Everyone loved Tracy and her weirdness, so we decided to do one featuring her! Should we do one about Michael too?
This one was much easier for us to get and worked perfectly for this idea. Eh? Eh? Annnyway, here it is!
Thanks Klaine-word-scramble! we are having so much fun!
(Aug 5 entry - 2470 words)
title: You're Perfect To Me
warnings: explicit language
"Okay, hang on." Kurt scratched at his stubbly chin and peered through his glasses at their TV. Since they were off work together for a few days, he hadn't bothered to shave. His husband was definitely not opposed to the look if the patches of red all over his body were any indication.
Blaine sighed and paused the movie yet again while trying not to lose his patience. When he suggested his husband finally watch the entire series of some of his favorite movies, he optimistically hoped that he would fall in love with them too. But now he was grinding his teeth and begrudgingly beginning to admit to himself he might just be the bigger nerd of the two of them. "Yes, dear."
Kurt side-eyed him. "This is confusing. Don't get all huffy with me."
"I'm not getting huffy. It's just we have had to pause it twelve times and we are five minutes in."
Kurt rolled his eyes. "You've been keeping a tally?"
Forcing a grin, Blaine sidestepped his question to steer away from an argument. "What do you need me to explain?"
Kurt narrowed his eyes, but let it go. "So this one takes place after the first movies, but the first ones made were actually supposed to be the later ones and this one is after the newer ones?"
"Okay, the first of the three movies were made and weren't expected to be a hit—"
"Don't start with the whole biography." Kurt rubbed his forehead like a headache was brewing. "I need a goddamn flow chart."
"Listen, George Lucas had a vision—" Blaine started his rant, but the door slamming shut and their thirteen year old daughter stomping through the living room arrested both of their attentions.
"Tracy?" Kurt called, all traces of annoyance gone from his voice. "Honey, what's going on?"
Blaine looked down the dark hallway where she had disappeared with a frown. She had gone to a sleepover she had been very excited about a few hours ago.
"You think we should let her cool off a bit or go on in?" Blaine asked his husband who had called out for her again with no response.
"Let's go try," Kurt replied as he threw off the blanket they were both under.
It took a bit of coaxing, but Tracy finally let them into her room. She was in a foul mood and as soon as she jerked open her bedroom door, she went back to her desk. It wasn't a good sign that it was messy and bits of magazine clippings were everywhere along with markers and washi tape and stickers. Due to her tendency to get angry and want to destroy things, Kurt and Blaine had helped her to channel her strong feelings into something creative that would help her express herself without harming any person or thing. Some of her collages and scrapbooks were quite dark, but Blaine especially was proud of her for finding a technique that worked for her. So it was a little concerning that his daughter had roughly cut out pictures of cows, glued more cutouts of different hair to them, and was scribbling red Xs over their eyes.
Kurt gave him a look and Blaine cleared his throat. They both had their strengths. Kurt was usually so good at ending fights with the kids while he was usually the go-to for emotional conversations.
"Tracy, what happened?" he began softly.
"Nothing," she grumbled. Her marker broke with the force and she tossed it aside before grabbing a different one and continuing aggressively.
"It doesn't seem like nothing happened." Blaine leaned next to her on the edge of her desk while Kurt perched on the corner of her bed. "How did you even get home?"
"I asked Sarah's mom to drive me home," she replied shortly. Then she slapped a knife sticker in the back of one of her cows. "I didn't even want to go to that stupid sleepover anyway."
Blaine shared a look of dismay with Kurt over her shoulder. "But you've been talking about this for like a week—"
She slammed her scissors down and looked up at him with reddened eyes. His heart broke with how much like Kurt she looked in that moment. They had the same eyes and the same mouth that twitched when they were trying not to cry. "I don't care anymore about those stupid girls and their stupid sleepover! It was just like all the other times when I try to make friends! They said I was weird!"
"Who said you were weird?" Kurt bristled. "I want names! And I want parent's names! I'm going to be making so many phone calls—"
"No, Dad. You'll only make things worse."
"Let's calm down," Blaine said with a sympathetic look towards Kurt. He knew how touchy he was when it came to his children being bullied. How they both were.
Kurt settled down, but he didn't look happy about it. "Tracy, how long has this been going on? We don't keep secrets like this in our family. You don't have to deal with things alone. That's what Papa and I are for."
Tracy rolled her eyes and folded her arms. "It's not a secret. It happens every day on the bus, at recess, at the library…"
Kurt was about to explode again, so Blaine interjected. "What Dad and I are trying to say here, is we would like to know if you are being bullied because he and I dealt with that and we don't want that for you, sweetheart. We will handle it."
Tracy shrugged. "Normally I don't care if the other kids think I'm weird. I know I am weird."
Blaine looked from her outfit of all black to her wall of slightly disturbing art. "You aren't weird, you are artistic. There is nothing wrong with being different. Maybe the other kids just don't understand you. Weird is something they understand is not the 'normal', so they tease you."
"Mean little twerps," Kurt grumbled.
Blaine smiled at him. One thing he didn't put up with was anyone messing with their children. "Prejudice is just ignorance."
Tracy shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "I know." She deflated, batting at some tape with her finger. "I just really wanted those girls to be my friend."
His heart going out to her, Blaine opened his arms in an invitation. Tracy begrudgingly went to him, but once she was in his arms she relaxed into them. Kurt looked like he was going to jump out of his skin, so Blaine beckoned him with the tilt of his head and he joined in the hug. Blaine adjusted his hold until he held his daughter and his husband and they had a nice little group hug going.
Tracy eventually wriggled out of it, but seemed like she was feeling a little better. They pulled her over to her bed and sat her in between them. Kurt brushed her golden brown hair behind her ear. "A lot of great artists weren't appreciated in their time. I know you're going to roll your eyes again, but you know Papa and I always love you. You are perfect to us…"
Blaine smiled and opened his mouth to sing when Tracy made a disgruntled sound. She clapped her hands over her ears. "Please don't start singing!"
Kurt looked so affronted that Blaine nearly burst out laughing. "I thought you loved when we sang to you? Some people pay lots of money to hear me and Papa sing."
"You're going to sing that song you always sing when me and Mikey are upset! That P!nk song! I just can't deal with the cringe, Dad."
"Excuse me?" Kurt sputtered. "I am not cringe!"
"You really don't like the song?" Blaine asked, sadly.
"It's just embarrassing. Why do you have to do it?"
Blaine looked over to his husband, but he wasn't seeing him in present day. Instead, a memory played before his eyes. His face was softer and his hair was styled differently. He was wearing a kilt and driving Blaine home after an emotionally draining night. Blaine had flipped the plastic crown that rested in his lap next to the matching scepter as Kurt crested the hill he lived on and parked in Blaine's driveway. He killed the engine and they sat staring at his dark home. His parents had already gone to bed. Blaine loosened his tie and nervously turned to his boyfriend who was staring at his hands still settled on the wheel.
"I know the night didn't really go as we thought, but I still had fun."
Kurt smiled slightly, his face shadowed in the dark. He didn't carry as much confidence then, but that night, Blaine had seen a glimmer of it. "I feel like I was very naïve."
"Maybe." Blaine looked down at the crown again. "But you shouldn't feel bad. You handled a terrible situation so amazingly… I'm in awe of you."
Kurt blushed a little and his fingers tightened on the steering wheel. "Thank you. Um, thanks for saving me on the dance floor. And… for just being there for me."
Blaine's heart flipped. It had taken some bravery to do that after what happened to him at the Sadie Hawkins dance before, but Kurt being brave made him feel brave. "Of course. You really showed them."
Kurt smiled weakly, then turned to look out the window at the dark line of trees. "It still hurt. It's like they are saying I'm nothing."
The words from the P!nk song he had been listening to that morning came to him. So he did another brave thing. Sure, he had sang to Kurt before as a stranger, as a friend, and then as a boyfriend, but this was different. This was just the two of them in a moment that felt important and intimate. He set the crown and scepter on the dashboard and took Kurt's hands. He was a little confused at first, but when Blaine started to sing, the pinched frown slowly melted from his face and he gave Blaine a soft smile.
"Pretty pretty please, don't you ever ever feel like you're less than, less than perfect. Pretty pretty please, if you ever ever feel like you're nothing, you're perfect to me."
It became their thing after that, a secret for a long time. After Blaine's brother came to visit, Kurt sang it to him in the car after school. After Kurt didn't get the lead in the musical, after Blaine, Sam, and Finn struggled to understand each other. They sang it to each other and it immediately cheered them up. They shared it with Santana when she was outed and while she didn't appreciate it the way they did, they didn't care and continued to sing it.
Then came the break up and the singing stopped. But then they got back together and they would do it occasionally except it was over the phone instead of in the car, but the sentiment was the same.
It was natural that it carried over to their children. It was their thing, but now it seemed like it was coming to an end. It saddened Blaine, but he knew he would have probably reacted the same way as a teenager if it were his own parents.
"We don't have to do it," current-day Kurt was saying to their daughter. "It's just something Papa and I have done for a long time. Since we were kids." He gave Blaine a soft look which he returned to Kurt.
"As long as you know we love you and don't think you're weird," Blaine finally said to her. "People thought your dad was weird for the way he dressed and me for my love of making puppets that looked identical to the people closest to me."
"Which was fair," Kurt mumbled traitorously.
Blaine ignored him. "The point is, everyone is odd in their own way and if those girls can't see how amazing and wonderful you are, they aren't your friends. You'll find your people one day."
Kurt nodded and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "He's right. Don't let them get you down."
Tracy smiled, just a little, but it was there. She was uncomfortable with both of their unwavering attention on her which was evident by the way she wriggled out of their hold. "Thanks. Can I be by myself?"
Kurt sighed and stood as Blaine wrapped an arm around his waist at her door. "Just know we are here to talk if you want to!"
"And we will always be your friends!" Blaine couldn't help adding which caused more eye rolling. He chuckled as they left her to her deviant crafting, knowing she might be embarrassed now, but she would always know in her heart how loved she was.
"I hope she sees what we are trying to say," Kurt whispered as they snuggled under their blanket again. "I'd like to have a talk with those girls."
Blaine toyed with the remote. "I know. I wish she could find friends that aren't mean to her."
Kurt's head fell onto Blaine's shoulder. "She's growing up. Our little girl."
Blaine let his head rest on top of Kurt's. "I know. I remember when she would sing with us. Now she's embarrassed of us."
"We could have another?" Kurt smiled up winningly at his husband.
"Are you being serious or sentimental?" Blaine was kind of torn between wanting to have another baby and not wanting to have to do all the work all over again.
"Ugh, both." Kurt rubbed his eyes and replaced his glasses. "I hope she knows I'm going to sing Perfect to her at her wedding."
"We'll duet it," Blaine said with a grin that Kurt returned.
"Deal. And if she says no, we will use a Jedi mind trick on her."
"I know you're joking, but you have never been hotter to me."
"Dork," Kurt snorted.
Blaine jumped on top of him and started peppering him with kisses. "Say more nerdy things!"
Kurt giggled and tried to shove him off. "You're stupid and ridiculous! Get off!"
"No, I'm perfect, remember! I knew you were paying attention to the movies!"
"No one will ever believe you. Aggh! Blaine!"
Tracy wrinkled her nose as she walked by on her way to the kitchen. "Ew, why are you so embarrassing?"
Blaine stopped attacking his husband with kisses to playfully glare at his daughter. "I think Tracy needs love, don't you Kurt?"
Kurt smiled wickedly. "Yes, she needs all the cuddles!"
Tracy's smirk dropped and she ran away. "No! Stay away! I don't need cuddles!"
Her giggles and cries of how uncool her fathers were mixed with theirs in their efforts to show her just how loved she was.
Words used:
Secrets
Recess
Trees
Crest (crested)
Sees
Steer
Music mentioned:
Perfect: P!nk
We do not own music*