#painandersons

It's a few days before the costume comes out again, and this time it's because they're about to have a Batman movie marathon with Kurt's friend, Sam, who really likes Blaine. Blaine's settled in Sam's hair while Kurt's making more popcorn when Sam says something that's obviously been on his mind for a while.

"Dude, Blaine, you should have a nice ride to go with that costume," he says, trying to look up even though it's physically impossible for him to see Blaine right now.

"It's Nightbird," Blaine reminds him, but then he takes in what Sam actually said. "Wait, what do you mean a nice ride?"

"Like the Batmobile! But cooler."

"Nothing's cooler than the Batmobile." But Blaine slips from Sam's head to his shoulder, only wobbling a little bit upon landing. "What did you have in mind?"

"I dunno, like a plane or something. There's gotta be one of those remote-controlled airplanes that you can fit into."

"What are you boys talking about?" Kurt asks, returning from the kitchen. Blaine beams up at him; the idea of having his own Night-vehicle has already taken over his desires.

"I was just telling your little bro here--" Blaine tugs at Sam's ear, cheeks warm. "What? You're little and you're a bro, man."

"Keep going," Kurt says, rolling his eyes fondly.

"Yeah alright, so we were thinking that he should have a superhero vehicle, maybe one of those cool remote-controlled airplanes." Kurt arches an eyebrow, but his lips quirk up into a smile, as well.

"I don't need a plane," Blaine says hurriedly. "I bet they're expensive; I don't want anyone to go overboard for me. Or my civilian identity."

"Don't you worry, Nightbird," Kurt says, sitting back down on the couch. Blaine jumps from Sam's shoulder to Kurt's and kisses his cheek as he continues, "We'll figure something out."

Figure something out they do - within a month there's a remote-controlled biplane taking up space on the kitchen table, old newspapers spread underneath it as Kurt walks up with a few cans of paint. Blaine leaps to his feet and straightens his tiny smock, ready to make this plane absolutely perfect. His brush is a standard detail brush, except it has been snapped in half (the broken end filed to a blunt, non-dangerous tip) to make it less cumbersome.

Kurt drops some paint onto a paper plate for Blaine and sets his jaw; Blaine imitates him, pondering where to start. A base coat, then details in lighter blue and black. The Nightbird insignia will adorn the top of the upper wing, of course, on each side.

They get to work, and they manage to get a surprising amount done before the shenanigans begin; Blaine, being careless with his brush, accidentally paints a streak of dark navy onto Kurt's cheek. Kurt, in retaliation, pokes Blaine's butt with a paint-wet finger, successfully ruining his painting pants.

"Hey!" Blaine squeaks, twisting around to check the damage. "That's not fair, you're bigger than me."

"That's no excuse," Kurt says, but he's grinning. "However, I'll let you paint my face again if it makes you feel better."

"Can I give you kitty whiskers?" Blaine asks, and Kurt snorts, but nods. So Blaine hops up onto Kurt's palm and lets himself be lifted to eye level. He loves Kurt's eyes - they're beautiful, and right now he can see his reflection in them. After painstakingly and carefully drawing the whiskers, he kisses Kurt's nose, laughing when it makes Kurt scrunch his face up.

After that, the painting gets finished up relatively quickly and they hurry through cleanup in order to collapse onto Kurt's bed, Blaine curled up on the pillow next to Kurt as they fall asleep. He's a little slower to drift off than Kurt, so he lies awake for a few minutes simply looking at the boy, so sweet and kind towards a pocket-sized stranger on the streets turned good friend. Best friend, maybe, but Blaine's careful not to think too much of himself - after all, as similar in interests as they are, there's still the inescapable fact that he's four inches tall and getting no taller any time soon.

----

The Nightbird alias turns out to be exactly what he needs for the occasional bad day, but what he never really expected was for it to be good for others, as well.

Blaine discovers this little gift when he's out with Kurt and Sam - the latter has the Nightplane and its controller, and Blaine (as Nightbird) is in Kurt's front jacket pocket, his masked visage scanning the streets as they head towards the nearest park.

During his survey of this slice of the city, Blaine spots a young girl - he'd guess five or six years old - crying on a bench, a woman who seems to be her mother trying to hush her. He frowns and tugs at the pocket until Kurt makes a questioning noise.

"Can we go over there?" he asks, pointing. Kurt looks down, then follows Blaine's finger until he spots the woman and her daughter. He looks apprehensive, but he nudges Sam's shoulder and starts in that direction.

"What are you doing?" Kurt asks, but Blaine just shakes his head.

"Just hold me out in front of her? Trust me, I just want to try something."

"Okay..."

Kurt takes Blaine out of his pocket as they approach the girl and smiles apologetically when he greets the mother, who's more than a little shocked at the sight of Blaine.

"What-- Who is that?" she says nervously, and Blaine's grateful that she amended her word choice.

"This is Bl--" But Blaine stomps his feet on Kurt's palm, effectively stopping him. Kurt looks at him and tilts his head, confused. Blaine clears his throat.

"I'm Nightbird," he says brightly, bowing to the mother. "May I speak with your daughter?"

"Uh..." She looks at Kurt, who nods encouragingly.

"He's harmless and human, I promise," he tells her. "Plus, he's obviously very cute." Sam nods along a bit too enthusiastically next to him.

"Well, okay," she agrees, apparently willing to try anything at this point. Kurt lowers Blaine to the girl's level.

"Hey," Blaine says gently. The girl, who's stopped crying but just barely, blinks at him. "What's your name?"

"J-Jenny," she sniffs. "What's yours?"

"I'm Nightbird, the Pocket Avenger," Blaine says proudly, sticking his chest out. "It's nice to meet you, Jenny."

"Is that really your real name?" Jenny asks suspiciously. Blaine grins.

"Nope, but I'm afraid I can't tell you what that is. It's a secret," he says in a stage whisper. "Can't have any bad guys knowing what my civilian identity is."

"A bad boy took my lollipop," Jenny says sadly, her eyes wide and pleading. "Can you get him for me?"

"I can do something even better. Do you mind holding me, like my friend Kurt is right now?" Jenny shakes her head; her eyes aren't so red anymore, Blaine notices, and he figures he's doing something right. "Just hold your hand out with your palm up."

Jenny does, and Blaine carefully steps from Kurt's hand to Jenny's, which is much smaller and more unsure, but he feels safe in knowing that she won't let him fall. "You're like a little person."

Blaine smiles. "I am a little person, but I'm also a superhero."

"You can't be a superhero and just a person at the same time," Jenny says, skeptical. She lifts him up to get a better look, and Blaine absentmindedly fixes his hair. "What's that in your hair?"

Blaine hears Kurt stifle a laugh and makes a mental note to reiterate his stance on hairstyling when they get home. For now, he says, "It's just hair gel, and you can totally be a superhero and a person at the same time. I mean, why not?"

"I can't be one because I don't have any special powers," she says.

"Well, that's silly. Have you ever made someone smile?"

"Yeah..."

"Then you're a superhero! Heroes save people, and making someone smile means you've saved them from feeling sad, or just down in the dumps. At least for a second." Jenny thinks on this and, slowly, a smile comes to her face. Blaine beams. "See?"

"I like you, Mr. Nightbird," Jenny says. "Mommy, can we keep him?"

The mother, who's been watching the exchange with an anxious expression, smiles softly. "He's not a kitten, sweetie. Say thank you to the nice man."

"Thank you Mr. Nightbird," Jenny says dutifully. Blaine reaches out until the girl gets the hint and brings him to her cheek, which he hugs with arms spread wide. She giggles and gives Blaine back to Kurt after a second or two. "Does he give you smiles too?"

Kurt nods, eyes bright. "Every day."

Jenny hums and rubs her eyes, removing the tracks left by her tears. The mother turns to Kurt and says, "Thank you so much, I had tried everything before you came along."

"Oh, don't thank me," Kurt says hurriedly. He holds Blaine out to her. "Thank him."

"Oh-- Of course." She laughs - she still sounds a bit nervous, but Blaine understands. Kurt had been wary of him at the start, too; there aren't exactly a lot of guys his size walking around New York City. But she surprises him when she holds out her index finger. "Thank you."

Blaine shakes her finger with both hands and nods, surely blushing underneath his mask. "It was nothing. Your daughter is very sweet."

They move on soon after that, Sam talking excitedly about Blaine doing just that, but regularly, making it a thing in their neighborhood, but Blaine's too focused on Kurt to really pay attention. Kurt's unusually quiet, but Blaine doesn't ask; he simply observes, and resolves to figure it out later. After all, they have a plane to attempt to fly, and Kurt would never let him cut their day short for a talk.

----

Blaine doesn't dress as Nightbird every day, of course. But most days he at least carries the mask; Kurt teases him about it, in a friendly sort of way. Blaine shrugs every time, mumbling that he likes having it close. And then Kurt gives him a soft look and lets him nuzzle his cheek before changing the topic.

The mask turns out to be somewhat useful - but not quite useful enough - one rainy day when Kurt (with Blaine in his pocket) ducks into a warm coffeeshop.

"Do you want to share a cookie?" he asks.

"Sure," Blaine says, sure to be loud enough since he's not looking out today. He's kind of tired, actually, and he's starting to wonder if he could just fall asleep here in Kurt's pocket. It's warm and, if he leans into Kurt a bit, he can hear his heartbeat. It's comforting somehow, knowing that Kurt's alive and existing and everything Blaine's dreamt of.

"And what would you like, handsome?" The voice snaps Blaine from his tiredness and he glares in the direction of it. He doesn't like the tone - which is silly, it's simple flirting and nothing more - but it gives him a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Oh--" Kurt giggles, caught off-guard. The guy must be cute, Blaine decides, or else Kurt wouldn't have reacted much at all. He's picky when it comes to guys, or at least that's what he tells Blaine whenever he asks about his dating life. It's strange - Kurt doesn't seem to have been with anyone since Blaine's moved in. "Just a chocolate chip cookie and a medium nonfat mocha."

"Is that a hippo brooch?"

Blaine rolls his eyes, the sinking feeling getting worse. He fumbles around for the mask; by the time he finds it, Kurt's sitting down at a table. But he's not alone.

"Really, it's fine, I have a friend--"

"Boyfriend?"

"W-Well, not quite..."

Blaine puts the mask on and huddles into the corner of the pocket. He already feels a little bit better as Nightbird, but it's not quite enough. He's not quite enough, obviously and literally. It's silly of him to think of Kurt that way at all - but he can't help the pang he feels when he remembers that Kurt is attractive, and will no doubt fall for someone eventually.

That someone won't be Blaine, a four inch-tall guy that dresses as a tiny superhero and flies around in a child's toy airplane. The sooner he accepts that, the better.

"Blaine?" Blaine perks up at the sound of his name, tuning back into the conversation despite every instinct telling him to ignore it, to spare himself. "What kind of name is that?"

"Blaine," Kurt starts, his voice is hardened slightly, a danger sign for whatever guy is sitting opposite them, "is very important to me. I'd appreciate you not to take that tone."

"But he's not a boyfriend?"

"No, he's more than that. I guess you could say he's my hero."

Blaine nearly pops right out of the pocket just then, but he restrains himself. More than that? My hero? He hears footsteps going away and can't hold back anymore; he stands and tugs frantically at the fabric, pulling Kurt's surprised attention.

"What was that?" he asks, eyes wide. Kurt grins and lifts him out of his pocket to set him on the table next to their cookie.

"What was what?" Kurt says innocently, but Blaine puts his hands on his hips.

"You know what I mean," he says. "Am I... really your hero?"

"Heroes make people smile, don't they?" Blaine nods, frowning a little. Kurt reaches towards him and carefully takes his mask off. "Seeing as you make me smile more than anyone else, I'd say you're definitely my biggest hero."

"I didn't know I was a biggest anything," Blaine says awkwardly, trying not to appear overly pleased. "Are you sure?"

"Positive. Now eat up, I want to go shopping." Blaine pulls a chocolate chip from the cookie, smiling.

"For what?"

"For my hero, of course. I think he could use a few new bow ties."

Blaine ducks his head, almost overwhelmed. But he's happier than he can articulate properly at the moment, which is a good kind of overwhelmed. He's Kurt's hero, not Nightbird, not anyone else. Just little old him, Blaine Anderson. And he'll gladly keep up that title for as long as Kurt wants him around - it's not like it's a hardship to make Kurt smile.