#joneshummel

For his part, Blaine can't imagine anyone not wanting Kurt around. It had taken a lot of time for Kurt to fully trust him, but now, six months down the line, it's like they've known each other for years.

Blaine has just adjusted his position on the bed so he's lying on his stomach, laptop in front of him, when his door opens with a tiny creak.

"Come in," he says without looking up, but then there's a quiet sniff and he turns his head with a small frown. Standing just inside the door is Kurt, as he'd expected, but his eyes are bright and his arms are wrapped tight around himself. Even his tail is limp. "What's wrong?"

"I just got fired," Kurt says quietly.

"What? Why?" Blaine sits up on his knees and beckons Kurt closer. Kurt sits on the edge of the bed, back straight. "I thought they were hybrid-friendly."

"The customers aren't, apparently," Kurt sighs. He turns to face Blaine and crosses his legs. "Someone made a scene out of something he found in his coffee, which he thought was fur -- even though any intelligent person could have realized it was from the guy's own disgustingly long beard. My fur isn't even black."

"But they fired you just for that?"

Kurt scoffs. "Bad publicity is bad publicity. Look, I'm sorry I'm dumping all this on you--"

"No, no, don't be. I like that you're telling me this." Blaine stammers, backtracking. "I-I don't like that that happened, of course, I just mean that I'm glad you're comfortable talking to me about these things."

"I know, Blaine," Kurt says, smiling a little. "I like having someone to tell that actually cares."

"Maybe if we go down there together we can convince them to hire you back," Blaine suggests after a moment. Kurt, however, shakes his head.

"No, I'll find something else. Something better." He goes to lick his hand but pulls back, making a face. "Damn it."

"You don't have to hold back in front of me," Blaine says, reaching to grab Kurt's hand. For a second he thinks that Kurt's going to pull away, but he feels a squeeze instead. "You know that."

"I do." They take a moment to smile at each other, just looking and sharing a quiet few seconds of companionship. Kurt breaks it first, slightly hesitant. "Can I stay here with you for a bit?"

"Yeah, of course." Blaine lets go of Kurt's hand to lie back down on his stomach, returning to his laptop. "I'm almost done here, we can go watch a movie in a bit."

"Or we can stay." Kurt sounds distracted and Blaine wonders -- until there are two hands on his ass. Before he can so much as make a noise in surprise, Kurt starts kneading his ass, and he can hear a low rumble that must be purring. It's not something he's never experienced, but Kurt doesn't purr often.

"Uh, Kurt?"

"Shh, just, keep doing what you're doing," Kurt mumbles. "Haven't done this in so long, I'm so sorry--"

"No, it... feels good?" Blaine says. And it does, despite the heat creeping into his cheeks; this is just Kurt, his roommate and friend, who happens to have some feline traits, of which this is one, apparently. He's aware that Kurt spends a lot of time holding his instincts back, partly out of necessity, and he also knows that acting on them eases tension. "Whatever makes you feel better, Kurt."

"It's embarrassing," Kurt says, laughing a little, but the purring continues. "Usually it's a pillow, not a... friend."

Blaine hums and returns his attention to his laptop, at least as much as he can manage. It's more than a little distracting, what Kurt's doing, not to mention the volume of his purring, but Blaine doesn't dare say anything about it. First of all, it would hurt Kurt's feelings. Second of all, he actually doesn't mind. The fact that Kurt feels comfortable acting more catlike around him is worth way more than anything else, Blaine thinks.

After a while, Kurt starts to lean over him. His nose brushes between Blaine's shoulder blades, then his cheek, and he rubs along Blaine's back. The purring vibrates through both of them, and Blaine's finding it much harder to concentrate with each passing second. So he shuts his laptop.

"What're you doing?" Kurt asks, voice scratchy. He lets go of Blaine's ass and flattens his palms against the mattress on either side of Blaine's shoulders -- and then stretches, his long body warm even though they aren't touching except where Kurt's thighs graze the outer edges of Blaine's.

"Uh, nothing."

"There's something," Kurt insists. "I can tell. We've been, mm, living with each other for six months."

"It's really nothing, I was just distracted." The purring quiets, then stops.

"Oh. I'm sorry." Kurt starts to move off of him, but Blaine reaches back and grabs his hand, holding on despite his shoulder protesting at the awkward angle.

"It wasn't a bad distraction," Blaine says slowly. He wishes he could see Kurt's face -- they're close, but they've never been this close, and he wants to know what Kurt thinks. He lets go of Kurt (the angle really does hurt his arm) and, thankfully, Kurt stays where he is. Blaine sort of never wants him to move.

"Roll over," Kurt says suddenly, and Blaine laughs.

"You don't think I'm a dog hybrid, do you?" he teases as he turns himself, finally able to look Kurt in the eyes. His expression is unreadable, but at least there's a faint smile on his lips at the joke.

"You rolled over, didn't you?" Kurt responds. "Maybe you do have some puppy in there somewhere. You have the eyes."

"Oh, really?"

"Mhm. You know, all wide and curious." Kurt tilts his head, an ear twitching at a loose strand of his thick human hair that had dared to tickle it. "Irresistible."

Blaine swallows. "Oh."

"I have a confession," Kurt says, quiet. He looks away slightly, staring at his own hand to the right of Blaine's head. "I've never kissed anyone."

"Why not?"

"The whole part-cat thing doesn't appeal to everyone," Kurt explains. "And a lot of the people that do find it 'attractive' are... well, they're not..."

"They're creeps, right?"

"Basically. I ran into a few of them while I was homeless." Kurt goes silent for a few seconds. "I'm lucky, though. None of them got me, and I got you."

Unsure of what to say, Blaine runs a hand down Kurt's back, smiling when he unconsciously arches into the touch and gives him a look like you did that on purpose. Which is true. "I bet you'll have an amazing first kiss."

"I know I will," Kurt says. "Because, if you'll let me, it's gonna be you."

Blaine blinks, nods, and without another word pulls Kurt down. The kiss isn't much to begin with, but it's sweet and turns sweeter as Kurt learns to fit his lips against Blaine's and move, careful and hesitant. Blaine smiles against Kurt's mouth and kisses back with gentle force, silently coaching him through it. The purring returns and Kurt leans back and away, sheepish even as Blaine tries to follow his lips.

"Sorry, I'm trying to control it, but--"

"You don't have to," Blaine says. "I don't care, I think it's cute."

"Probably like it's 'cute' that I'm twenty-four and I've been kissed exactly once, right?"

"No, I genuinely think you're adorable. And attractive, in a non-creepy way. In other words, I want you to keep kissing me."

"I wasn't that good at it," Kurt says with a little scoff. 

"You're already better than most of the guys I've kissed," Blaine says, pulling him back down slowly. "And practice makes perfect, right?"

"Alright, I believe you. Just -- oh my god," Kurt groans when Blaine rubs his back again. Their chests meet as Kurt arches, and Blaine imagines he can feel Kurt's heartbeat against his. "You asshole, you know I can't resist that."

"Sorry," Blaine murmurs, his lips brushing Kurt's.

"You're not."

"No, not one bit." Finally, they're kissing again, and Blaine makes sure to only kiss him harder when the purring increases in volume a few minutes later. They don't break until it becomes almost painfully obvious how much simply making out is affecting both of them, but they laugh through the realization, Kurt's cheeks flushed pink and his tail flicking back and forth playfully.

"That was nice."

"On a scale of 1-10?"

"Definitely an eleven," Kurt says. He's lying on his side next to Blaine now, his fingers tracing nonsensical patterns on Blaine's chest as they cool down. "You're a good teacher."

"You're a good student." Blaine grins and tackles Kurt without warning, smiling wider when that manages to pull a surprised meow from him. He gives Kurt a peck on the lips. "Should we order a pizza?"

Kurt lights up, ears swiveling forward. "God, yes."

It takes them a few minutes to even get up and order the pizza, but every time Blaine looks at Kurt after they've kissed and catches that new, shy smile is completely worth it. Kurt's smiles, to him, are worth the world, and the rumble that inevitably starts up when they kiss for longer than a second is worth even more for the fact that Kurt feels safe enough to let it happen.

Maybe Kurt isn't a typical roommate, but Blaine couldn't wish for a better one. And maybe being in a relationship with a hybrid won't be easy, given the way Kurt's treated just for being one, but it doesn't matter right now. What matters is that Blaine can make Kurt feel happy and safe -- he deserves both and more.

"Because you’re cute," Blaine says, handing another tissue over just in time for Kurt’s impending sneeze, the twitch of his nose alerting him to it. Kurt gives him a grateful look before it happens — a tiny squeak of a sneeze that shakes his entire body. Blaine can’t help it; he grins wider. Kurt notices and his tail gives a weak flick where it lays on the cushions between them.

"Being sick isn’t cute,” Kurt groans as he tosses the tissue into the nearby wastebasket. “Will you still think I’m cute if I bite you?”

"You wouldn’t."

"Try me."

Blaine raises an eyebrow and Kurt slumps, the fight going out of him. “Impressive.”

Kurt actually growls a little, but it’s more playful than menacing. “Can you make me some tea?”

"Of course."

Blaine hums as he heads to the kitchen. Kurt’s favorite herbal tea is right at the front of the cupboard since he just had some earlier today, so it takes next to no time for Blaine to heat up some water and drop a bag into Kurt’s favorite blue mug. Kurt has a lot of favorite things that Blaine does his best to remember. For instance, his favorite magazine is Vogue, and he’s quickly learning to read it for himself. Hybrids for adoption aren’t generally taught how to read, but Kurt’s turned out to be a shockingly fast learner.

Once the tea is finished, Blaine starts to leave the kitchen — but along the way, he notices a small Ziploc bag of what seems like some kind of crushed herb or seasoning. He shrugs, picking it up and putting it in his back pocket; he doesn’t feel like turning around to put it where it belongs, so he’ll just keep it there until he goes back to the kitchen with Kurt’s empty mug later.

"For you," Blaine says, handing the mug to Kurt, who smiles and nudges his head into Blaine’s hand affectionately.

"Thank you." Nodding, Blaine starts to walk past Kurt to his spot on the other end of the couch, but he hears a soft mewl, which stops him because Kurt — well, he does meow sometimes, but it’s not that common, and it certainly never sounds like that.

"Kurt?"

"Wait," Kurt says, voice low. He reaches for Blaine, nose twitching as he sets the mug aside, but this time it’s because he’s smelling… something. His ears flick, swivel until they’re pointing straight up and ahead. "Oh my god, what is that smell?”

"Um," Blaine starts, confused. Kurt’s pulling him closer by the hem of his shirt, and when he tries to turn to face him, Kurt makes a tiny noise of protest, spinning him away. "Kurt, I don’t think—"

"Stop talking," Kurt says. Blaine can’t see him but he can hear the couch squeaking slightly as Kurt moves — and then he can feel Kurt’s nose and lips pressed near his lower back, which sends heat rushing to his face and… well, other places. Mostly his face.

Kurt hums and doesn’t seem to notice how that sends a shiver through Blaine, he just nuzzles lower, and lower, and then he has his face against Blaine’s back pocket and Blaine’s pretty sure he has never, ever turned this red before in his entire life.

"God, that’s amazing," Kurt murmurs, pressing in closer and actually rubbing his cheek against Blaine’s butt.

"Kurt," Blaine squeaks out, "I’m uh, you’re kind of— What are you doing?"

"It smells so good,” Kurt groans. “I need more. I need—” Kurt stops to rub harder and Blaine draws the line there, attempting to step away, but Kurt’s grip goes to his hips and clings tight. “No, no, stay, please.”

“Kurt,” Blaine huffs. 

"Hang on, let me— Oh my god, that’s so much better." Blaine flushes darker when Kurt pulls his back pocket open to smell inside and — oh. Oh.

He reaches back, batting Kurt away for a moment and ignoring the meow he gets in return as he pulls the bag out of his pocket. “Is this…”

Blaine looks over his shoulder just as Kurt snatches at the bag, a look of pure bliss on his face as he falls back into the couch and nuzzles it.

"…catnip," Blaine finishes, smiling because, duh, of course it’s catnip. Kurt’s eyes open and focus — somewhat — on him.

"Don’t give me that look," he says, voice scratchy and a little wild, if Blaine had to describe it further. “You’re seriously missing out.”

Blaine puts his hands up. “I’m fine just watching.”

It’s Kurt’s turn to raise an eyebrow, and it’s kind of amusing to see how he’s battling his feline instincts just to perform that simple human behavior — his ears continue to swivel back and forth, and his tail keeps flicking in every direction. “Don’t get me wrong, your butt is pretty nice too.”

"Oh—" That hadn’t been what Blaine was expecting. "Thank you?" Kurt snorts, sniffing at the catnip and letting out a pleased sigh.