Sorry it took a little bit longer for this chapter to be posted. I will try my best to get the next chapter posted in a lot shorter of a time frame. Thank you to everyone that has reviewed and favorited this story. Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 12
Blaine pulled his jacket tighter against his body, shivering a little in the wind. Hunter and Blaine were sitting at the top of the hill in the local park, looking at the town lights glittering below. The two boys were lost in thought, not really talking much to each other. It had become a favorite spot for the two of them. They liked how it was secluded and allowed them the silence to sit and think.
It was three days until Christmas, and they decided to go up to the hill to sit and enjoy each other's company before Hunter left with Mr. Fulton to visit his family in Pennsylvania for Christmas.
"It's going to be weird this year," Hunter said, breaking the silence. "I can't remember ever having a Christmas without my dad."
"I know what you mean," Blaine replied. "I mean I spent the last two Christmases with you and your dad. It's going to be weird not to see you on Christmas. They're some of my favorite memories. Especially that Christmas in Copenhagen."
"Remember the girl we couldn't communicate to that you were gay," Hunter reminisced. "She just wouldn't take no for an answer."
Blaine laughed, rubbing awkwardly at the back of his neck.
"That was the one and only time that I've actually utilized the ducking out of the bathroom window method," Blaine replied.
"She cried on my shoulder for an hour after she realized you were gone," Hunter laughed. "She decided that I was very good looking after that and took me back to her place."
"Your dad was so pissed when you didn't stumble in until 4 in the morning," Blaine said. "He was convinced you had gotten arrested."
"Hey, she was an incredible shag," Hunter defended. "You actually missed out with that one, thanks for ditching her."
"Dude…still gay, of course I was going to ditch her." Blaine laughed.
Hunter laughed as well, and then the two settled into a comfortable silence once more.
"How are you so calm about everything?" Hunter asked after a couple minutes. "I'm literally two seconds away from going absolutely crazy. I mean I can't even have a casual drink or a smoke. Mr. Fulton literally searches through my belongings on a daily basis. He has even searched my room randomly at 3 in the morning once and has searched my locker at school before. He is taking absolutely no chances. It's seriously like living under a microscope."
"If I do anything to mess this up I lose Kurt," Blaine replied easily.
"You really love him, huh?" Hunter asked with a smile. He was happy to see his best friend—virtual brother—so happy and in love. He wanted nothing but the best for Blaine. "I wish I could find a reason to stay on the straight and narrow like that."
"Do it for me," Blaine replied, glancing over at his friend to see if he could deduce some of what he was thinking based on his body language. "I don't want to lose you again. You're seriously the best friend that I could've ever asked for."
"Don't get too mushy on me Blaine," Hunter said rolling his eyes, but internally touched.
"I'm serious Hunter," Blaine continued, pretending like he didn't see Hunter roll his eyes. "I don't want you to go to juvie. It would kill me to know that you were there."
Hunter nodded and processed what Blaine was saying to him.
"I know what my dad was trying to get you to do is wrong," Hunter admitted. "I still don't hate him, though. Is that messed up or what?"
"No," Blaine replied bluntly. "He's still your father. That is always going to count for something. I still love my mother, even though she is still so horrible. Somewhere behind those walls she puts up is the woman who used to take me to the park so I could go down my favorite swirly slide and get me ice cream on the way home. Nothing will ever take that away."
Hunter nodded his understanding at that. It really did make sense when Blaine put it in those words.
"Well thanks for all the wise advice, Dr. Phil," Hunter said, standing up and brushing grass and dirt off of his pants. "I have to be going now, curfew and all."
"Anytime," Blaine replied, standing up as well. He too had the same curfew. He was finally no longer grounded, he wasn't going to do anything to mess that up.
"See you in a couple days," Hunter said, giving Blaine a quick hug goodbye before they each went their own ways.
The next couple days were a blur of finishing the decorating of the house, finishing Christmas shopping and a lot of baking. The Burkes always had Kurt's family over on Christmas Eve along with Peter's parents and Elizabeth's parents. The way that Elizabeth was obsessing over everything, Blaine thought they might as well be having the President over for Christmas Eve dinner.
"She is seriously making me clean my room," Blaine complained to Cooper, flopping down on his own bed. "The only ones that are going to see this room are you and me. It's not like we are hosting the party in here or something!"
Cooper was sleeping on a cot in Blaine's room for the next couple of days for the holidays. They all figured there was no point in Cooper having to commute from the city when he was going to be at the house so much.
"It's not like there is that much of a mess to clean up," Cooper said, pointing to the clothes overflowing from the laundry hamper. "The only thing you probably have to do is your laundry, and maybe straighten up your desk."
Blaine groaned. "So you're on her side!"
Cooper rolled his eyes. His younger brother could be so dramatic sometimes.
"Should I tell Uncle Peter that I think you're being insubordinate?" Cooper asked with a smirk.
Blaine glared at his older brother for a second, but then sighed and picked up his laundry hamper to go put a load in. He was fairly certain his brother was joking…but he couldn't be too sure. Cooper seemed to make it his mission to follow in Peter's footsteps sometimes.
Cooper was messing around on his phone when Blaine got back upstairs.
"What are you doing with my phone?" Blaine asked, walking over and starting to straighten out the papers on his desk. He was fighting the urge to walk over and grab the phone out of his brother's hands, but knew it would be a mistake. He had very quickly learned that if Cooper, Peter or Elizabeth wanted to look through his phone they would—as Peter always said, he had no right to privacy. Trying to snatch it back would be suspicious, and then he would most likely spend the rest of the night being practically interrogated by his Uncle.
"Playing Candy Crush," Cooper replied. "My phone is downstairs and I'm too lazy to get it."
Blaine sighed in relief. There wasn't anything incriminating on his phone. The FBI tracked it, and he wasn't stupid. Blaine just didn't want Cooper going through his texts with Kurt. He would never hear the end of it if he found out how sappy the two of them could be sometimes.
"Don't worry, I'm not reading your texts to your boyfriend," Cooper said as if reading Blaine's mind. "I don't know if I could stomach how sickeningly sweet you two are with each other sometimes."
Blaine rolled his eyes at that.
"So when is Kurt coming over?" Cooper asked, putting Blaine's phone down on the dresser and sitting up on the cot.
"He should be here any minute," Blaine replied, satisfied with how his things looked on his desk.
"Who should be here any minute?" a voice asked from behind them.
Blaine turned around and spotted Kurt smirking in the doorway. Blaine's heart skipped a beat at how good he looked. He was wearing a white Henley with a gray vest over top of it, skintight jeans and brown boots. His hair was coiffed to perfection, which Blaine swears has to take him hours.
"You," Blaine said with a smile, walking up and planting a kiss on Kurt. He didn't care that Cooper was in the room watching. If his brother was uncomfortable he could leave. It was Blaine's room after all.
"Hi Kurt," Cooper said, getting up off the bed to give the two some privacy. "I best go see if there is anything that I can do to help downstairs. Remember, Uncle Peter will kill you if you don't keep this door open."
Blaine watched as Cooper squeezed by them and walked down the hall and then the stairs. As soon as he was gone, Blaine pulled Kurt in for a much more passionate kiss than the one they had just had.
"It's good to see you too," Kurt smirked as they pulled apart.
Blaine grabbed Kurt's hand and pulled the two of them to sit next to each other on his bed.
"Nice shirt," Kurt said as the two sat down. "It brings back some pretty interesting memories of our first date."
Blaine was wearing the 1975 tee with a blue plaid flannel, black skinny jeans, black vans and a black snapback. The more he dates Kurt, the more he realizes how little color is actually in his wardrobe on a daily basis.
"Thanks, it's a Christmas gift from Hunter," Blaine said, subconsciously picking at the shirt.
"What's with the two of you and the 1975?" Kurt asked, kicking his shoes off and curling his feet up under himself.
"It's kind of a long story," Blaine said, not really sure if it would be a story that Kurt would want to hear.
"Come on," Kurt replied, lightly shoving at Blaine. "I want to know about this. You and Hunter are clearly best friends. We are dating, and I want to know more about this part of your life."
"Well Hunter and I were staying at Mr. Clarington's house in the Hamptons after we successfully pulled a heist," Blaine explained. "We were staying there to lay low a bit, while Mr. Clarington snooped around to see what information had leaked. It was absolutely freezing outside, so we stayed in the house by the fire most of the time. We got bored and started messing around online trying to find new music to listen to. First we came across the song 'Chocolate' and like I said that became a bit of an inside joke between the two of us. After we fell in love with that song, we listened to the rest of their album and were hooked. We stayed up all night drinking beer and listening to that album on repeat. It's one of my favorite memories."
Blaine looked over at Kurt after explaining the story, only to find an unreadable expression on his face.
"What?" Blaine asked, nervous that he said something wrong.
"I don't know if I'll ever get used to you being able to so casually mention pulling a heist," Kurt replied with a smile, laying back and pulling Blaine close to him so that they were cuddling. "It's just an odd concept for me. It's like you are a TV character sometimes rather than a real person."
"I'm terrified that one day I'm going to say something that's going to make you leave me forever," Blaine admitted, feeling relaxed in Kurt's arms. "That there is something you learn about my past that we can't move forward from."
"Have you ever killed anyone?" Kurt asked.
"No," Blaine vehemently replied.
"Then there is nothing that I can't get past," Kurt reasoned. "Does Peter know about the heist you pulled when you went and hid out in the Hamptons?"
"Probably," Blaine replied with a sigh. "Agent Burke knows a hell of a lot more than I would like him to."
"Do you honestly think that Peter is going to catch Mr. Clarington?" Kurt asked.
"If anyone can, it's Peter," Blaine said. "He is damn good at his job. I'm always going to have mixed feelings about it, but I understand why Peter has to do it."
Kurt and Blaine lay curled up in each other's arms just chatting away for the next hour. Luckily for them they were not disturbed by anyone barging into the room. They learned so much more about each other. Blaine learned about the tea parties that Kurt used to throw in the backyard with his dad after his mother died, and Kurt learned about how Blaine used to make Cooper put on shows with him in the basement.
"When I was little I wanted to be on Broadway," Blaine admitted. "I wanted nothing more than to play Chip in Beauty in the Beast or Gavroche in Les Miserables."
"What happened to that dream?" Kurt asked, wondering if Blaine still had the same ambition. If so, they would have the exact same dream.
"I don't know…I just want to be 16 I guess," Blaine replied with a shrug. "It's been a while since I've really thought about the future. I've been a day to day person for the last several years now, just worrying about pulling off the next heist."
"Do you think you want to do something with music or art?" Kurt inquired, looking around Blaine's room to see his artwork and his guitar sitting in the corner.
"I don't think I'm good enough," Blaine replied.
"I repeat, you literally passed off forgeries for famous works of art," Kurt replied, sitting up and forcing Blaine to look at him. "You must be amazing."
"I'm good at other people's work," Blaine said, shrugging the compliment off. "I don't have much to say in my own pieces. I'm just a copycat."
"I'm sure that's not true," Kurt replied. "But what about your music? Do you write your own stuff?"
Before Blaine could reply to the question, Peter called for the two of them to come downstairs since the rest of their guests had arrived. Blaine sighed, and the two of them got up to go see the rest of the party guests.
When they walked downstairs Blaine's grandparents were sitting on the couch talking with Cooper. Blaine was relieved that so far Elizabeth's parents were nowhere to be found.
"Blaine!" his grandmother cried out, getting up off the couch and pulling Blaine into a hug. "It's lovely to see you again."
"You as well," Blaine replied.
"I see the two of you are still going strong," she said, gesturing between Kurt and Blaine.
"Yes," Kurt replied, smiling as she pulled him in for a hug as well.
"Blaine," his grandfather greeted. "Staying out of trouble I hope."
"Doing my best, sir," Blaine replied, shifting uncomfortably on the spot.
"What did I say the last time you were here, dad?" Peter asked, walking into the room with two beers, handing one to Cooper and one to his father.
"That you are handling it," he replied with a shrug. "I'm his grandfather, it's my duty to double check that he is behaving."
Blaine wanted to make a joke that he would have to get in line behind Peter, the FBI, Elizabeth and Cooper, but thought better of it.
"You went for a very different look this time, dear," Blaine's grandmother said, choosing to ignore what her husband and son were discussing. "You looked so dapper before."
"I let Kurt pick out my clothes that night," Blaine replied with a quick glance at Kurt, who was smirking. "This is much more my style."
"Now do you think your choice of so much dark clothing is based on an inner turmoil?" a voice that Blaine recognized as Elizabeth's father asked as he walked into the room. "Or is there a need to look the part of a rebellious teenager to match your past misdeeds?"
Blaine stared at him in confusion for a moment. Was this guy serious? Was he actually trying to psychoanalyze his clothing choices?
"I mean I personally think he just wants to drop out of school and join a pop punk band," Cooper joked from where he was sat on the couch.
"Is that an ambition of yours?" Elizabeth's father asked, sitting down on the loveseat, and staring inquiringly at Blaine.
"Yeah…totally," Blaine sarcastically replied, pulling off his snapback, running his fingers through his hair and then placing it back on his head. "Kurt are you thirsty? I'm going to go get something to drink."
"Yeah, let's go," Kurt said, grabbing Blaine's hand and quickly pulling him toward the garage where the cooler full of sodas and beers were currently sitting.
Once they got into the garage and had the door closed behind them, they both burst out in laughter. The rest of the night was spent trying to avoid Elizabeth's father and sharing little looks with Kurt that almost sent them into full-blown hysterics once more.
The Christmas holidays went super quickly after that night, and the next thing Blaine knew he and Hunter were shopping for a small get together that Blaine was hosting. Peter was letting Blaine have the Glee Club over for New Year's Eve. Peter, Elizabeth, Burt, Carole and Mr. Fulton were all going to be having their own party on the second floor, while the Glee kids got the basement. Peter, of course, reminded Blaine almost every five minutes leading up to the event that there was to be absolutely no drugs or alcohol at the party.
Kurt had come over early to help make food for the party. As soon as Kurt found out that Blaine was going to be hosting an event, he immediately jumped on board with planning the party and deciding what food there was going to be. He also decided upon a theme for the whole event, which led Blaine and Hunter to walking to Costco because of a crisis.
"I don't know what was wrong with those plates," Hunter said, browsing along the disposable plates and utensils section. "They were literally just bright red plates."
"Kurt is trying to go for an elegant black and silver theme for the party. He doesn't think red goes with his elegant theme," Blaine replied with a shrug. He was used to his boyfriend's eccentricities by now.
"Whatever you say," Hunter replied with a laugh.
Blaine picked up some silver plates that he thought Kurt would approve of and went to pay for them. The cold hit them as soon as they walked back outside, and Blaine pulled his scarf tighter around his neck against the chill.
"Well if it isn't the two traitors that I used to call my sons," a voice behind them said.
Blaine and Hunter turned and saw Mr. Clarington standing at the edge of the parking lot, his arms folded across his chest glaring at them.
"Dad," Hunter stuttered out in surprise. "W…what are you doing here?"
"Don't dad me," Mr. Clarington replied, grabbing on to Hunter's arm and Blaine's arm and pulling them around behind one of the dumpsters so they would have more privacy. "Don't think I haven't heard the rumors that you are talking with the police. You obviously narked on me. There is no other way that you walked away free."
Hunter jerked away from his father's grip. "I'm not free." He pulled up his left leg to reveal the anklet.
"So you blabbed just to stay out of juvie, that's still a betrayal," Mr. Clarington replied, letting go of Blaine's arm and turning his full attention to his son. "After all I've done for you and you wimp out the minute that things get a little tough."
"A little tough?" Hunter shrieked, his voice cracking in disbelief. "We're talking about a juvenile detention center! It's not like I want to live with a police officer or Blaine wants to live with a Fed, but we adapted to the circumstances like you taught us to. You taught us how to survive, and we are trying to follow that."
"What do you want, Mr. Clarington?" Blaine piped in. "We really only have about five more minutes before my Uncle get suspicious and comes looking for us. Since he is on a mission to put you behind bars, you probably want to be long gone by then."
"I want you to forge a Raphael," Mr. Clarington replied, turning his attention toward Blaine. "I need it by next Tuesday."
"I can't do that," Blaine replied, shaking his head and getting ready to turn and walk away.
"Oh, I would if I were you," Mr. Clarington threatened. "I have a lot of incriminating evidence on the two of you that I could accidentally slip to the Feds."
Blaine stopped dead in his tracks at the words that Mr. Clarington just said. He thought he knew the man and that he would never do something like that, but that tone of voice said that he was dead serious.
"You're bluffing," Hunter replied. "You would be incriminating yourself as well."
"I have nothing to lose," Mr. Clarington replied. "I can easily run and have it take a bit for the FBI to find out. You two on the other hand are tethered to a radius."
"What does this have to do with me, though?" Hunter asked. "All you are asking is for Blaine to forge something."
"You're going to deliver it to me," Mr. Clarington replied, pulling two burner phones out of his pocket and handing one to each boy. "I'll be in touch."