not to get dragged into all that crap. It's in the past. And I'll be gone from here in a yr & ½
A yr & ½ is a long time
Look, I know you want me to talk to Kurt about it, but it's not gonna happen, okay? If I do need to talk to someone I have you guys.
Of course you do
Never doubt it
I don't. Thanks. I feel better now. I have to do work now but I'll talk to you later, okay?
Okay
Ttyl :)
*Hugs* guys
Blaine closed the chat window and pulled up the file of an essay he was working on for history class, feeling calmer than he had before, but not nearly as calm as he had made out to his friends. He knew they meant well, and usually he took their advice (well, when they were being serious), but there were reasons he couldn't talk to Kurt about this stuff. How Kurt saw him….getting into all the nitty gritty details would not gel with that. Besides, it was in the past, irrelevant…
One of the most successful leaders in English history was Queen Elizabeth I…
AN: Told you you wouldn't like him. Also, I took the name of Blaine's older brother from what it says online.
You know how in my 1st AN I mentioned my RP w/ 1 of my readers? Well, she & I have formed a partnership. We now have a joint account and have started writing a next gen Albus Severus/Scorpius Harry Potter story. We will also probably end up with a co-written Artemis Fowl story on that account. No stories have been posted yet, but the 1st chapter of our Albus/Scorpius fic should be up within a couple of days and we would be most obliged if you would check it out. Our account name is Crazy-Minds-Think-Alike.
I would also, of course, be most obliged if you would review this chapter ;)
-SQ