#babb 2015

“Hey Burt take a right up here!”

“A right?” Burt questioned furrowing his brow and batting his stepsons prodding hand away from his shoulder.

 Sam nodded from beside him, turning around to smirk at a pouting Finn. “A right for sure. Blaine taught us it as a way to beat the traffic getting back from Westerville after a gaming night with the Warblers. It cuts off like thirty minutes, thanks to getting rid of all of this.” Sam waved an arm at the taillights that seemed to be surrounding them as Burt began to ease towards the right, eager to try out the new turn off the teenagers had told him about.

Flicking on his blinker to take the turn when they finally crept up to the junction Burt shrugged, “Well I hope you boys know where we’re going. After that game all anyone wants to do is get home and forget about it.” Sam and Finn murmured their agreement each enamoured by finding other scores out on their phones. “Where is Blaine anyway? He was supposed to come with us tonight, right?”

Finn and Sam glances nervously at each other, Sam reaching over to mess with the heating controls.

Sighing, Finn ran a hand through his messy hair. “He said that after the whole Kurt break up mess a few weeks back that he didn’t really think it was a very good idea.”

“He wasn’t at school today either, so maybe he’s sick or something,” Sam chimed in with a shrug, burrowing down inside his soft red coat.

 Burt grunted, not believing Blaine to be sick for one second, and making a mental note to go and check on the boy the first opportunity that he got. Turning his attention to the dark road that lay before them he grimaced, wishing that they’d stuck to the busy but well lit highway. The snow, unusually early in the season for Ohio, had started to fall thick and fast ten minutes earlier and showed no signs of letting up as it whirled around the silver truck. Swatting Finn’s hand from the radio dial once more Burt turned all of his focus to the road, attempting to block out Sam and Finn’s incessant arguing over the choice of music to concentrate on the barely visible road.

“Burt, look out!” Sam’s terrified shriek cut straight through the shield of silence Burt had tried to create, causing Burt’s eyes to scan the full length of the road as fast as they could.

As soon as the older man saw the large bump in the middle of the road that had prompted Sam to yell, he swerved turning the wheel as hard and fast as he could on the slippery surface, swerving the truck to the side. Narrowly missing the lump in the road, the truck pulled to a squeaky stop, the occupants panting heavily.

“Nobody tells Kurt about this, okay?” Burt breathed; leaning back in his seat and thanking deities he didn’t particularly believe in that everyone was alive and well still.

“What the hell was that?” Finn said, throwing open the back door and tumbling out of the back seat to get a better look.

Sam glanced once to Burt before shrugging and following Finn from the car. Burt watched whilst the pair skidded and skated over the icy road towards the shape.

“No…wait boys!” Burt yelled as he came to his senses, fumbling with the door and bolting to where the teenagers stood next to the unmoving black object that was now almost completely covered over with snow.

Glancing at the two boys, Burt knelt down next to the item and carefully brushed the snow away, thankful that at least for now the weather had calmed and the snow had stopped falling. His heart stuttered in his chest when his worst fears were confirmed as he realised the bundle was a person. Throwing the truck keys to Finn, he nodded back towards the vehicle before instructing Sam to help him unbury the freezing person.

“Quickly Sam, this person needs to get into the warmth as soon as possible.” Noticing the boy had stopped, Burt turned to look at him, “Sam, c’mon!”

Sam shook his head, a slight whimper leaving his lips. “He looks dead,” Sam whispered, paling significantly in his red parka.

 Moving next to the boy, Burt sucked in a breath at the sight of the gelled hair, snowflakes freezing into it, long eyelashes curled against unnaturally pale cheeks. Reaching out, he felt the boy’s skin, relieved when it was still slightly warm to the touch. His fingers burrowing carefully under the layer of Blaine’s scarf, Burt felt his heart start beating again when he felt a pulse beat in Blaine’s neck.

 “He’s alive, but we need to warm him up,” Burt sighed, Sam nodding beside him and redoubling effort to dig his friend out. Brushing off the last of the snow, Burt scooped Blaine into his arms and winced at how cold the boy felt, jogging back to the truck with Sam.

 The two of them heaved Blaine onto the backbench with Finn. Sam climbed into the heated truck behind him and starting to peel off Blaine’s black pea coat, letting Finn take care of wrapping the three blankets around Blaine’s shivering body. Burt meanwhile made quick work of getting the snow away from the tires before throwing himself back into the front seat. He looked to in the mirror to find Finn and Sam with Blaine draped across the pair of them, covered in blankets and the two boys rubbing his arms and legs in an attempt to warm the youngest boy up. Turning the key in the ignition, Burt quickly turned the car around and started to drive back up the road trying to drive as swiftly and safely as he could to the hospital in Westerville.

“It’s nearly a two hour drive, let alone walking it! What the hell was he thinking? In this weather too!” Burt paced back and forth, ripping the baseball cap from his head and scrunching it up in his hands. Sighing he collapsed into the hard plastic chair, wondering why Blaine hadn’t simply called him to come and get him.

Nurse Linda smiled sadly, sinking into the chair beside Burt. “He had these on him,” Pulling documents out of the pocket of her scrubs, she unfolded them to show Burt the important papers that confirmed Blaine to be an emancipated minor. “Legally he’s on his own. I think that’s been true for longer than these papers have been valid though. I was here when his Grandparents came to take him away the first time, and I don’t believe that they ever had any intention of being there for their Grandson. I’d be surprised if they even fought his notion for emancipation.”

Burt paled considerably, feeling slightly sick as he read over the words that did indeed declare Blaine to be on his own. “Wait, what do you mean when his Grandparents came to collect him? Where are Pam and Mac? They love that boy with everything they have, they’d never let Mac’s parents take him away.”

 “Wait you don’t know?” Linda questioned, her face puzzled and tinged with sorrow.

“Know what?”

“Blaine was in a serious car accident about six weeks ago. Sure he survived with minor grazes and a couple of broken fingers, but Mac and Cooper were killed instantly.”

Burt rested his hands on his knees, trying not to keel over in shock. “What about Pam?”

Linda sighed once more, “She hung on for longer, about a two and a half weeks after the crash. Blaine came to see her religiously every single day. It’s the only reason I know all of their names and so much about the family; he’d sit and talk to her for hours. He was usually on his own and I’m fairly certain he walked every time too. On that last day, Blaine had just taken hold of her hand when she crashed. We rushed her into surgery but there was massive internal bleeding and she died on the operating table. Blaine’s Grandparents came for him again, about three hours after we called them, and the custody of Blaine became legally theirs as his only living relatives.”

Burt felt his entire body go numb, memories of all the times they’d spent with the Anderson family over the last few years running through his mind. Mac had become one of his better friends, and whilst he found it odd not to hear from him for the last six weeks, he had never thought that it would be down to this. All he could think about now though was the three weeks the two families had spent in Florida together over the summer. Kurt and Blaine had been in their element surrounded by Disney and Harry Potter, not to mention Finn and Cooper with the extravagant buffet tables. The thought that they would never have a joint family holiday again, or even just see their friends again wracked Burt with a guilt and sorrow he couldn’t deny. Standing up, he took a deep breath and pocketed the emancipation papers, determined to take Blaine home with them, and knowing that Carole would never let him back out of her sight if he even so much as tried to protest the move.

Linda smiled softly, feeling in her heart of hearts that Blaine was finally going home to the right family and walking in the opposite direction to start her rounds again.

“Hey Kiddo,” Burt smiled, walking into the room to find Blaine awake, Sam and Finn perched on the edges of their chairs and watching him closely.

 Blaine eyed him suspiciously and nodded towards him quickly before turning away again.

Burt sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed and tucking a finger under Blaine’s chin to get the boy to look at him. “Blaine, Kiddo, why didn’t you tell us? We would’ve been with you the whole time.”

The teenager’s eyes filled with tears, his body wracking with unshed sobs before the dam finally broke and he launched forwards, burying his face in Burt’s neck and sobbing like the world was ending. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for Blaine. Nothing at all,” Burt gently rocked the two of them letting Blaine cry out the agony he had clearly been holding onto. “Do you want me to go and call Kurt? He can be here in a few hours.”

Blaine let out a strangled whimper, his heartbeat monitor speeding up as he shook his head violently. “No, no please. Don’t ruin New York for him.”

“Kiddo, he’s going to want to know.”

 “Don’t tell Kurt. Please, please don’t tell him. It will kill him. Let him live his dream. Leave him in New York,” Blaine slurred, the painkillers finally kicking in and his eyes fluttering with the effort to keep them open.

 Sam sat down gently on the other edge of the hospital bed, eyes flickering from Blaine to Burt to Finn and back to Blaine again, taking in his friends small, shivering frame wrapped in numerous blankets.

“Blaine he’s going to…”

“Please,” He whimpered, one weak hand lifting up to grip Sam’s. Sam looked to Finn who shrugged sadly, standing up and reaching for Blaine’s other hand, the boys head still tucked into Burt’s neck.

“Okay, we won’t I promise, but he’ll find out eventually Blaine,” Burt murmured, feeling Blaine’s breaths even out as he fell asleep again.

Burt gently pushed Blaine back against the fluffed up pillows, letting Sam and Finn keep holding on to him as he stood back up. “Right, I need to go and get Carole because she’s going out of her mind and I can’t take my phone going off anymore. You boys take care of him and we’ll be back here as soon as we can. I’m hoping it’ll only be four hours at the most, but with the snow I have no idea.”

“Burt!” Sam called, whipping round to look at the older man stood in the brightly lit doorway, “What about Vesper and Shadow? Blaine’s Grandparents wouldn’t let him take them with him to their house, not when they make him happy,” Sam finished bitterly, turning quickly to Blaine then back to Burt.

Burt felt more pulling at his heartstrings, praying that Blaine hadn’t lost the two of them as well as the rest of his family. “I’ll run by the Anderson’s old place and see if they're there. God knows Shadow alone would probably wait months for Blaine to return to him.” Shaking his head, Burt searched his key chain for the one that would let him into the Anderson’s house and marched down the corridor, determined to take Blaine’s dog and cat back to the Hummel household to have a sense of normality for the boy when he was released from the hospital.

When Blaine next woke up he had to push Sam’s head from his shoulder, grimacing when he felt the drool soaking through his hospital gown. Shoving Sam a little harder, he snorted when the boy fell to the floor with a yelp and a thud.

“Jesus, nice Blaine, glad you find this funny,” Sam whined, picking himself up and sinking into the uncomfortable felt chair beside Blaine’s bed with a huff.

Finn shook his head with a smile, eyes roaming over Blaine’s face. “Blaine, erm earlier you were saying…”

“I don’t want Kurt to know what happened Finn,” Blaine said sharply, eyes staring into Finn’s own. “I may have had painkillers and God knows what else in my system, but I meant what I said, don’t you dare tell him.”

Nodding, the taller boy sighed gently, moving to sit on Blaine’s bed again. “If that’s what you want you know we’ll honour that Blaine, but he’s going to find out.”

“I’ll deal with that when it happens,” Blaine muttered, wriggling to get more comfortable on the bed. “If he turned away still after this, I don’t know what I’d do.”

“Kurt wouldn’t hurt you Blaine, not if he knew this,” Finn muttered quietly, watching Blaine shake his head vehemently.

“No,” Blaine breathed, “My parents and Cooper all hurt me, not their fault I’m aware, but that’s all love brings. Hurt. The Warblers were supposed to be my guys and look what happened there. Mike was supposed to be one of my best friends and I haven’t heard from him since he left Lima. Kurt, even before everything that happened, was ignoring my calls or barely had the time for me. I’m sick of being hurt. My Grandparents were supposed to care for me, love me for who I am. Instead they were about to ship me off to military school somewhere in Texas.”  Blaine watched Sam and Finn with the most steady, determined expression they’d seen since Kurt had left Lima, a gaze that made both of them shudder in synch. “Nobody’s ever going to hurt me again.”

6 months later….

“Finn!” The shout had Finn whirling around in the McKinley High corridor, sheet paper flying all over as he beamed at Kurt and Santana, the latina rolling her eyes and muttering about the ‘clumsy oaf’ even as Kurt barrelled into his brothers arms. “I missed you Finn.”

 “I missed you too Kurt,” Finn beamed, happy to see Kurt for the first time in four months, “It’s been far too long.”

Kurt laughed softly, bending down to start collecting in some of Finn’s papers and pinching Santana’s ankle until she bent down to help him, glaring at the brothers. “Yeah, you should’ve come back to New York after Christmas Finn.”

 “No thanks. I don’t need to hear what Gigantor and Berry get up to,” Santana smirked, cackling as Finn snatched the papers from her grasp. “Just give me warning and I’ll be out of there. Do you know how much of a nightmare Christmas was after you and Berry decided to try again?” Kurt shuddered slightly; silently agreeing with Santana and thankful that he at least had his Dad and Carole’s hotel room to escape to.

“Well Rachel broke up with me again in February Santana, you know that.”

“Thank the Lord for small mercies.”

“Santana,” Kurt scolded, throwing the girl a filthy look and shaking his head. “So where is everyone? I really want to see one of your Glee club lessons Finn.”

Finn fidgeted nervously, trying not to look too closely at his brother. “Erm Kurt, quite a few things have changed around here in the last 6 months, I mean you haven’t been back to Lima since Grease.”

“Yeah Finn for good reason,” Kurt snapped, glaring at his older brother, Santana snorting and shaking her head at Finn’s assumed gormlessness.

 Finn sighed, running a hand through his messy hair, “That may be so but Kurt, just don’t expect things to be the same.”

Tilting his head Kurt watched Finn in confusion. “What’s going on Finn?”

Finn stuttered, mouth opening and closing and eyes roaming the hallway as he failed to find the right words to tell Kurt just how much McKinley had changed in six seemingly short months.

The sound of hard plastic wheels along the tile floor startled both young men and they glanced up as a skateboard headed their way. The boy riding it paid them no attention as he watched the direction from which he had come, large, purple headphones clamped firmly over his ears, black leather jacket flying behind him. Watching him closely, Finn groaned internally, praying to a god he wasn’t sure he believed in that he would simply pay no heed to the three figures standing in the empty hallway and roll straight past them.

 Rolling to a stop, Blaine looked up and smirked slightly at Finn, “Finn I need you to tell dad I won’t be home until later again.”

Finn groaned, “Dammit Blaine! Detention again?”

Blaine shrugged, brushing long curls out of his eyes, industrial piercing glinting in the light when he turned his head slightly. “Mr Trenton deserved it, the guy’s a tool, but yeah I have to go tell Sue I can’t make Cheerio’s practice so there’s a chance I won’t actually make it home alive tonight.” Blaine’s smirk grew as he let his eyes roam over a gaping Kurt and a curious Santana. “Well look what the cat dragged in.”

“BLAINE ANDERSON!” A voice roared and the quartet turned to see an enraged Mr Trenton storming down the corridor.

 Wincing the curly haired boy shrugged and shot Kurt one last smirk. “Well gotta roll. See you around Kurt.” Shooting the finger at the teacher marching towards them, he took off up the corridor heading straight for Sue’s office.

“What the hell just happened?” Kurt stammered, eyes wide.

“Meet the new Blaine,” Finn shook his head, feeling for Mr Trenton as the man stalked past them, dripping with red slushie. Blaine was right though, in the eyes of the student body and many of their teachers, the fifty year old probably did deserve it.

Santana snickered softly, “I like the new hobbit. He’s got some guts.” Ignoring the death glares from Kurt and Blaine she slinked off in the direction of the choir room, hoping to find Brittany there.

Kurt turned back to Finn, staring his brother down. “Finn, what the hell is going on?” He asked through gritted teeth, “I need to know everything.”

“Well I guess it all started when he dethroned Kitty? I mean the two of them are best friends pretty much, but it’s a weird friendship it’s like they fight all the time but they’d kill fo…”

“Finn!” Kurt yelled, cutting his brother off in the middle of his sentence. “Stop rambling.”

Finn slunk down against a locker, surprised when Kurt joined him on the floor moments later. “I mean Blaine hasn’t been the same since his parents deaths but the big change in school was dethroning Kitty definitely.”

“Wait, what? What happened to his parents?”

 Finn just shook his head, “Let me keep going Kurt and I’ll answer any questions after.” Kurt turned to stare at the floor, a dazed expression flooding his face. “Well since then, all hell’s kind of broken loose with Blaine. Unless he’s in Cheerio’s practice, which he’d never miss in a million years, he’s usually getting into shit. The only reason he’s yet to be expelled is Sue’s leverage I think, she has a massive soft spot for him now.”

Kurt watched Finn closely, “This all happened around October didn’t it?”

“Yeah, we found out like six weeks after the car accident when we found him practically freezing to death on that back road from Westerville he showed us. In the hospital he declared he’d never be hurt again and within a week, this was the new Blaine. He’s an asshole, but nobody gets to him anymore. At least not that he lets anyone see.” Finn smiled sadly, patting Kurt's knee gently when he pulled them up to his chest.

“Fuck,” Kurt muttered, his head slamming into his knees when a wave of nausea passed through his body.

 Finn’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, well used to Blaine cursing by this point, but still finding it weird to hear Kurt cuss.

Kurt's head suddenly snapped up, eyes wide as he stared at Finn, anguish flashing through the blue oceans. “Wait what happened to Vesper? And oh God Shadow? That dumb mutt would never survive without somebody around.”

“Burt went back to Blaine’s house the night we found him and they were still there. It turned out that Blaine had been managing to get away to feed them everyday.” Finn sighed, smiling slightly when he thought about the fat ginger and white cat and the crazy dog that had become an inevitable part of the family when Blaine had come to live with them. “The Hudson-Hummel household is now home to a cat who hates me and a dog who is the canine version of Sam.”

Kurt snorted, shaking his head with a soft laugh. “Vessie couldn’t hate anyone or anything. That cat thinks he’s a lap dog, and he’s damn loyal too.”

“I might have accidentally stood on his tail and then got into an argument with Blaine the first night he moved in.”

“That’ll do it. Like I said loyalty to Blaine comes first.”

Finn chuckled, rolling his shoulders out on the red lockers, “No kidding. It’s good to have you back Kurt.”

“I’d say it’s good to be back, but a) it’s Ohio, and b) I’m still trying to work out what fresh hell I've stepped into with my ex-boyfriend living at the house and God knows what else I've missed. I’m just glad that Santana and I made McKinley our first stop not home or that would’ve been a mind trip.” Kurt eyed Finn up closely, “You look good Finn, teaching suits you.”

“You too little brother,” Finn beamed, standing and pulling Kurt to his feet, “And maybe you can get our Blaine back over the summer. I’m fairly sure now all he actually cares about are Vesper and Shadow, just about everything else means little to him now.”

“We’ll see about that,” Kurt sighed, looking up as a smug Blaine hit on a junior basketball player at the end of the hall. Shooting Kurt a wink, Blaine grabbed the boys’ hand and pulled him from the school. Kurt clenched his fists and gritted his teeth as he watched Blaine pull the boy towards the bleachers.

“You can go,” Blaine sneered at the basketball player of choice, Xander he thought he was called.

The blonde haired boy looked stunned, “Wait, but I thought?”

“I really don’t give a damn what you thought, get out of my sight.” Blaine sniggered softly, pulling a cigarette out from behind his ear and lighting up, blowing the smoke at Xander, “Seriously shoo, you're not even anything resembling my type.”

 “You don’t have a type Anderson, you’ll screw anything with two legs!”

Blaine snorted and quirked an eyebrow, playing with his tongue stud as he eyed up and down the tall basketball player, “Who said two legs was a requirement?” Throwing one more scathing look at the athlete, he turned on his heel and stomped under the bleachers, throwing the cigarette down the moment he was out of sight and stomping on it with his well-worn black converse. “Those things are fucking awful,” He muttered shaking his head and playing with his tongue stud again, tapping it against his teeth in a soothing rhythm.

“For all that is holy and good in this world will you stop that,” A voice groaned, Kitty sitting up on the grotty, once grey couch with stuffing coming out of the seams so that she was now in full view, glaring at the boy that had just invaded her space. “My head is pounding and I will hurt you Cupcake, make no mistake about that!”

 Blaine chuckled, dropping onto the seat beside her and allowing her to sprawl across him, one of her hands automatically pushing the bracelets up his left arm to trace the puzzle piece tattoo that adorned his wrist.

“What did you get up to last night Kitkat?”

“Nothing, Mom and Bill were arguing all night again so I got no sleep and you were in the morning practice, you know the hell that was. I’m sure Sue’s trying to kill us,” Kitty yawned, burrowing into Blaine’s chest, “You smell like an ashtray.”

“All part of the rep,” Blaine sighed, carding his fingers through her hair.

“Yeah, yeah, McKinley’s top bitch yada yada yada.”

 “And don’t you forget it,” Blaine smirked concern building when she yawned again, eyes fluttering sleepily. “You still got shit at mine?”

“If by shit you mean clothes and make-up then yes Cupcake I do. No one would ever believe you were once a fancy prep school boy. Do you think Burt will mind me crashing?”

“I wasn’t really going to give you a choice in that anyway, you were always coming home with me tonight,” Blaine sighed, “I’ll pick you up back here after detention?”

Kitty laughed, eyes twinkling mischievously, “Thanks for taking the fall for that, once more and I’m off the team.”

Blaine shrugged, “Guy’s a perv. He deserved every bit of that slushie and besides I technically did throw it.”

 “Only because you snatched it from me! And yeah, here sounds good, I'm napping. Sue cancelled afternoon practice because you're not going to be there again Superstar.”

“That’s just because I’m awesome,” Blaine chuckled flipping his skateboard to the ground and rolling the wheels experimentally. “Kurt's home.”

“Seriously?!” Kitty shrieked, sitting bolt upright to glare at Blaine, “And you didn’t think to mention that as I don’t know the first damn thing you bothered me with?”

“It is not a big deal,” Blaine growled, tongue piercing tapping rapidly against his teeth.

“Uhhuh and I’m the queen of England,” Kitty grinned, “Damn I can’t wait for the fireworks in the Hummel household tonight.”

Blaine squeezed her quickly, pinching her side affectionately before standing up again. “Well, we all know who’s going to win in that scenario don’t we?” Raising an eyebrow at a snickering Kitty, he waved once and took off from under the bleachers, still pissed that Sue was making him serve the two hour detention in its full.

Kurt curled into the arm of the chair with a sigh, smiling when Blaine’s ginger and white cat Vesper jumped up beside him, squeaking at him before curling into the small space Kurt had left, purring loudly. “Hey boy,” He murmured, gently stroking the cat under the chin. “What’s happened to Blaine huh? Where’d our bouncing, bow tie loving idiot go?”

Cuddling the cat closer, Kurt let his eyes drift over the episode of ‘Project Runway’ he was watching, not really taking any of it in. He couldn’t work out why Blaine hadn’t told him about his parents or at least come to him after he’d moved into the room next to Kurt's own. A room that he had worked out for a fact that Blaine had been in due to various items being missing, the comfortable hoody that he had accidently left behind after ‘Grease’ being the most notable missing item.

Kurt rolled his eyes when Sam’s music started to blast down the stairs, chuckling at the country that the boy had still never learned to let go of. He didn’t know when Blaine would be home and he didn’t know what the consequences would be when he did turn up, but Burt had already warned him that the boy would probably be nothing like Kurt remembered.

The door slammed open, Vesper’s head snapping round to meow at the door in distaste, his tail flicking against Kurt's leg as he tried to get comfortable again.

“Nice to know how quickly you’ll jump ship Vessie,” Blaine sneered from the doorway, staring at Kurt as though he didn’t know how to process the fact that he was back.

Kitty peered over his shoulder, smirking slightly, “Hummel.”

“Hey Kitty,” He sighed, snorting slightly when Shadow bounded into the room and straight into Blaine almost knocking him over trying to pass him his ball to play with.

“Dumb mutt,” Blaine growled, throwing the ball for the dog before stalking through the living room, completely ignoring Kurt with Kitty prancing after him, shooting Kurt a wink as she skipped.

“I love him, but get the real him back please,” She whispered in Kurt's ear as she passed by, the teenager not even managing to turn in her direction before she was gone.

 Kurt settled down against the couch, letting Vessie curl up on him once more. He couldn’t help but wonder why everyone thought he’d be able to get the ‘real’ Blaine back when they’d obviously had no luck for months but at least he could try. Pushing his face into the cats fur, he turned the volume on the television up and tried to drown out his thoughts, a long with the warring ‘Fall Out Boy’ that had now joined Sam’s country music and Finn’s eighties soft rock.

Burt’s eyes flickered around the dinner table, waiting for the first person to crack. Finn and Sam were practically shovelling food into their mouths, nothing new there, but Blaine and Kurt were now sat opposite each other, eyes trained on the other as they slowly ate their food. Gone was the hand holding under the table and the flirty conversation. Burt loved both of his boys, and he was well aware that his boys loved each other, but also that they were both very stubborn. One of them would crack, and by the looks being thrown across the table, one of them would crack soon. Kitty was the other new addition to his table sitting cross-legged on her chair beside Blaine watching the two boys. From the way her head kept tilting between them, Burt could tell that she was preparing for the same explosion that he had Carole had predicted earlier.

“How was school boys’?” Carole asked as an attempt to break the ice, glancing between Sam and Blaine.

Sam looked up from his food for the first time all meal, bread sticking out of his mouth when he shrugged. “Okay I guess, school’s school. Glee club was good though,” Sam shot a grin at Finn, “And Blaine didn’t even get into a fight with anyone.”

“Not my fault Ryder’s being a douche. His best friend’s dating Marley for God’s sake,” Blaine mumbled fiddling with the bracelets around his wrist.

Kitty reached out and snapped one of the bands against his wrist, shaking her head and drawing the hand away from the bracelets when he tried to continue playing with them.

 “Blaine, detention again?” Carole quirked an eyebrow and sipped her water, trying not to laugh at the wicked grin spreading across Blaine’s face. Even she was aware of Mr Trenton’s reputation, which spread far beyond the school walls.

“He deserved what I did, I have no regrets.”

Burt snorted, “Kid do you even know the meaning of the word regrets?”

 Blaine twirled a strand of spaghetti around his fork carefully his head tilted to the side while he considered his answer. “No not really,” He smirked, slurping up the spaghetti as it twisted back off of his fork.

Kurt watched the interaction closely, grimacing at Blaine slurping his food and shaking his head slightly, turning back to his own dinner but subtly watching his ex-boyfriend. Blaine caught his eye, another wicked grin spreading over his face. His tawny eyes twinkled mischievously when Kurt felt a foot run up his shin. Stormy eyes whipped up to meet the twinkling ones, Kurt's lip twisting up in anger as he shook his head once sharply, drawing his legs as far back under his chair as they would go.

“Finn how was your day?” Burt asked ignoring Blaine now pulling faces at Kurt, as well as Kurt's growing anger.

“Good. I finally asked Kara out, and she actually said yes,” He beamed.

“Finally!” Kitty snickered, “You’ve been pining after that girl since you broke up with Rachel three months ago.”

Blaine smirked, throwing a piece of chicken for Shadow, “Have you screwed her yet?”

 “Blaine!” Kurt, Burt and Carole yelled. Kurt looked shocked while Burt and Carole just sighed, resigned to Blaine’s crude mouth by this point.

“And don’t feed the dog at the table,” Burt scolded as another piece of chicken sailed through the air to the hopeful dog. Blaine just shrugged smiling innocently at Burt before turning to stare at Finn, waggling his eyebrows up and down.

Finn turned beetroot red, stammering slightly while Blaine crowed with laughter. “You so have!” Blaine cackled, his head thumping onto Kitty’s shoulder, “When the hell did you have time for that? We had glee this morning and you were helping Schue this afternoon. Damn boy.”

 “We didn’t,” Finn squeaked, shaking his head and glaring at Blaine playfully. “You're an ass, you know that?”

 “It’s been said. Want some pointers?” Blaine shot a knowing smirk to Kurt, winking in his direction while Kurt paled drastically.

“No, no, no, no, no!” Finn yelped.

“Well you see, Kurt used to really like it when I’d run my tongue nice and slowly right along his…”

“Do you have no filter?” Kurt finally shrieked, making Blaine throw him a teasing grin as he shrugged and played with his tongue stud, tilting backwards in his chair.

Finn also began to wail his hands flying up to cover his ears, “Too many details! Too many details!”

Burt sighed, throwing a piece of bread at Finn to shut him up. Turning to Kurt he shook his head, “Blaine’s filter is currently out of whack and in serious need of being fixed.” Turning to his adoptive son, Burt raised an eyebrow and tilted his head towards the stairs.

With a loud sigh and a roll of his eyes, Blaine threw his napkin down on the table and sauntered towards the stairs, shooting Kurt a smirk and a wink as he passed by. Kurt whined low in his throat, starting to bang his head off of the table. Sam managed to squeeze his hand between Kurt's head and the table, allowing it to act like a buffer while he continued to eat his spaghetti one handed.

Kitty rolled her eyes and stood up to follow Blaine, smiling sweetly at Carole, “Thank you for dinner Mrs Hudson-Hummel, it was lovely.”

“You're welcome any time Kitty.”

Calling Shadow over, the blonde girl and the Golden Retriever followed to where Blaine was now hanging halfway over the bannister waiting for the pair of them.

“This meal just got very dull without me!” Blaine hollered back down the stairs while stomping up the last two, causing Sam to snort and choke momentarily on his food.

Carole glanced to Burt, her bottom lip drawn between her teeth to stop her laughter. She shook her head softly at the twinkle in her husband’s eye, Finn sat beside him, shoulder’s now shaking with his own laughter and his fist practically shoved in his mouth to avoid Kurt's wrath.

“I hate him, I actually hate him,” Kurt muttered leaning back in his seat and pushing his plate away.

 “No you don’t,” Burt chuckled, “He’s just pushing his boundaries, and testing yours to see what he can get away with.”

Kurt cursed under his breath, watching Vesper disappear up the stairs after the trio and started plotting how best to get the Blaine everyone knew and loved back. It was that, or he and Blaine would kill each other before Blaine’s school year was over in a few weeks, let alone the long summer that lay before them.

“Bombs away!” Sam yelled jumping halfway across the room to land between Blaine and Kitty on Blaine’s huge, extra comfortable king size bed.

“Sam!” Kitty shrieked, unable to grab the bowl of popcorn before it tipped sideways, spreading salted popcorn all over the floor. Shadow was quick to start clean up, approaching the area with a wagging tail, ignoring Blaine’s half hearted calls to get him to stop.

“You're such an ass Evans,” Blaine snorted, rolling over Sam to Kitty’s side of the bed before shoving the blonde male onto the floor with his foot. “I wanna go play oooouuuuuut.” He whined, sighing heavily into Kitty’s shoulder.

“Scandals?” She asked with a grin, one hand playing with Blaine’s curls and the other buried in Vesper’s soft fur.

Blaine’s head snapped up, “Not with you, you're not allowed there. Nope.”

 Kitty pouted, “Come on Cupcake, I’m a big girl.”

“And they're scheming little man whores that are not a good idea to be around.”

 “But you're going.”

“Exactly,” Blaine said exasperated as he rolled back onto his back, watching Sam and Shadow work together to clear the popcorn from the floor with morbid fascination.

Sam’s head popped up, his mouth rammed with the salty popcorn while Shadow grabbed the last few kernels. “I’m up for it,” He mumbled around them, making both Blaine and Kitty pull disgusted faces. “Burt and Carole are out Thursday night, I’ll round up the guys and we can go then.”

Blaine grinned, crawling off of the bed and stripping off his t-shirt. “Sounds good to me. Kitty pout as much as you want, you’re not going.”

“Dude really?” Sam sighed, waving a hand in Blaine’s direction as he stripped down to his boxers.

Kitty shoved him as he clambered back onto the bed. “Shut it. Some of us are enjoying the show.” Grabbing the bowl of Milk Duds from the nightstand she let her eyes roam approvingly over Blaine’s tiny, muscular figure.

Blaine chuckled dryly, “Sam my room, my rules. And look all you want Baby Girl I still don’t play for your team.”

“A girl can hope.”

Sam tilted his head to the side and grabbed a handful of Kitty’s Milk Duds, ignoring her protests, “Is that a new tattoo?” He nodded to the lyrics adorning Blaine’s left shoulder.

Finding his shorts with a triumphant yelp, Blaine grabbed them from the floor next to his and Sam’s joint bathroom and yanked them on, tripping on his skateboard in the middle of the room. Standing back up to his full height, he blew the loose curls from his eyes and twisted to look at the black script that flowed neatly across his shoulder. Gently humming ‘Blackbird’ under his breath, he reached up a hand to gently touch one of the two birds taking off from the lyrics, lost in his own world until Kitty coughed loudly.

His attention brought back to his friends he shook his head. “Nah I got Abe to do it at the same time he coloured the roses.” Flexing the collage tattoo on his arm he leapt back onto the bed, tugging the multiple bracelets on his left wrist down to cover the small puzzle piece tattoo he had hidden there. Kitty groaned when the Milk Duds bowl tipped over, the chocolates tipping over Blaine’s bedspread.

“I’m on it!” Sam yelled, instantly picking up handfuls of the treat and stuffing them into his mouth while Kitty yelled at him. Blaine shook his head at the two, chuckling and crawling down to the end of the bed to entertain Shadow before he noticed the food now available on the bed, the last thing he wanted was a trip to the vets.

Sam burped loudly, throwing himself backwards onto the cushions beside Kitty. “All clear,” He beamed. “Movie night?”

“Hell yes!” Blaine grinned crawling up the other side of Kitty and throwing an arm over her middle with his head on her shoulder. “How about ‘The Exorcist’?”

“No, no way. Dude I’ll have nightmares for weeks.” Sam whimpered shooting Blaine the large, puppy dog eyes that the dog now sprawled across the bottom of the bed usually did.

Blaine rolled his eyes, “Fine, what do you suggest?”

“Glad you asked Cupcake,” Kitty grinned, “Go down and get my bag from the living room and I have a copy of ‘A Cinderella Story’ in there we can watch for the millionth time.”

“If that ever gets out,” Blaine groaned running a hand over his face.

Kitty rolled her eyes, “Then you’ll beat anyone up that ever dared to say anything to any of us.”

“Fair point.”

“I’m staying here tonight,” Sam grinned, peeling off his t-shirt, “We can marathon so many movies.”

“Or you know actually sleep after one because school and Glee,” Kitty mumbled dryly, Blaine’s chest rumbling with a low chuckle. Her eyes flickered between the shirtless Blaine on one side and the shirtless Sam on the other side one eyebrow rising as her eyes began to sparkle impishly. “I can name at least fifty people who would pay to be me right now,” She muttered shaking her head and pushing the boys into standing positions. “Blaine, DVD we need to start it soon. Sam shorts, I can’t sleep next to you in jeans they’re too scratchy.

The two teenagers looked at each other with raised eyebrows before turning back to Kitty. “Yes Ma’am,” They saluted simultaneously, Blaine heading downstairs and Sam through the shared bathroom to his own room in order to hunt down a pair of shorts.

 “Dorks,” Kitty snorted affectionately, throwing a Milk Dud in the air and catching it in her mouth before returning her attention back to the purring ginger cat in her lap. She laughed softly when Shadow wriggled up the bed, shoving his face in the way of her hand. “Hi Buddy, you're a jealous mutt you are.” Scratching his belly when he rolled over she smiled softly, wondering if Kurt would be able to bring the real Blaine back. Moreover she wondered if he’d still want to be her best friend if he returned to his old, preppy self.

“Blaine,” Blaine’s head popped up to look at Burt from where it was rifling through Kitty’s bag, a chocolate brownie sticking out of his mouth. “Carole and I are running out to get things for lunch tomorrow, you boys have eaten just about everything in the house.”

Swallowing the brownie Blaine sniggered quietly, “Is that anything new?”

Carole laughed, swooping to press a kiss to his forehead as she passed by, “Unfortunately no.”

Burt rolled his eyes, turning to follow his wife out of the door before stopping and fixing Blaine with a stern gaze. “Behave while we’re gone.”

Blaine’s face was the picture of innocence as he held up his hands and looked to Burt. “Dad as if I’m ever anything other than an angel.”

Guffawing, Burt rubbed a hand against his stomach shaking his head. “That’s a good one kid,” He chuckled while Blaine grinned, a roguish look flooding his eyes once more. “But seriously Blaine behave. Finn’s gone to Kara’s so just leave Kurt alone and you’ll be fine.” Throwing Blaine one last glance he followed into the night after Carole.

 Finding the DVD Blaine grinned triumphantly before glancing to the footsteps on the stairs with an interested look. Spying Kurt studying him from the top step, Blaine let his own eyes wander appreciatively over Kurt's now more muscular form. As much as he’d never admit it out loud to Kurt, NYADA and New York had definitely improved the teenager physique. And if what he had already seen of his ex-boyfriend was true then Kurt was also more comfortable in his own skin than ever before.

Grinning impishly, Blaine darted up the stairs throwing the DVD down and trapping Kurt against the wall at the top of the stairs, pressing his body against Kurt's and letting his arms frame Kurt's head. Kurt's arms automatically encircled Blaine’s waist making the boy’s grin grow.

“Hi Kurt,” He murmured into Kurt's ear, delighting at Kurt's sharp intake of breath, “Miss me?”

Kurt laughed darkly, “Miss you? Actually yes, but by you, I don’t mean whoever the hell you’ve decided to become.”

Blaine leaned back and shrugged slightly, his hands still on the wall. “The prep school boy’s gone and he’s never coming back Kurt, ever.”

Kurt placed one hand under Blaine’s chin and forced the boy to look at him. “I’m sorry about your family B, I really am.”

“Don’t call me that!” Blaine growled pulling back further, “You have no right to call me anything quite frankly.”

“I’m sorry, who was the one that fucked up our relationship? You could've talked to me, you didn’t have to fuck another guy!”

Blaine startled, momentarily shocked by Kurt swearing before a lazy smirk settled over his features and he pressed his body back to Kurt's once more. “Tends to help that talking thing if you actually answer the phone Sweetheart,” He smirked, angling his face to Kurt's. “You want to know exactly what we did? How he fucked me into the mattress pretty damn hard but I still ended up calling out your name?”

 “Blaine stop,” Kurt murmured, the whine of need in his voice stating the opposite of what had come out of his mouth as the boy pressed him more firmly into the wall, never letting his hands drop from Blaine’s waist.

Blaine leaned closer, his smirk growing when he felt the shudder ripple through Kurt's body. Leaning heavily on one hand on the wall, his breath blew gently against Kurt's cheek, “G’night Sweetheart.” His other hand traced gently down Kurt's side, the smell of Blaine mixed with cigarettes surrounding Kurt's every fibre.

 Kurt let loose a whimper, his mouth opening and closing in shock when Blaine drew abruptly away. His wide eyes watched Blaine sashay down the corridor, slamming the door to his own room when he reached it.

Breathing out the breath he didn’t know he had been holding, Kurt quickly straightened his wrinkled shirt and ambled down the stairs to find something to drink. Whining at the friction in his jeans he quickly grabbed a soda can and retreated to his room glancing to Blaine’s momentarily and shaking his head.

“Tell me you're both going to Glee right now,” Kitty growled stomping under the bleachers to where Blaine and Sam were discussing Star Wars.

Blaine stopped in the middle of his argument, the corner of his mouth pulling into a smirk. “What happened with Marley now Kitkat?”

 “Not even Marley, it’s Schuester driving me wild and I need back up.”

Sam groaned, grabbing Blaine’s cigarette from between his fingers and stamping it out. “Why’s he back anyway? We were doing fine with Finn.”

Glaring at Sam, Blaine rolled his eyes and stood up pulling his blonde haired friend to his feet. “Because he’s a controlling douchebag that is attempting to live out his fantasies through a bunch of teenagers.”

 “Oh ewwwie,” Kitty grimaced jumping onto Sam’s back whilst Blaine rolled along beside them on his skateboard. “Why are we still part of this stupid club again?”

“Finn,” Sam and Blaine answered in chorus.

“He needs it for a college credit now,” Sam smiled, gladly accepting the junior mint Kitty held out in front of his mouth.

She sighed, thumping her head off of his shoulder. “For Finn.”

“For Finn,” The boy’s echoed thundering down the school hallways to avoid Finn’s anger if they were late. Not that Blaine at least would care for any other teacher in the school, except for maybe Sue.

“Aww, I think that’s really sweet,” Tina was cooing with a smile as they entered the room, holding Rachel’s hand with a ring on her middle finger. “It’s just such a sweet story.”

“I think it’s disgusting,” Blaine sniggered, tilting his chair backwards and placing his hands behind his head. “I already know that story’s a load of shit anyway.”

“It is not!” Rachel yelped eyeing Blaine up and down.

Blaine’s chair rocked back to the floor and he grinned at the tiny girl in front of him. “Yehuh. Or at least that’s what your roommates have been saying. Brody’s a gigolo and got the crap beaten out of him by Finn, rightfully so for leading you on though.”

 Rachel tilted her head as she appraised Blaine, not sure whether to be insulted or happy he was still defending her in a crude way. “Well anyways, it’s still a gorgeous ring.” Throwing Blaine an indecipherable look she flounced back to the front of the room where the majority of the graduated members of the Glee club were sat, Puck, Quinn and Mike the only absentees.

Kurt buried his face in his hands groaning and deliberately avoiding looking at his shortest roommate. Santana cackled, leaning her head on Brittany’s shoulder, “I freaking love this Blaine so much.” Snickering still she looked once over him, “Although you need to do something about that hair Anderson. I mean hell who new that under the gel helmet you were hiding Frodo Baggins.”

“Screw you Satan.”

“Not your team Curly Top.”

“Let’s face it though we’d be fucking hot,” Blaine smirked waggling his eyebrows up and down.

“Well obviously.”

“Right let’s get started,” Mr Schuester yelled before Santana and Blaine could truly get going, slightly terrified about where that road could lead to. “The theme for this week was goodbye, because most of you are graduating in two weeks time and will be leaving us again.” Smiling at the old Glee members he extended a hand to them, “And many of you have left us already and gone on to bigger and better things. So,” Clapping his hands together he looked around the group gathered in front of him, “Who wants to go first?”

Blaine rolled his eyes at everyone glancing between one another, seeing both Rachel and Santana about to move he instantly jumped to the front. “I will,” He grinned at the two huffing girls, “But it depends if these guys know it.” Leaning over to the band he whispered the title of the song, grinning at the way their faces lit up and they instantly started to play as he moved to the centre of the room.

Kurt sucked in a deep breath as he recognised the song, a song that had played a few times in Blaine’s repertoire before dinner the night before. When Blaine’s silky smooth voice joined the music with a hard edge to it, Kurt felt the breath be stolen from his body. He felt as though he had been hit by a freight train, a mix of hearing Blaine sing for the first time in months, the song choice and Blaine’s obvious agony as he sang the song.

“Fall to your knees, bring on the rapture.” Blaine’s eyes skirted over those watching as he started the second verse, landing on Kurt and singing directly to him. “Blessed be the boys time can't capture.” Tearing his gaze from Blaine’s, Kurt fiddled with his fingers trying not to read too much into what Blaine was singing.

Flickering his gaze around the old New Directions he raised an eyebrow slightly, “Former heroes who quit too late.” He smirked at Rachel and Finn’s discomfort, rolling his eyes and fighting not to stop the song right there and yell at them to stop being stupid. If Blaine had learned one thing in the last year, it was that life was too short to waste. Finn and Rachel would be dancing around each other for years to come before inevitably settling down together, with the 2.5 kids and the white picket fence. He turned to Mr. Schue and shook his head with a look of utter disdain, “Who just wanna fill up the trophy case again.”

Watching Kurt turn away from him completely, Blaine felt a wrench in his heart and instead turned to Kitty with a soft smile usually reserved for when they were alone as he launched into the chorus. “In the end, I’d do it all again, I think you're my best friend.” He nodded to her with the gentle smile still in place before moving on, much in the way he now lived his life refusing to think about what he could regret in future years. He was well aware that he’d seemingly adopted the motto ‘live fast, die young’ and while he wasn’t necessarily okay with it on the inside what he portrayed to everyone else felt more important in the here and now.

“I'm not passive but aggressive. Take note it's not impressive.” Blaine’s eyes closed slightly fighting the urge to be furious with himself over the ways in which he’d acted over the last half a year or so. He’d been disappointed by so many people. So many people had left him in the space of less than a year. He was aware that the aggression had always been there, he’d been through enough punching bags to vouch for that, it was just shown more outwardly these days.

“All those people in those old photographs I've seen are dead.” His eyes clouded over, Kurt watching him closely, worried about the boy who he knew was still the love of his short life.

“I'm yours.” Blaine’s eyes met Kurt's again and they both sucked in sharp breaths at the tumultuous storm of emotions each saw in the other. It had been a hell of a year for all parties involved. Kurt could now admit that he hadn’t acted in his relationships best interests when he was swept up in the whirlwind that was New York at the beginning of the school year. “When it rains it pours.” Kurt smiled ruefully trying not to laugh at how accurate that metaphor was for the last six to eight months.

“Don't you know that the kids aren't al-, kids aren't alright?” Blaine almost whispered the final line, chest heaving with emotion. Looking up from the floor, his eyes whipped around the group sat staring at him in shock, his own raggedy breathing the only sound in the otherwise silent room.

Turning on his heel, Blaine stormed from the room leaving the stunned Glee club behind. Kurt instantly rose to his feet but Kitty stormed past him a moment later, shoving him back into his seat. “I’ve got him.”

 Kurt watched her go with an open mouth and a heavy heart Blaine’s performance had definitely been heartfelt. Sighing he dropped back into his smiling wanly when he felt Santana’s arm slide around his shoulders and Rachel take hold of the hand in his lap moments later.

“We’ll get him back Kurt,” Santana murmured gently, ignoring Mr Schuester trying to pick the Glee session again, asking Unique to perform her song. Most of the eyes were focused on the doorway and the direction in which Blaine and Kitty had departed.

“Blaine, wait up!” Kitty yelled, juggling both of their bags and his skateboard as she chased after him through the hallways.

“I’m not in the mood Kitty. Go back to Glee.”

Kitty stopped short, noticing the tremble in Blaine’s voice, something she hadn’t really heard since October. Shouldering both of their backpacks she trudged after him, following him under the bleachers and wincing at the cigarette he was fumbling to light. Dropping the skateboard she walked over and took the zippo from his hand, shaking it before lighting the cigarette he was holding in his quivering hand.

“Hit yourself too close to home Cupcake?” She murmured, pushing the lighter back into his jeans pocket.

Blaine smiled wearily, running one hand over his face and taking a drag from the cigarette before falling onto the grotty old couch, skilfully avoiding the occasional spring sticking out of it. “That obvious huh?”

Shrugging Kitty dropped down beside him, throwing her legs over his and laying her head on his shoulder. “Take me with you when you leave Blaine, please?”

He pressed a kiss to her forehead, “I love you Kitty. I know I don’t say it but you are my best friend and if I could I would.”

 “I know,” She whispered, “I love you too.”

“Fucking Glee club,” Blaine murmured, wrapping his arms tightly around her and letting his head fall back against the couch.

“Too many emotions running wild,” Kitty laughed softly.

Blaine sighed, “No kidding, I need to get out tonight.”

 “Can I stay in your room and wait for you to come back?”

 “Of course, but if I don’t realise you're there then I’m sorry.”

Kitty laughed, “What else is new? You just need someone to look after you when you get drunk.”

“That’s why you're my girl.”

 Still laughing Kitty hit Blaine’s shoulder lightly, “You wish.”

“We’d be a power couple Babe,” Blaine grinned.

“Damn straight.”

Waltzing into Scandals, Blaine headed straight for the bar ordering three shots of tequila and two beers, not even bothering to seen if the others were following him or not. Downing the shots he sighed and turned to find Sam, Artie, Joe, Jake and Ryder watching him with curious expressions.

“What?” He smirked grabbing one of the beers and passing it to Sam before stalking out onto the dance floor to find a willing partner.

“Boy’s going to be drunk within the hour,” Artie murmured with a shake of his head.

“I think that’s the point,” Sam sighed, shaking his head and ordering another four beers for the guys. Gulping the rest of his beer, Sam followed Blaine onto the dance floor and grabbed his hips, baring his teeth at the guy who looked to be at least in his fifties ogling Blaine’s writhing figure. “Blaine one of these days you're going to get into serious trouble and I’m not going to be there to pull you out of it.”

 Blaine laughed freely turning around in Sam’s hold. “And I’ll knee them in the balls if anyone touches me that I don’t want, although right now I’d let just about anyone do most things.”

“That’s the problem,” Sam groaned, chuckling as identical college aged twins hit on Ryder.

Blaine pouted, “No fair, I’ve never had twins.”

“And that’s something you don’t need.”

“Agree to disagree,” Blaine muttered letting his eyes roam over the tall, brunette twins as Ryder’s disinterest started to piss them off and they turned away from him.

“Just be safe,” Sam murmured, “I worry about you.”

 “Don’t,” Blaine whispered harshly, flouncing over to the twins.

Muttering under his breath Sam headed back to the table Artie and Joe had secured.

“The talk with Blaine went well then?” Artie asked, watching Blaine lead the twins into the bathroom with a wince.

“No kidding,” Sam glowered, ordering another round of beer and shots.

“And we’re out,” Sam sighed manoeuvring Blaine over his shoulders, one hand clinging to his leg and the other holding his arm, glad that Blaine was so tiny.

Blaine grunted in displeasure, “Let me down you, you he-heathen!”

 “If I let you down are you going to come home?”

Blaine giggled, hiccupping slightly. “Abso-hic-fucking-hic-lutely not.”

“Then no,” Sam laughed letting Joe shoulder the door open. “And god knows I hope Kurt gets here sooner rather than later.”

“Is he on the way?” Artie asked rolling alongside.

 Sam nodded, “And he’s pissed, like super pissed.”

“Kurt's –hic- scary when he’s –hic- pissed.”

“Enough from you drunky mcdrunkerson,” Ryder chuckled hands stuffed in his jean pockets.

Jake danced along in front of them, phone out filming the incredibly drunk Blaine as he babbled to himself across Sam’s shoulder’s barely lifting his head up. “Hey Blainers sing along.” Switching the camera to his other hand, Jake bounced up and down as he started to sing, “Don’t be fooled by the rocks that I got, I’m still, I’m still Jenny frim the block…”

Blaine hiccupped again, “Helloooooooo from the other siiiiiiiiide!”

“Dude you're messing it up…” Jake whined stopping the recording once more. “Children growing and women producing, men go working…We’re doing JLO, not Adele.”

 Ryder sniggered, “Dude I can’t believe that you know that whole song.”

Jake nodded bopping along and trying to restart the recording again. “JLO’s my girl, she rules. Blaine please! This was damn hilarious the last time you did it,” Jake giggled.

“What last time?” Blaine giggled, lifting his head slightly.

“Where’s Kurt?” Sam whined wriggling Blaine again and moving to push Ryder back onto the sidewalk where he was deeming it acceptable to wander down the middle of the road in zigzag patterns.

“Aha!” Jake cried triumphantly pressing the right button while Sam shot the camera a dirty look.

“Don’t be fooled by the rocks that I got. I’m still, I’m still Jenny from the block,” Jake sang, barely slurring despite how much he’d had to drink.

“I sti- hic-, I sti- , Jen from block,” Blaine giggled, squirming on Sam’s shoulder as a pair of headlights picked them out.

“Oh thank God,” Artie murmured, rolling over Joe’s toes to get him to stop jumping from the sidewalk to the road and back again.

“No kidding,” Sam grinned, the grin dropping from his face as he took in Kurt's furious face when he pulled up.

“Are you guys fucking kidding me?” He growled jumping out of the Navigator and glaring at the group.

“Kurt's mad- hic -.”

“No shit Blainers,” Jake mumbled helping Artie into the back of the Navigator and attempting to fold his wheelchair up before climbing in himself.

Kurt's gaze softened as he took in Blaine still hanging over Sam’s shoulders. “Give him here,” He murmured gently, helping Sam get him down and promptly sweeping him back off of his feet when he teetered dangerously. “Alright everyone in, Blaine’s in the front.”

“Yaaaaaay my seat – hic – it’sa mine.” Blaine cheered sloppily.

 Rolling his eyes fondly, Kurt motioned for Sam to open the car door and carefully lifted Blaine into the seat, climbing up and reaching over him to strap him in carefully. Blaine’s eyes watched him closely the entire time, Kurt trying not to wrinkle his nose at the smell of stale sweat and booze.

Blaine sighed happily, “Love you Kurt, nanight.” He promptly closed his eyes and was snoring in seconds, leaving Kurt and Sam watching him with shock written over their features.

Kurt blinked back the tears filling his eyes, reaching down and pressing a quick kiss to Blaine’s temple brushing the long curls back from his face. “Love you too.”

“You really do, don’t you?” Sam questioned quietly as Kurt climbed down and shut the car door softly.

“Always will,” Kurt smiled sadly.

“He’s not the same guy that he was Kurt. He’s been really, really hurt.”

Nodding the blue eyed boy shook his head slightly. “I know Sam, but he’s in there, and I’m going to find him and pull him back to the surface kicking and screaming.

Sam watched Kurt climb into the drivers’ side sadly. He loved Blaine and Kurt like brothers, but he knew that Blaine wasn’t the same guy as he was when Kurt left Lima, and nothing Kurt did was going to change that. Shaking his head of his sober thoughts he clambered into the car behind Blaine’s seat and pressed his forehead to the cool window glass. He could only hope that Kurt would find at least something of his old friend in the ‘new Blaine’.

Family dinner the following night was a sombre affair. Blaine and Sam were well and truly grounded for their antics the previous night (not that it was really going to stop Blaine going out over the weekend), and Kurt was in Burt’s bad books for not telling him what had gone on. Finn’s eyes flickered over his family members, shovelling carrots into his mouth at the rate of knots and trying to figure out a way to feed the meatloaf to Shadow. He could always order pizza later on.

Blaine caught his eye and shook his head sharply, already feeding the poor dog his own meatloaf under the table.

 Burt sighed shaking his head at Blaine’s less than subtle actions, Sam just happening to ‘drop’ his meatloaf on the floor, and Kurt glaring at the food as though it had offended his every being. “Alright everybody freeze.”

The boys froze in place, Finn’s fork halfway to his mouth and a green bean sticking out of Blaine’s. “Blaine, Finn, swallow your food. Everybody else eat the vegetables and l will order pizza later on.”

 “We can leave the meatloaf?” Kurt asked warily.

“You can leave the meatloaf,” Burt clarified, glaring at the boys’ whoops of joy and Carole’s laughter.

Carole kissed him on the cheek quickly, “Next time leave it to Kurt, Blaine, or me yeah?”

 “Always if this is the reaction to not having to eat it,” He pouted.

 Blaine quirked an eyebrow one finger playing with his industrial piercing, “Pops it’s a god damn brick. I don’t now how Shadow hasn’t broken his teeth on it.”

“Thanks Blaine,” Burt glowered before laughing softly at the face Blaine pulled at him.

 “Anytime Daddio,” Blaine smirked, “Can I put a request for extra meat on the pizza please?” He winked at Kurt, the older boy spluttering on his glass of water and turning rapidly red.

“BLAINE!” Burt roared, Sam and Finn wrinkling their noses in horror.

“And I’m done with that,” Sam sighed mournfully pushing away his plate still laden with potatoes.

 Blaine rolled his eyes with a cheeky grin, “Yeah, yeah I know, go to my room.”

 “You're a pain in the ass kid,” Burt chuckled softly.

Blaine snorted, starting to choke as Sam thumped him on the back. “Way too many jokes,” He managed to wheeze out, still spluttering slightly. His eyes sparkled with mirth and he grinned at Burt.

“Go,” Burt demanded pointing to the stairs and trying to hide his smile.

Blaine simply smirked, sauntering up the stairs. Moments later his door slammed and music started to pound down the stairs.

“Can he find an innuendo in everything?” Carole laughed shaking her head and starting to clear the table.

Kurt, Finn and Sam nodded at each other, “Yes.”

Grabbing his and Blaine’s discarded plates Kurt shrugged slightly, “He always has been able to.” Turning at the sudden silence behind him he chuckled softly, “You weren’t expecting that, huh?”

 Sam grabbed a few of the bowls from the middle of the table and shook his head, “Nope, I assumed that came with the personality transplant he had at the beginning of the year.”

Kurt followed him into the kitchen with a laugh. “Nope he’s always been the same even back in his Dalton days. He just didn’t share it with everybody within ear shot.”

Tipping the leftover vegetables into a container Sam passed the empty bowl to Kurt to be rinsed and loaded into the dishwasher, contemplating what that meant for the ‘bringing the old Blaine back’ mission everyone else seemed to be on.

Kurt took a deep breath, knocking gently on Blaine’s bedroom door. “Blaine, I brought you some pizza up.” The door swung open and Kurt sucked in a breath at Blaine dressed in tighter than tight black jeans with rips at the knees and a figure hugging white sleeveless top.

 “Thanks sweetheart,” Blaine smirked, grabbing the plate from Kurt, practically inhaling the pizza, to Kurt's utter disgust.

Following Blaine into the room, Kurt couldn’t help but smile at the little bits of Blaine seeping through the bedroom décor, the vinyl collection and record player tucked away in the corner, and the shelf of small robots. He dropped onto the bed beside Vesper and gently stroked his fingers through the cat’s velvety fur, grinning at the loud purrs he received.

“And you're in here why?” Blaine questioned, sitting on the edge of his desk and looking over Kurt's toned figure.

“I just thought we could talk.”

Blaine snorted, “Why? We’re not friends.”

“Not really what you were saying last night,” Kurt muttered, glancing up from Vesper’s fur.

“I don’t remember last night,” Blaine said darkly. “Oh wait, there were these twins…” He smirked standing and pacing into the middle of the room with his plate of pizza.

“Blaine God dammit! Don’t you get it? You are everything, you are the single most precious thing in my life and seeing you like this is killing me!”

 “Then why did you never answer?! I called you so many times Kurt and you kept hanging up on me. Don’t you dare tell me that your phone had no signal because two or three rings and then it cuts off? That was you declining the phone call and it happened just about every time I rang you.”

 Kurt slammed into Blaine, the pizza crashing to the floor as he wrapped his arms around his waist drawing him in closely. Blaine’s arms automatically reached into Kurt's hair, tugging on it to make Kurt groan against his lips. Kurt backed Blaine into his bathroom door, letting his hands wander underneath Blaine’s t-shirt pressing their bodies as close as they could physically get. Sliding his hands to Blaine’s ass, he pushed Blaine into wrapping his legs around Kurt's waist, both of them groaning at the new angle they found themselves at.

Tilting his head to get better access to Blaine, Kurt pressed in closer. Blaine’s hand slid down to his neck, breathing raggedly as Kurt pressed butterfly kisses to his own throat before recapturing his lips. His fingers grasped for Blaine’s hands and pulled them above his head to rest on the cool wood of the door.

Blaine whined softly, breathing heavily as Kurt pulled away with a grin, “I knew I’d find you in there somewhere.”

 Blaine wrenched away, his feet falling to the floor, fire flaring up in his eyes. “You know nothing about me anymore,” He hissed glaring steadily at Kurt before taking off out of his room and down the stairs. “If you knew how many men I’ve fucked over the last year you’d want nothing to do with me, so just fuck off and leave me the fuck alone Kurt.”

“We’ll see about that,” Kurt muttered darkly raising an eyebrow at a smirking Sam when he passed him halfway down the stairs.

Burt watched Blaine stumble down the stairs, tears staining his cheeks while he fumbled with the box of cigarettes seemingly stuck in his pocket. “Blaine…”

 “Not now,” He growled storming out of the sliding door that led to the outside patio slamming it so hard the glass rattled in the frame.

Burt sighed sadly as Blaine’s head dropped to his hands, his shoulders shaking slightly before he tried to light the cigarette he was holding. “There it is,” He murmured quietly, about to follow Blaine outside until Kurt stomped down the stairs, anger rolling off of him in waves. Taking a deep breath, Burt sent his eyes heavenward praying to Elizabeth and the Andersons that they would help him get through what he believed would be an incredibly tough night with their boys.

“Alright Kurt, what happened?”

“He’s a fucking heathen!” Kurt cried, slamming dishes around the kitchen, “He’s such an asshole.”

“Kurt language,” Burt muttered automatically, wincing when Kurt whirled on him, fire burning in his eyes.

 “Are you kidding? You let Blaine get away with murder and I can’t say one little word. Remind me again who the actual adult is out of the two of us.”

“Enough Kurt,” Burt said, moving to stand in front of his son. “Right now neither one of you are acting like adults quite frankly.” Burt pulled Kurt in for a hug before letting him go again. “Blaine doesn’t get away with murder Kiddo, he just couldn’t care less about getting punished, which is the problem really. Believe when I say that he’s had worse punishments than I think I ever had to give you both here and at school, they're just ineffective.”

“I miss Blaine. I miss the bowties and the raspberry hair gel. I miss his puppy dog nature and his inability to swear beyond saying dang it all the time. I miss his parents and hell even Cooper. I thought it was weird when he stopped messaging me all of a sudden but I didn’t even question it. Why the hell didn’t I question it?”

“Kurt just stop, stop for a minute. I know that you don’t like Blaine as he is right now but he’s like this to try and protect himself. It’s become his damn defence mechanism.”

Sighing Burt clasped his son on the shoulder and shot him a sad smile, leaving the room through the sliding door. Kurt watched as Burt sat down next Blaine on the back steps of their house, feeling his anger ebb away at the vulnerable boy stiffening up in an attempt to push Burt away.

He kept watching as Burt broke down Blaine’s resolve, the teenager taking one last shaky draw from his cigarette before leaning heavily into Burt’s side. Burt reaching up to run a gentle hand through the flyaway curls even as the teenager trembled against him.

“I don’t know if I can keep doing this Burt,” Blaine whispered, huddling into Burt’s side and stubbing out the cigarette.

Burt held him tightly, running his hand steadily through the curls. “Okay, first where did Dad go hmm?” Blaine chuckled softly, his cold nose pressed to Burt’s collar, arms folded tightly around his body like they were the only things holding him together. “And secondly, do what? You don’t have to do anything alone Blaine, I hope that you know that, we’re always here for you Kid.”

 Laughing humourlessly, Blaine drew away from Burt, “Funny that. My Dad used to say the same thing, now he’s six foot under and definitely not still here for me.”

“Blaine,” Burt warned quietly, watching Blaine tilt his head back and close his eyes, a few tears leaking from under his closed eyelids.

“Sorry, that was uncalled for,” Sighing, Blaine drew his knees up and rested his chin on them. “If you want to kick me out I would completely understand. I can find somewhere to go.”

Burt’s eyebrows drew up in shock and he swept his cap from his head. “Why on earth would you ever, ever think that we want you to go anywhere?”

“Because Kurt's here and I’m making his life miserable. I don’t even think that I'm necessarily doing it deliberately, it just keeps happening.”

“Blaine, you are just as much a member of this family as Kurt is.”

“Well that definitely makes my relationship with Kurt an illegal activity.”

Burt levelled the teenager with a look, “Blaine, really?”

 Blaine smirked pulling out his zippo to play with it, flicking the flame up and down. “If I’m just as much a member of the family as Kurt then that makes it incest Pops, hate to tell you. And that relationship has definitely been consummated more than a few times.”

“Blaine.” Burt said more sternly, fixing the boy with a stern look. “You know exactly what I’m talking about so stop trying to act like a cocky little shit about it.”

Blaine glowered at him, “Who’s acting?”

They both jumped when the sliding door slid open behind them, Kurt smiling at his Dad apologetically as Shadow bounded down the steps before he slid the door shut again. The golden retriever bounded happily around the garden sniffing Carole’s various flowerbeds before sprinting back over to them, sitting in front of Blaine and dropping his head into his lap with a whine.

 “Hey boy,” Blaine murmured, stroking his fluffy ears carefully and pressing his face to his dogs momentarily. “I’m sorry,” He whispered, Burt turning to him in shock.

Sighing Burt wrapped his arm around Blaine’s shoulders again. “I love you Kid, you as you used to be, and you now. You're just different sides of Blaine.” His lips quirked into a cautious smile, “Polar opposite sides of Blaine, but Blaine nonetheless.” Blaine laughed softly and Burt took to tenderly tucking the curls away from his face once more.

“Blaine, I gave Kurt a speech a long time ago now after a certain prep school boy turned up in my garage and told me I needed to talk to my son about sex.” Burt raised an eyebrow at Blaine who laughed softly, “And now I’m going to give it to you, because I don’t think you’ve ever had it.”

Blaine wrinkled his nose up in dread, “Thanks Dad, but I already know about the birds and the bees. Or the bees and the bees in my case wait or is it the birds and the birds? How do you decide whose the male or female one in that situation? I mean it just doesn’t really make any sense to be hon-”

“Blaine focus,” Burt chuckled, shaking his head at the boy. “Now I know that you know all of the physical implications and all that,” Burt pulled a face and Blaine snickered quietly into Shadow’s fur, “I’m just not sure that anyone’s ever told you about the emotional side of sex Blaine.

Cringing at his Dad using the word sex, Blaine ruffled Shadow’s fur before turning to face Burt, leaning on the railings of the stairs. “Alright then Pops, shoot. Kurt already told me about some of it.”

“It’s not the same coming from the person that you’re dating Blaine Kid.”

Blaine sobered up watching Burt closely, aware that he would never fail to be intrigued by the man. He had loved his own Father and knew that he loved Blaine, but he would never have dreamed of talking to Blaine about any of this. He had barely talked to Blaine about the physical side, preferring to shove pamphlets at his son and run away.

Burt took a deep breath, feeling more prepared to have this conversation with Blaine now than he had been with Kurt two and a half years ago. “Being intimate with someone isn’t just about being physical Blaine. You are baring your soul to that person, whether you want to or not.” Blaine watched his hands play with Shadow’s fur, feeling his cheeks burn with shame as he thought about all of the nights he had spent at Scandals over the last six months. “You make yourself vulnerable in that situation Blaine, you can never make yourself more vulnerable than when you trust someone with that.” Blaine gulped, his eyes shimmering as he compared being with Kurt to being with the other men. He knew that there was no comparison.

Burt tucked a hand under Blaine’s chin and forced the young boy to look at him. “You use it to connect to another person Blaine. Don’t throw yourself around like you don’t matter,” Burt looked directly into Blaine’s watery eyes, smiling sadly, “’Cause you matter Blaine, more than you know.”

Blaine sobbed loudly, throwing himself into Burt’s waiting arms. “Thank you Burt…Dad.”

“Anytime Kid, anytime,” Burt whispered, rocking them back and forth as Blaine cried against him. Kurt watched from inside the sliding door, feeling his own tears slide slowly down his cheeks.

Blaine stormed through the corridors, still feeling raw from the conversation he’d had with Burt three nights ago. Most people in the school avoided him these days anyway but after his fury had seeped into Cheerios practice during their morning session, the news had spread like wildfire to avoid him, resulting in Blaine seeing very few people over the course of the day.

Rounding the corner he could feel his frustration with everything reach boiling point as he watched a handful of jocks, and several of his own Cheerios surrounding Unique and Marley. Spying the slushies that had been thrown over the girls, and the ones that several of the jocks still held on to he thundered up the corridor shoving through the jocks to stand in front of Marley and Unique. Seeing the rage on their captains face, the smiles instantly dropped from the Cheerios faces and they all backed off, almost running up the corridor will all but three of the jocks following them.

“What the actual fuck is your problem?” Blaine roared, shoving Azimio who seemed to be the leader of the pack. “Because you're thick as shit and couldn’t graduate on time with your class last year you thought you’d pick on girls three years younger, who will probably be out of here before you are?” He shoved Azimio again, snorting when he fell over.

 Stumbling back to his feet, Azimio glanced at the two behind him, “You're a god damn freak Anderson!” He yelled taking off up the corridor after the rest of the team.

“Yeah well at least I’m out of here this year,” Blaine hollered, shaking his head in disbelief. Turning to look at the two girls he sighed, taking in the purple and red slushie dripping from their faces and clothes. He winced slightly when he saw them looking at him in fear. “Come on, I’ve got a spare t-shirt for Marley and I have one of Mercedes shirts from last year you can wear Unique. Don’t ask why,” He warned, shooting them a small smile.

“You confiscated it from Sam when he was pining?” Unique smirked and Blaine laughed, feeling freer than he had in a while when the girls laughed with him.

 “Got it in one. Seriously though, head into the bathroom and I’ll bring them in for you.”

“Thanks Blaine,” They grinned, Marley leaning over to kiss his cheek, laughing when he went red.

“D-don’t mention it,” He stammered, rushing off to his locker.

“Is everyone decent?” he called into the girls bathroom, entering with one hand over his eyes.

Marley cracked up, shaking her head slightly, “Yeah Unique’s in the stalls and I’m still trying to wash this dye out of my hair.”

 “Oh, awesome,” He smiled locking the door behind him and jumping up onto the sink beside the one Marley was using. “Unique incoming,” He hollered, throwing the shirt over the door.

“Blaine?” Blaine turned to look at Marley curiously. “I just wanted to say thank you again, I know not a lot of people give you the time of day around here anymore, but you were the only one who stopped what was just going on.” She sighed, even Mr. Schue walked by before the first slushie, saying it was great that we were branching out and making new friends.”

Blaine rolled his tawny eyes, “That man’s obliviousness knows absolutely no bounds whatsoever.”

“No kidding, he’s clueless,” Unique sighed leaving the cubicle and trying to fluff up her hair.

“Use the hand dryer,” Blaine advised with a shrug, “It always worked wonders for everybody else. You look fabulous though Unique, as ever.”

“Well of course,” She preened making Blaine and Marley laugh.

He sighed loudly, “Well some of us have detention to get to so I’ll leave you be ladies. Get out of school before the Neanderthals come back, yeah?”

 “See you later Blaine,” Marley smiled, pressing another kiss to his cheek, “And thanks again.”

Unique popped up from under the dryer rushing over to plant a kiss on his other cheek, “Thanks Hobbit.”

Blaine grumbled good naturedly as he pulled away and left the bathroom, the sound of the girls laughter following him out of the room.

Finn whistled to himself as he tracked up the corridor to the choir room aggravated that he had forgotten the sheet music he needed for college when he had left an hour ago. Tilting his head, he grinned at the chiming sound of the piano, fully expecting to find Brad working on an original piece. He was caught off guard though when he pulled the door open to find Blaine, looking more carefree than he had in months, absorbed in the music with his eyes closed.

“Thought you had detention again?”

Blaine looked up from the tune he was tinkering out on the piano, scooting over on the bench to make room for Finn. “Nah but I've got a rep to live up to you know. No one expects me home before four thirty these days.” Shrugging he started to play again, Finn watching him momentarily before joining in on his side of the piano.

“You know, you should cut Kurt some slack and cool it with the jokes, especially in front of Burt.” Finn raised an eyebrow, chuckling quietly when Blaine blushed.

 “Yeah, well…”

Finn stopped playing and turned until he was facing Blaine. “I know how rough this year’s been on you, and I know that pushing people away is what you do best right now. But Kurt is Kurt he’s not like everyone else. And I know you still love him.”

Blaine considered for a moment, nodding a little, “You know you’re going to make an amazing teacher one day Finn.”

“Thanks,” He beamed. “That means a lot coming from you.”

Blaine just shrugged, “I speak the truth.” Fingers resting on the keys once more, he started to play quietly again, “Don’t let them know I was here and not in detention, yeah?”

Finn laughed softly, “Your secret’s safe with me little brother.” Gently, he nudged Blaine with his shoulder before wrapping an arm around him, startling when Blaine hugged him back.

“Thank you Finn.”

“For what?” Finn asked, confusion knitting his brow together when he drew back, but Blaine just shook his head and went back to playing the piano again. Sighing, the older boy ruffled Blaine’s curls and stepped away, finding his sheet music and watching Blaine for a moment more before leaving him to his music.

Blaine jumped down the school steps at the same time he normally would after detention, slapping his skateboard to the ground before he noticed Kitty waiting for him on the bottom step. He eyed her ripped short shorts and flowing mint green top with a smile, glad that she was letting her blonde hair curl and flick naturally around her face, as opposed to her usual scraped back look. Blaine new she was stunning whatever she wore, but he always liked that he got the chance to see this Kitty, the softer Kitty that didn’t inevitably help him terrorize the school.

“We need to talk Cupcake,” She said dryly, nodding to the bleachers.

 Blaine quirked an eyebrow but followed her on his skateboard regardless. “What’s up Kitkat?”

 She smiled softly at him, “It’s time to stop Blaine. You graduate next week, you need to think about the future.”

“Jesus not you too,” He huffed, falling onto the couch.

“Blaine, you love Kurt, that much is obvious.” She sighed, reaching to take his hand and rolling her eyes when he yanked it back, “You need him Blaine.”

His eyes shot up to look at her, “I do not need him. I don’t need anyone at all. I’m fine on my own.”

 “What about me? What about Burt? Carole? Sam?”

“I don’t need anyone,” He growled between gritted teeth.

Kitty stood up throwing her hands up in exasperation. “You're just a scared little boy who runs away from all of his problems. Man up Anderson. I mean Christ. Kurt's back and the sooner you realize that the better.”

“Screw you Kitty.” He growled flipping his skateboard to the floor and taking off, closing his eyes at the feel of the breeze against his face. “I don’t need her, I don’t need anyone,” He murmured to himself, ignoring the numbing feeling in his gut and Kitty yelling his name in the distance.

Kurt leaned against the open doorway watching Blaine pace and mumble under his breath, ‘Fall Out Boy’ playing quietly in the background. He smiled softly at Shadow, turned upside down on his back with all four paws in the air, snoring loudly. Vesper watched Blaine’s every move, head turning from left to right as the boy paced, tail twitching every so often in interest. “Nice to see some things never change no matter who you’ve decided you want to be.” As soon as he heard Kurt's voice Shadow was up and moving towards him, tail wagging wildly, nudging Kurt's hand until the boy gave in and stroked his head.

Blaine’s head snapped up to glare at the boy hovering in his doorway. “Oh bite me Kurt!”

 Kurt tilted his head curiously when Blaine’s pacing and mumbling continued. Moving further into the room he closed the door and leaned back against it, watching his ex boyfriend closely, noting Blaine’s sure signs of distress and confusion.

“Oh yeah sure just waltz on in here as if I don’t have enough to think about,” He squawked, arms flying wildly.

The blue eyed boy tutted softly eyes rolling fondly. “Blaine I may not like you very much right now but I still love you.” Blaine started to shake his head violently, little whimpers escaping his throat. “I do and I'm sorry I ever gave you reason to doubt that. What I do know is that venting to a human is much better than venting to a cat, so lay it on me?” Kurt took one quick look around the room before walking over to the bed and sitting cross legged, watching Blaine expectantly.

Blaine growled lowly, “I hate you so freaking much Hummel.” Crossing his arms tightly across his body Blaine huffed before throwing himself onto the bed next to Kurt, one hand draped across his eyes. “And stop staring at my pants Hummel. You lost your chance with this ass months ago. It’s up for grabs with other boys now. Sharing is caring after all.”

Sighing, Kurt decided to disregard Blaine’s last statement, ogling the boys’ ridiculously tight jeans before looking back to his face still buried under an arm. “Yeah, yeah, I’m the great evil in all of this blah blah blah. Now tell me young Padawan, what is your problem?”

“Oh dear God I never should have made you watch those films. Stop quoting them you hated the damn things.”

 “It could've been worse. I could've said ‘use the force’.”

 Blaine snorted, “What the force in my pants?”

“Right that’s it,” Kurt sighed, pushing himself up from the bed, dislodging an aggravated Vesper from his lap in the process.

“No wait!” Blaine called looking more lost and unsure of himself than Kurt had seen him look since the whole Chandler incident in his senior year. “Stay for a while? I could use someone to listen and I don’t want to burden Burt anymore than I already have.”

“You're not a burden Blaine,” Kurt smiled softly.

 “Yeah, well,” He shrugged lying back on the blue bedspread and burrowing his face into it, “I haven’t exactly made life easy for some people.”

Kurt pushed a bundle of Blaine’s cushions against the headboard and climbed back onto the bed, stretching out against them. “Lay it on me.” Scratching Vesper beneath the chin he grinned when the cat deemed him worthy enough to sit on once more, the bed dipping as Shadow pushed his way onto the edge of it, tail thumping against the bedspread. He collapsed with a short sigh, head hooking over Kurt's crossed ankles.

Kurt startled when he felt a pressure just above his knees. Carefully he moved his hand from Vesper’s fur into Blaine’s curls letting the seventeen year old bury his face into his knees. Carding his fingers gently through them, he listened to Blaine attempt to stifle his sobs, a wet patch spreading across his knees where the boy was lying.

 “They're auctioning it,” Blaine eventually croaked out, one hand clenched firmly in the fabric of Kurt's pants.

 The blue eyed boys face crumpled up in confusion, “Blaine, I don’t understand…”

“The house, they're auctioning the house!” He cried, sitting bolt upright, his eyes red rimmed and curls wilder than ever. “My parents house Kurt it’s going to be gone.”

“Hey, hey, shhh,shhh,” Kurt drew Blaine into his side, cradling him close as the persona he had been keeping up all year disappeared all together and he allowed himself to cry openly into Kurt's shoulder.

“I miss them Kurt. I miss them all so much. I want them back. I don’t want to be an orphan and an only child. I just want my parents and my brother.”

“I know, I know,” Kurt murmured rocking them back and forth, one hand playing with Blaine’s curls. “Have you been back to the house since everything happened?”

“Only for tiny moments. I lived at the hospital for the most part until Grandmother and Grandfather practically dragged me out of there,” Blaine sniffed, shifting further into Kurt's side momentarily, and truly proving that Kurt really did still love him when Kurt didn’t even yell for the snot getting all over his new Marc Jacobs shirt. “After that I went between their house and the hospital and after Mama… just their house until the emancipation went through. The only time I ever went back was to sneak in the back door of the kitchen and feed them while I had to.” He nodded to where Vesper was now upside down with his head resting on Shadow’s paw the duo peacefully sleeping on whilst their owner shattered into pieces once more. “Once we were all here I couldn’t bring myself to go back. Burt picked up some of my things but for the most part the house is untouched.”

“But your Grandparents…”

 “Have final say in the house and my parents possessions. I don’t think I can go back in there Kurt.”

Kurt hugged Blaine close and braved a quick kiss to Blaine’s temple trying to ignore the way his entire body seemed to freeze up. “What about if I go with you?”

Blaine turned to him in shock, clacking his tongue piercing against his teeth rapidly whilst he searched Kurt's eyes, “Really?”

“Really.”

“Okay,” Blaine sighed settling back against Kurt's side. “This doesn’t change anything though. I’m still me and you still don’t like me, and I don’t particularly like you. We’re two very different people now Kurt.”

 “Hmm, we’ll see about that,” Kurt whispered softly when Blaine went lax against his side, joining his pets in the world of slumber. Gently, he traced over the tattoo on his upper arm, smiling at the red and yellow roses and paying extra attention to the bow tie and the Dalton tie that brought the entire piece together. Reaching over, he clicked off Blaine’ bedside light before settling down with his head resting on Blaine’s quietly humming ‘Blackbird’ when Blaine’s sleep became restless. “I love you Blaine, never ever forget that,” He mumbled closing his eyes and letting his body relax into a dream world.

Blaine stood outside the door to his childhood home, leather jacket wrapped tightly around his body as he glared at the lion knocker he had loved so much as a child. He startled when he felt a hand tug gently on his own, glancing to the side to find Kurt smiling softly at him, Shadow’s leash clutched in Kurt's spare hand.

“You're not alone,” Kurt whispered to him as a battalion of cars drove up the driveway, Burt and Carole clambering out of the first one and each of the New Directions following from the cars behind them. Blaine blinked at them in confusion. “I called Sam and he called everyone else. You're not alone and you are loved, no matter what you may believe.”

“Thank you,” Blaine whispered gratefully, squeezing Kurt's handing and reaching up to fiddle with his industrial piercing. “I just don’t know where to start.”

Burt came up behind them, clasping a hand on Blaine’s shoulder. “We’ve rented a storage locker downtown. You can keep whatever you want to, we can always rent another one if we need to.”

Blaine nodded, feeling overcome with appreciation at the people he had tried and tested to the end of their tethers over the course of the school year. Gulping, he instructed everyone to tackle the downstairs, knowing full well that most of it was for charity bar a few pieces of furniture he could use for college and the personal mementos from family photographs to his mother’s ornaments. A final car pulled up, Kitty climbing out of it and waving goodbye to the driver. She turned and nodded slightly towards Blaine who nodded back before she disappeared into the house, following Carole’s direction.

Clutching Kurt's hand tightly, he watched the other boy unclip Shadow’s leash before he led him silently up the stairs. He passed a box to Kurt for Cooper’s room; only wanting Cooper’s old sports trophies and high school basketball jersey, his class ring and his impressive hat collection.

Kurt smiled warmly at him, eyeing him for a moment before turning to his task. Shutting his eyes in an attempt to regulate his breathing again, Blaine slowly climbed the extra flight of stairs to his own bedroom. He’d barely been in the house and he already felt physically drained just from being there.

His own room had already been ransacked by Burt earlier in the year, but there were a number of items that had been left behind that Blaine hadn’t had the heart to ask Burt if they could go back for. He glanced around the room; eyes zeroing in on the black Ibanez acoustic-electric guitar his Dad had bought him for his sixteenth birthday. Blaine ran his fingers over the strings, wincing at how out of tune it sounded. Picking the guitar up he sat down against his own bed and began to strum, tuning by ear as he went. Once he was happy with the sound, he mindlessly strummed tune after tune, ignoring the shadows growing longer in his room. With his eyes closed he quietly began to hum along to the tune, memories playing on a loop in his head, being chased around the house by Cooper and his Dad, his Mom singing to him whenever he was sick, Cooper using him to pick up girls because Blaine was a damn cute child. Mostly though, he remembered sitting knee to knee with Cooper in this room as his brother ten years his elder taught him how to play guitar. They started from the time he was six years old and his chubby little hands could just about hold the guitar, and went right up until Cooper was satisfied that Blaine was an excellent player.

Hours later, Kurt climbed the stairs to Blaine’s room to see if he was ready to leave, having sent everyone else home a little over an hour ago. He sighed sadly, not willing to say goodbye to the house himself and unable to imagine what Blaine was currently feeling.

Climbing the stairs, he paused in Blaine’s doorway at the soft strings playing, Blaine’s melancholic voice joining in with the lyrics. “I don’t recognise these eyes, I don’t recognise these hands,” Kurt shuddered slightly, eyes welling up with tears at the emotion in Blaine’s voice. “Please believe me when I tell you, that this is not who I am.”

Blaine’s eyes snapped open, catching on Kurt's when his voice broke. “If I recover will you take me back again?” Kurt reached out and took hold of Blaine’s ankle, keeping them both grounded while Blaine continued to strum the guitar. “I'm just another, trying hard to fit right in, but the photographs remind me of who I used to be, if only I could go back where I, I was me.”

 Stopping, Blaine placed the guitar on the floor and drew his knees to his chest burying his face in them and sobbing messily into them. Kurt crawled to his side, wrapping his arms around his and hushing him softly, thankful that Blaine had started to let out the pent up rage and sorrow that had been building since his parents deaths. Peppering kisses to Blaine’s curls, he mumbled nonsensically in his ear, hoping it would begin to calm him down.

Slowly, Blaine’s tears subsided and he pulled back to look at Kurt, lifting one arm up and placing it around Kurt's shoulders. “I’m not the person you fell in love with anymore Kurt, too much has happened for me to be that boy ever again,” Blaine whispered sadly, tracing a finger over Kurt's cheekbone.

Kurt shook his head, “He’s a part of you Blaine, you can protest against that, but it’s a fact. You’ve had a rough year, hell a really rough year and you’ve lost the last little bit of your childhood to it really. But you're a good person I honestly do believe that. I heard about what you did for Unique and Marley the other day. You keep everyone in line for Finn at Glee, not so much for Mr. Schue,” Kurt shot him a look and Blaine snickered slightly making Kurt grin. “You’ve helped Sam and Brittany graduate high school next week. Yes I know your arrangement. You tutor Sam and he then goes on to repeat the lesson with Britt. It’s down to you that they're both graduating so no protesting that.” Kurt rested his forehead against Blaine’s, “You are a good person Blaine Anderson and I wont hear any different. A little crude maybe, but a good person nonetheless and I love you.”

 Blaine breathed in sharply, “You still love me? Even like this?”

Rolling his blue eyes Kurt surged forwards and sealed his lips to Blaine’s, taking him by surprise but letting Blaine melt into the kiss regardless. “You’ve pissed me off so many times over the last few weeks I've been home Blaine. But yes I do still love you and that’s what I've been trying to tell you if you’d listen, you Muppet.”

 “Muppet Kurt, really?”

“Shut it,” Kurt laughed holding Blaine close.

“Where’s everyone else?” Blaine questioned noting how quiet the house was while still tracing Kurt's face with his fingertips.

“I sent them home over an hour ago. They’d already cleared out everything you wanted.”

Blaine waggled his eyebrows mischievously, “We have the whole house to ourselves.”

Kurt startled, glancing at him for a moment before grinning. “I guess that we do.” Smirking he stood and pulled Blaine to his feet pulling the shorter boy into a searing kiss and pushing him backwards onto the bed, clambering on after him and kissing down his neck, one hand already at work on Blaine’s belt buckle. “I missed you so much.”

Whining low in his throat Blaine pulled Kurt's shirt over his head and grabbed his ass, pressing their hips together, Kurt groaning into his mouth. “Kurt, Kurt, Kurt,” Blaine chanted blissfully, pulling Kurt harder against him as he swiveled his hips just right.

“Damn it Blaine!” Kurt gasped, “You're going to make me cum in my pants you asshole.”

“And that’s a bad thing because?” Blaine panted, sucking on Kurt's neck.

 Kurt gasped again grinding harder into Blaine, “You're paying the fucking dry cleaning.”

“Too much talking,” Blaine murmured rolling them so that he was on top, shedding his t-shirt. Leaning back down, he sucked Kurt's bottom lip into his mouth, grinning when he shivered violently. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Kurt gasped, gripping Blaine’s curls as the boy kissed and sucked his way down his body, “Mmmm so love you too.”

2 months later….

“I don’t want to be a performer anymore Kurt. It’s something I will always love, no matter what I've said this year to contradict that, but it’s not what I want anymore.”

“Do you know what you want?” Kurt asked, trying to keep the shock out of his voice. For as much as Blaine had grown and changed since October, he knew in himself that one thing remained true, and that was that Blaine loved singing and performing.

Turning to look at his boyfriend, Blaine smiled softly. “I want to help kids that this has happened to. I need to help them and I guess the likes of kids being used in pawns of their parents divorce, or who have been through any horrible thing that children should not in any way have happen to them or be involved with. I want to be a lawyer. I want to speak up for the little people. The ones who don’t have a voice, who aren’t treated equal by society. My parents dying was the worst thing that could have happened to me and for all of the people around me, it felt like no one was actually there for me and I don’t want any kid to feel like that.”

Kurt pressed his lips to Blaine’s chuckled softly when his eyes widened before he sunk into the kiss. “I love you so damn much. I’m so proud of you Blaine.”

 “Really?” Blaine’s eyes flickered over Kurt's face, awe covering his own.

“Really, really Cupcake, we’re all proud of you, etc, etc,” Kitty smirked as she and dropped down beside them on the grass, New Directions old and new trailing after them. “Just don’t forget the little people, yeah?”

 Blaine rolled his eyes, “You're still my best friend Baby Girl, just hurry up and graduate so you can move to New York too.”

 “At this rate I’ll have enough credits to graduate next year,” Kitty beamed placing her hands under her chin. “Not just a pretty face, thank you very much.”

The boys laughed as Santana placed a picnic basket down next to the group, the group now growing rapidly in size. Kurt smirked as he slapped a nicotine patch onto Blaine’s arm and pressed a kiss to Blaine’s temple when he glared at it.

“You're quitting if you're staying with me.”

Blaine sighed, dropping back against Kurt's chest again. “I never smoked that much in the first place,” He grumbled, swiping the chocolate donut from Sam’s hand.

 “Yeah but you get crabby,” Kurt laughed, Sam staring at his empty hand, blinking in confusion. He pointed a finger at Blaine who yelped, standing and running with the donut with Sam chasing after him. The rest of the Glee Club members watched Sam chase Blaine around the park until Blaine shoved the donut whole in his mouth. Sam watched him for a minute before lunging forward, throwing a laughing Blaine over his shoulder and marching back to the group waiting for them.

“I’m so glad he’s letting himself be happy again,” Kitty grinned, leaning into Kurt's shoulder.

 “You and me both Kitty, You and me both.”

Staying at the park long past the fireworks, the large group had retreated back to where they had set up their multiple tents in the middle of nowhere. They were now all making their own fun, dancing and joking with one of the car stereos blasting, drink flowing freely between them.

 Kurt lay in the back of his Dad’s truck that they’d borrowed for the weekend, Blaine cuddled into his side in their blanket and pillow fort.

 “I’m so glad I found you,” Blaine slurred sleepily, snuggling further into Kurt's shoulder and throwing his leg over his hips.

 Kurt chuckled softly, pressing a tender kiss to Blaine’s messy curls, “Technically I found you.”