To Powerlad - Jawohl, mein herr

Someone suggested responding to anonymous reviews in the A/Ns. I'd do that if they weren't asking for spoilers. I have no issues giving spoilers (usually), but I'm not going to post them where anyone can accidentally see.

Also, I'm back from my vacation! I went to Universal (Amaaazzzziiiinnngggg! I'm already suffering butterbeer withdrawal), so things should get back to more predictable updating. I wrote four chapters of Big Bad Wolf on the plane ride, but unfortunately for you, they occur further along in the story (I don't think linearly, so I usually don't write chapters in order of publication). Although, these chapters address the question I get most often: "who'll realize David and Wolf are the same person, first?". I can tell you flat out, Alex already knows. As Wolf 'mentions' at one point, his scent doesn't change, so Alex has it figured out. Too bad he can't talk...

A/N: Ok, obviously if Blaine and Kurt broke up, Blaine never would have gone to McKinley; therefore, auditions for West Side Story would have gone differently. You'll see why I mention this.

xoxoxo

The halls of McKinley were empty, and the echo of David's footsteps made them seem even emptier. Most of the football team had already cleared out of the locker rooms and gone out to the field, but David had been kept after class for detention due to a fight. He got into a lot of fights these days; fights because of the Bully Whips, fights because he'd never been very popular even before the Bully Whips, and fights about Kurt. He felt compelled to protect Kurt for some reason; anytime he heard anyone talking smack about Kurt or Alex he felt like he had to step in. It was just a necessity.

He was already late for football practice and was seriously debating the point of going at all. He hated football, he hated his teammates (it was one of them he had fought with that morning), and he hated the fact that showing up late would draw attention to himself. He didn't want to be the center of attention; he wanted to go to school, do his work, and slip by unnoticed.

Somewhere in the school down a hallway out of his path, he heard a familiar woofing. David shook his head, trying to clear his mind of what had to have been an illusion. Kurt couldn't really be that stupid, could he? Bringing a werewolf pup to school? To McKinley? He heard it again.

Rounding the corner, he followed the perceived direction of the noise. Another corner, then another. He almost literally walked into Kurt. "Oh, David!" Kurt brushed a lock of hair away from his forehead. "You startled me."

David looked from Kurt, to Alex, and back to Kurt. "You're joking, right?" David threw glances up and down the hallway, making sure they were alone. "What the hell are you two doing here?"

Kurt shifted Alex from one arm to the other, looking part-appalled, part-confused at David's outburst. "I'm bringing Alex to meet the glee club. They're all dying to see him."

David heaved a beleaguered sigh. "You can't be serious. I know that you're a really good person Kurt, you want to believe that nothing bad ever happens, but you can't be dense enough to think the football team won't hurt you – hurt him – if they catch you two, here."

"That's why I usually only come on days when there isn't football practice. But with the opening night of the musical so near, I have to come in every day to rehearse."

"Wait, waitwaitwait wait. You come to school still? And if you come on days when there isn't football practice, why not bring him one of those days?"

"Yes, I still come to school – mostly glee and rehearsals for the musical. I am still a registered student here, you know? Carol watches Alex on those days. But tonight's supposed to be a late rehearsal. We don't get out until nine. Long after football practice lets out. We should be fine."

"Yes, fine, after the football team lets out of practice, but just in time for the hockey team to get out of their game tonight."

Kurt looked embarrassed about that. "Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh.' And what musical?"

With that magic word – musical – Kurt's embarrassment was forgotten. His demeanor immediately bubbled up into excitement. "Oh my god, you didn't know? We're doing West Side Story. I'm Tony." Kurt straightened up, striking a pose for David. David had never seen West Side Story but assumed Tony must be important if Kurt was so excited. "How could you not know? I mean, Coach Sylvester threw an absolute fit."

David shrugged. "I don't pay attention to what goes on around here, really. I'm just trying to finish up and get out."

"If I had known you didn't know, I would have tried talking you into auditioning. You could be one of the Jets…or the Sharks. Whichever." David furrowed his brow. He had no idea if Kurt was actually talking about something, or just rambling. Jets? Sharks? Was it a musical about football teams? "But anyway…since you're so worried about me and Alex, why don't you be our bodyguard tonight? You can hang out, watch us rehearse…OH! You can be like a trial audience. That'll be perfect."

David didn't really get a chance to object. Kurt grabbed his hand and started pulling him towards the auditorium. He couldn't say 'no' to Kurt. He couldn't say 'no' to Alex, either. Alex had been trying to clamber out of Kurt's arms and into David's the second he had spotted David.

When they got to the auditorium, Kurt pulled open one of the steel doors and leaned down to place Alex on the floor. Alex jumped up and started trying to (unsuccessfully) scale David's leg. Kurt turned Alex around to face the stage and the little pup looked up expectantly at his father. Kurt gave him a little nudge. Finn, down in front of the stage, gave an ear-piercing whistle that set Alex off running. The small ball of fur charged down the aisle and leapt into his uncles open arms, his tail wagging frantically.

The girls of the glee club 'ooh-ed' and 'aaww-ed' over Alex, much to Alex's delight. He eagerly sniffed at everyone, trying to get a good idea of who they were, whether he'd met them before, whether they'd eaten anything interesting in the past day. The guys were a bit less loud in their appreciation of the pup, but pet him nonetheless. "He's getting a lot better with people."

Kurt scoffed. "He's a little attention whore."

"Hmmm…I wonder where he gets that from?"

Kurt elbowed David playfully as they walked side by side down the aisle towards the stage.

xoxoxo

David held onto Alex throughout most of the rehearsal, only occasionally passing him off to someone who wasn't on stage and wasn't in need of preparing for a return to the stage. Artie and Mr. Schuester gave stage directions, occasionally commenting on the fact that things would be slightly different with the football players at rehearsal tomorrow. David had no idea that some of the football players were backup dancers or background characters. He really needed to talk to people more often.

Alex howled through some of the songs, especially Rachel's practice-run of "Tonight," but everyone took it in good stride and coo-ed over how cute Alex was, or joked about Alex joining the glee club. During some of the louder instrumental pieces, Alex burrowed his head under David's armpit, hiding from the noise. David ran his fingers over the fur between Alex's ears and lightly scratched the base of Alex's left ear. He couldn't hear, so much as feel, the little whimper-y growls coming from the disturbed werewolf. It was like a soft vibration throughout David's side. He calmed down after the louder orchestrations had subsided, but then he started fidgeting oddly.

"Boop." David tried looking over his shoulder, but couldn't do it very easily without shifting Alex. "Boop." Both times David heard someone say 'boop', Alex pulled his head back slightly and then lurched forward, deeper under David's armpit. Lifting his arm and slinging it across the next seat over, David found he could look over his shoulder as well as see what Alex was doing. Tina sat behind them. She was leaned forward and kept poking at Alex's nose saying 'boop' as she did so. Each 'boop' made Alex draw back slightly, but then he would lurch forward to try and nip at her finger. His teeth weren't bared though, so David knew Alex was playing with Tina as much as Tina was playing with him.

"What are you doing?"

"Boop." Tina poked Alex's nose again. "I am booping the nose."

"You're what?"

Tina rolled her eyes. "Seriously, David. It's called the Internet; try it sometime. Cute things get their noses booped," She 'booped' Alex's nose again, "because they make the cutest faces when you do."

"If he bites you, I'm gonna be too busy pointing and laughing to be of any help."

"Shuddup. He likes me." Affirming Tina's statement, Alex licked excitedly at her hand, which still hovered over his nose. She had a black ring on her index finger, shaped to look like a two-legged dragon. Alex sniffed at it, before attempting to bite at it, testing to see if it tasted interesting. Alex, realizing the ring was too hard to eat, went back to licking Tina's hand. Tina smiled haughtily at David in an "I told you so" kind of way, before sitting back in her chair. Alex stared at her for a minute before deciding she wasn't going to play with him anymore. He started turning circles in David's lap before he laid down, tucking one paw over the other, placing his head down and watching the performances up on stage.

David envied Alex; Alex could sleep through the performance, if he wanted to. Kurt would kick David's ass if he attempted the same thing. David couldn't stand the jarring sound of the orchestra or the flamboyant, overly-theatrical, unnatural movements of the choreography. Puck's Spanish accent was painful, Rachel was anything but "desirable," and – as loath as David was to admit it – Kurt was a flop. David had paid enough attention to the rehearsal to know Kurt was supposed to be a gang member, but David just couldn't buy it. Kurt wasn't macho, wasn't a "bad boy." He was sweet and delicate. Yes, he had attitude and knew how to use it, but it was kind of like getting barked at by a chihuahua: you couldn't take it seriously.

But David could do his own fair bit of acting; he'd learned shortly after his mother's death how to pretend he was fine when the world was crashing around him. Right now, he smiled and clapped enthusiastically when he just wanted to shake his head in dismay. Kurt was happy; Kurt was having fun. David could pretend he was, as well, if it made Kurt even happier.

After the rehearsal, David gushed to Kurt how much he loved the performance, as he walked him to his car. He didn't want to flat out lie to Kurt, so he emphasized the things he had noticed weren't bad. "You had, like, a phenomenal relationship with the music."

"I think I was off on a few counts, but, you know, this is my first musical, so I think it's just pre-performance jitters."

"I didn't notice it at all, and honestly, everyone that knows anything about music is going to be up there on stage with you, anyway." David ruffled Alex's fur with his free hand, cradling him in the crook of his other arm. "You created a nice chemistry with Rachel; your history with Rachel really helped shine through. It helped create that…connection between you two."

"What the fuck is this dog-fucking faggot doing here?"

Kurt stumbled backwards as David held his arm out, preventing Kurt from moving any closer to Rick. Alex growled; he could tell from the tension and Rick's tone that something bad was going on. "Just keep walking, Rick." David sounded like he was growling, as well.

"Should I, now?" Rick looked David over, a shit-eating grin on his face. "Ah, whatever. I'll probably go on my way. I'm not stupid enough to mess with a fucking psychopath like you. After all, you were voted most likely to go all Columbine on the school after your mom ran off with that werewolf." Rick smirked, having just thought of something 'clever'. "You know, I wonder if Kurt here's screwing that same werewolf that – ahem – screwed your family." David shoved Alex at Kurt and started proceeding towards Rick. Kurt placed a single hand on David's elbow, halting him immediately. "Hit a soft spot there, didn't I? Hey, Kurt." Kurt glared at Rick. "I'd be careful trusting that rabid molerat around David. You know he jerks off to werewolf snuff films, right?"

David straightened out, his head going up, his eyes going wide.

"Oh, shut the fuck up, Nelson. I've heard why they call you 'The Stick.' It really is just a little twig, isn't it?" David wanted to hug Kurt for that. David and Rick had been going at it for years; no one had ever defended David from Rick before. "Or should I say Rick 'The Pencil Dick' Nelson?"

Rick's lips twitched into a sneer for a minute. "Watch it Hummel. Everyone knows where you live; no one in Lima has a whole lot of love for werewolves after what happened way back when. Wouldn't it be so sad if something bad happened to him?" Rick jutted out his chin, indicating Alex, who continued to growl, low and loud. With that, Rick turned around and walked back down the hall.

David and Kurt took the first available turn in the hall, deciding to find a different way out to the parking lot. "David…" David looked down at Kurt. "What's a snuff film?"

David sighed. Of course it was too good to be true that Kurt already knew what Rick was talking about and had discounted it as too horrible to be true. "They're videos of people getting murdered."

"So a werewolf snuff film would be a werewolf getting killed? Or a werewolf killing someone?" Kurt debated covering Alex's ears, or saving the conversation for a later time, but so far, evidence suggested Alex understood very little of what went on around him, so would unlikely remember anything that was said here today.

"Werewolf getting killed."

"I…Rick's not telling the truth, is he?"

David squeezed his eyes shut, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Depends on how you define 'true'." Kurt stopped dead in his tracks, looking at David with a slightly shocked and accusatory glance. David stopped walking as well. "It was a few years ago. Az and I pirated a really horrible horror movie made in some third world country. 'Horrible' meaning 'crappy.' It was about a werewolf terrorizing some village and killing a bunch of people. Az and I found out, after the fact, that for the final scene in the movie, where the werewolf is caught, tortured and killed by the angry villagers, a real werewolf had been caught and used. We didn't know at the time and I definitely didn't…get sexual pleasure out of it. Of course, once word got out…things snowballed."

Kurt nodded, but was silent for a while, making David nodded. "I trust you, you know? With Alex. Alex loves you and you've never been anything but wonderful with him."

David smiled as he and Kurt started walking down the hall again. "It's hard to make Alex matchup with the traditional idea of werewolves. And it's definitely impossible not to love him." David reached over to pet Alex, his fingers accidentally brushing against Kurt's chest as he did so. David blushed and took his hand back.

"So, speaking of Alex, I was kind of wondering what you were doing next Friday?"

David narrowed his eyes as he searched his memory. "Nothing much, I think. I mean, nothing that's scheduled: just homework and chore type stuff."

"The West Side Story performances are next week. My dad and Carol wanted to come watch, and of course Alex couldn't come see it, and everyone I trust with Alex is either going to be watching it or in it, so…maybe you could babysit?"

David's eyes went wide. Even if Kurt didn't believe David got off on watching werewolves get tortured and killed, the idea had still been planted there. Kurt must really trust him to give him temporary custody of his only child. "Umm…I'd love to."