#tinysocieties

“The faster those freaks are where they belong? The better.” The first boy says and Blaine is no longer interested in listening to their conversation. He just wants them to leave before it’s too late.

“For sure.” The second boy agrees, “Hey, Clark just texted about a performance in the commons. We should go!”

Yes, go! Blaine thinks, desperately, as the toilet paper holder begins to shift.

There’s more chatter but Blaine is deaf to the actual words. He then hears the door open and close, and then blissful silence. He knows he doesn’t have long so he closes his eyes again, takes a deep breath in and then exhales.

He expects the toilet paper holder to simply begin to levitate but instead, it shoots off the wall like a bullet and slams into the other side of the stall. Blaine flinches and covers his head as the metal clatters to the ground.

When all is silent again, he lowers his arms and stares at the spot the holder once was. The metal around where the bolts were is bent and there is a dent on the other side of the stall. The holder a twisted bunch of metal on the ground.

He’s never not been able to control himself when he’s let his power out. What the hell did Manutek put in the water?

Blaine’s phone dings with a text and he fumbles to pull it out of his pocket. He realizes this is the second alert as the text was sent five minutes ago.

From Wes

Performance in the commons in ten! Teenage Dream!

Blaine scrambles up from his seat, picking up the fallen toilet paper holder as he does so. He exits the stall and shoves the holder into the trash. He grabs some paper towel and quickly checks the mirror, patting his forehead and fixing his hair as best he can.

He doesn’t have time to think about what just happened, he’ll file it away to freak out about later, he’s got a performance to get to.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

Kurt is tired of crying. He’s tired of feeling like he’s nothing and he’s tired of trying to make others think he doesn’t care. Sometimes all he wants to do is leave. Go away to some far off place and not have to deal with this anymore.

But then he thinks of his dad. How he couldn’t do that to him. How he couldn’t even do that to himself. He needs his dad too much.

“Buddy, you can’t be doing that whenever you want.” Burt had said to an eight-year-old Kurt.

Kurt had looked up at him with a confused and furrowed brow, “Why not?” he asked.

Burt had sighed, “There are people who...think being able to do what you can do is...bad.” He hadn’t wanted to scare Kurt but he needed to press upon him the importance of secrecy.

“So I can’t do it?” Kurt had asked.

“Only at home, when it’s just you and me.” Burt had said.

At least he’s getting away from it all today. When Puck suggested he go spy on the other glee club, he’d agreed mostly just to not have to be at McKinley anymore.

He checks his reflection in his bedroom mirror, smoothing down his jacket and fidgeting with his bag. He hopes he doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb.

Satisfied, he pulls in a big breath and lets his eyes flutter shut, letting himself feel around for the perfect secluded spot. He finds it and lets himself exhale into the feeling.

He feels the familiar pull in his chest and when he opens his eyes, he’s outside in a small clearing. He checks around, quickly, to make sure he’s alone and nods when he realizes he is. He can hear voices in the distance so he smooths his outfit once more before making his way out of the clearing and toward the perfectly appointed private school.

-- -- --

Neither Kurt or Blaine know how they came to have the powers they do. They know they were born with them (Blaine with the ability to move objects with his mind and Kurt with the ability to teleport) but not much is known about where they come from. All they do know is that if anyone were to find out they had them, it would be bad. Not much may be known about the powers some people are born with, but enough is known to scare the people who aren’t born with them.

The ‘round up’ of people with powers started in earnest after 9/11 by a company named Manutek, but it had been happening long before that. Back to the very beginning of people having powers. But again, because not a lot is known about them, no one really knows when the ‘beginning’ was.

No one really knows what happens to the people who are rounded up, either, but people with powers have had to hide themselves so they never have to find out. They may not know what it was...but they knew it’s not good.

Kurt and Blaine were born into a cultural that taught them to suppress their powers. They’ve never been able to even try to enjoy them. They were only ever taught to make sure no one found out.

-- -- --

“Wanna go to the movies, boo?” Mercedes asks, catching up to Kurt in the hallway the next day and linking her arms through his.

Kurt sighs, “I’d love to but I’ve got plans.” He says.

Mercedes stops in her tracks, causing Kurt to stop with a jerk. A girl walking behind them bumps into Kurt’s back, “Watch it!” She snarls, before moving around them with a huff.

Mercedes doesn’t even notice her, “You have plans?” She asks.

Kurt rolls his eyes and moves to keep walking, “Don’t act like it’s so surprising. I have friends.” He bites, self-consciously.

Mercedes jogs to catch up, “Sorry.” She says, “You’re right. It’s just...we have the same friends.”

Kurt diverts his eyes, “Well this isn’t a friend we share.” He whispers. He can tell Mercedes is gearing up for an interrogation as her eyes light up but he puts his hand out to stop her, “Can we...talk about it later?” He asks. Pleads.

Mercedes pouts her lips and narrows her eyes at him before she sighs, “Fine. But you owe me a story, boy.” She warns, pointing at him threateningly, with a wink.

Kurt chuckles, reaching forward to grab her hand and squeeze it, “Of course.” He says.

-- -- --

Kurt doesn’t think he’s ever blushed or smiled as much as he has this afternoon. He really hopes Blaine hasn’t noticed the blushing because how embarrassing would that be?

He’s surprised he’s managed to keep the conversation intelligent, let alone going, but Blaine is so easy to talk to. They’ve known each other for literally a day but it feels like they’ve known each other for years. Should Kurt feel this comfortable around a stranger? Is Blaine feeling the same way?

“Do you….want to grab coffee?” Kurt asks because he’s feeling brave. They’ve been sitting at the library for a couple of hours but Kurt’s been having an internal debate over whether this is a date or not. He’s hoping it is but he’s new at this. He has no idea what he’s doing. Coffee seems appropriately date-ish though. More than the library, he feels. He hopes.

Blaine’s eyes widen slightly at the question before a smile takes over his features. Smiles should be encouraging, but to Kurt, it doesn’t seem like a happy smile, “Uh,” Blaine hesitates and Kurt’s stomach plummets to his feet. His knee-jerk reaction is to flee. He feels the familiar pull in his chest and all he wants to do is let it take him somewhere where he doesn’t have to face this rejection, “I can’t.” Blaine winces and Kurt can feel his cheeks flare up but this time it’s from embarrassment, “Not that I don’t want to!” Blaine almost yells and Kurt’s head jerks up just as the librarian shushes from her desk. Blaine chuckles and shifts his eyes away, “That was loud.” He says at a normal volume, “Sorry. It’s just, I’m not drinking coffee right now.”

Blaine’s phone dings with a message and he smiles apologetically before picking up his phone and checking the screen. He winces again before looking up at Kurt, “I actually have to go.” He says and Kurt nods. He’s already wondering how long it’ll be until he sees Blaine again but he’s already put himself out there with the coffee invite, “Are you free tomorrow?”

Kurt’s eyes widen and he smiles breathlessly, “Yeah.” He says.

Blaine smiles, “Great. I’ll text you tonight.” He says before getting up, “See you later.”

Kurt waves as Blaine leaves and he takes a deep breath when he’s alone. Wow.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

Blaine sighs as he drives home. He didn’t want to leave Kurt. He wanted to stay and keep talking. He loved making Kurt laugh and smile and, if he wasn’t mistaken, blush. It felt good. A feeling Blaine hadn’t really felt in a long while.

And he had really wanted to go for coffee with him. Had desperately wanted to say yes but that would have meant drinking tap water and after what he heard in the washroom yesterday, he wants nothing to do with tap water. He’d had a few other ‘attacks’ of his powers last night but luckily they had been in the privacy of his own bedroom, only his desk lamp and a few pictures being the victims. They’d, mercifully, subsided by this morning.

But what Blaine wanted didn’t matter anyway as soon as he’d gotten that text from his dad. When Frank Anderson beckons? You go running or suffer the consequences. And Blaine’s too shaky after his day yesterday to play with fire.

He trudges up the driveway and into his house with his head down low, not at all excited about what his dad may want.

“Good, you’re home.” His father says in way of greeting as he sits in his office to the right of the entrance hall.

Blaine sighs and moves to stand in the doorway, “Yeah.” He says, flatly.

His father doesn’t even look up from his paperwork, “Someone was picked up a mile away from the library.”

Blaine just stares at his father for a moment, “So you called me home from studying because someone was picked up a MILE away from where I was?” He asks, incredulously.

His father sighs and STILL doesn’t look up from his paperwork, “Can’t be too careful. You can study here.” And just like that the conversation is over in his father’s eyes.

Blaine’s just as happy to be out of his presence, anyway, but makes sure to glare at the Manutek logo sitting proudly on his father desk before he leaves. It’s hard to hide when your own father is the one hunting you.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

Kurt couldn’t be happier as the weeks go by. Things at school are still difficult but his friendship with Blaine is definitely a bright spot. It’s still just a friendship, a fact that makes Kurt a little sad, but he’ll take Blaine any way he can get him if it means getting to feel unabashed joy every time they’re around each other.

Kurt also likes that Blaine seems to enjoy his time with Kurt. He doesn’t know much about Blaine’s home life but he knows that it’s not the happiest place. Every time they are together, though, Blaine smiles easily and seems to really enjoy himself.

Things are going so well that Kurt doesn’t blush as red as he could when he asks Blaine to come to his dad’s engagement party, “It’s just a small thing but he said I could bring a friend and...yeah.” He says.

Blaine smiles, “I would love to!”

And that’s how Kurt finds himself opening the door to a smiling Blaine, dressed in a black dress shirt and blue bowtie on Saturday night, “Hey! I’m glad you could make it!” Kurt greets.

“Glad to be invited.” Blaine says, moving into the house when Kurt steps aside.

“Most everyone is here but come on! I want you to meet my dad.” Kurt grabs Blaine’s hand and pulls him toward the kitchen, the last place he had seen his father.

They find him looking through the fridge, “Dad, don’t drink too much.” Kurt chides.

Burt lifts his head out of the fridge and rolls his eyes with a laugh, “This is only my second beer. Relax.” He says.

Kurt raises his eyebrows but let’s the subject drop, “Dad, this is Blaine.” He says, pulling the boy forward.

“It’s nice to meet you, sir.” Blaine says, putting his hand out to shake

Burt looks at Kurt, then to Blaine, and then back to Kurt with a smile before reaching out to take Blaine’s hand, “It’s nice to meet you too, Blaine. Thanks for coming.”

Blaine nods, “Well, thank you for the invite. Congratulations on the engagement.”

“Thanks.” Burt says and the trio is quiet.

“Well,” Kurt says, breaking the silence, “Blaine and I are going to grab some food.” He says, pulling Blaine along with him.

“Your dad is...scary.” Blaine says once they’re out of the kitchen.

Kurt laughs, “He puts on a good show. But he’s really a teddy bear.” He explains as they reach the food table, “Take what you like. I’m going to grab some water, it’s so hot in here. Want something to drink?”

“A coke, please?” Blaine asks and Kurt nods before wandering off to grab the drinks.

He’s glad that Blaine is here. It feels right to have him here.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

Blaine’s having a good time. He knows no one but Kurt but the people at the party are nice and easy to talk to and, of course, he’s enjoying spending time with Kurt.

He’s chatting with one of Burt’s employees from the garage he owns, while Kurt is in the washroom, when there is a sudden crash from overhead. Everyone at the party turns at the noise and a confused murmur erupts in the room.

Burt leaves his fiancee’s side to head up the stairs and slowly everyone goes back to what they had been doing before. As more time passes, everyone seems to forget about the noise entirely.

A few minutes later, Blaine begins to wonder where Kurt is. He excuses himself from his conversation to head to the washroom and figures he’ll wander around looking for Kurt afterwards.

He’s washing his hands when there is a sudden popping noise behind him and suddenly Kurt is in the washroom where he wasn’t a second before, falling into the wall and pulling the towel rack off the wall as he falls.

“Holy shit!” Blaine exclaims, jumping to sit on the counter and moving to protect himself in the way one does when they get scared shitless.

Kurt is quiet, staring up at Blaine with wide eyes. He reminds Blaine slightly of a wounded animal, frantic and confused as he looks around.

“What…” Blaine starts but then Kurt is crying and Blaine forgets what question he was going to ask in favour of crouching down on the ground by the obviously terrified boy, “Hey, shhhh, it’s okay.” He says.

Kurt shakes his head, “No, it’s not!” He moans, “I don’t know what’s going on and...you shouldn’t have seen that!” He seems paralyzed with indecision and fear but then he’s moving, trying to scramble backwards when there really is no further back he can go.

Blaine needs to find a way to calm Kurt down. He may have been scared at first but mostly from the shock, and now he thinks he knows what’s going on and his predominant feeling at the moment is relief.

“Hey, hey, shhh, watch.” He says, soothingly, and Kurt stops moving at Blaine words. Blaine takes a deep breath and does something he has never done in front of another human being. He closes his eyes on an inhale, and then exhales slowly while opening his eyes. He, and Kurt, watch in silence as the potpourri on the back of the toilet begins to levitate, swirling around slowly as Blaine manipulates it with his mind.

Kurt’s eyes go wide and he looks back and forth between the floating pieces of potpourri and Blaine’s face, “You too?” He whispers.

Blaine nods, “Yeah. Me too.” He sighs.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

Kurt and Blaine are sitting side by side in the washroom, neither wanting to leave quite yet. Kurt knows he should let his father know he’s okay, he did just teleport out of his bedroom right in front of him so his father is probably worried about him, but he’s still too shaky to deal with all that. He’d rather sit next to Blaine and stare off into the distance in silence.

“That’s never happened before.” Kurt whispers, finally, “I’ve never not been able to control it. At least, not since I was old enough to know what it was.”

Blaine nods, “It’s the water.” He says and Kurt looks at him curiously, “Tap water. Manutek put something in it that causes us to lose control of our powers. Draws us out easier. I heard some kids talking about it at school but obviously the company doesn’t want everyone to know. I would have told you had I known but...” He shrugs.

Kurt nods, “Well that makes sense. Had I not very quickly thought about my bedroom, I could very well have teleported into the living room or somewhere else public. Kinda hard not to be outed at that point.”

“So is that how it works?” Blaine asks, “Your power?”

Kurt shrugs, “Yeah. I just have to think about where I want to be and pop,” He says with a snap of his fingers, “I’m there.”

“Anywhere?” Blaine asks.

Kurt pouts his lips thoughtfully, “I’ve never tried it much outside the house so I don’t really know the range of it.” He says and Blaine nods, “What about you? Can you move anything with your mind?”

“I’ve tested it with a couple of things. The heaviest thing I’ve ever lifted was my desk.” He answers and Kurt nods.

“So...just another thing we have in common.” Kurt says after a moment.

Blaine chuckles, “Yeah.” He says, “Not quite as innocent as our mutual love of musicals.”

Kurt smiles, “I should probably go let my dad know I’m okay.”

Blaine’s brow furrow, “Your dad...knows?” He asks.

Kurt’s brows also furrow, “Yeah.” He says slowly, “Of course he does. Don’t your parents know about you?”

Blaine shakes his head but is prevented from saying anything more when there is a frantic knock on the door, “Kurt?” Burt calls, “Is that you?”

Kurt stands and moves to open the door, “Yeah Dad, it’s me. I’m okay.”

Burt walks into the room, “Oh thank God.” He says, “I sent everyone home saying you weren’t feeling well but I had no idea where you teleported to.”

“Just back to the bathroom.” Kurt shrugs as Burt looks past Kurt to Blaine standing behind him, “It’s okay.” Kurt is quick to say, looking back at Blaine, “He’s…” He hesitates, not wanting to out Blaine. Blaine looks at him as if asking if it’s all right if Burt knows. Kurt nods in support and Blaine nods back before taking a deep breath in and out and suddenly the bar of soap begins to float.

Burt’s eyes widen slightly before he looks at Blaine, “Impressive.” He says and Blaine shrugs with a small smile.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

It’s different, after Kurt and Blaine learn about each other. It’s...better. They become even closer and actually begin to enjoy their powers. They are always careful about how they use them but they test them out with each other and make each other laugh with the silly things they can do.

They discover that Blaine is actually able to pick up and move people with his mind (a fun afternoon of picking Kurt up and dropping him onto his bed proves that) and Kurt discovers not only can he teleport quite a distance, he can also teleport Blaine with him as long as Kurt’s touching him in some way (they spend an amazing afternoon in New York City after that discovery).

Burt Hummel spends most of his interactions with Kurt and Blaine, rolling his eyes and shaking his head affectionately at their antics (though he is slightly mad about the New York City trip when he finds out). They spend most of their time at Kurt’s house after Blaine explains that his parents don’t know about his powers. He leaves out the fact that his dad works for the company that hunts them. He’s not sure why he omits that information, but Kurt doesn’t seem to need the explanation and Blaine likes the light, happy atmosphere of their interactions too much to ruin it with such a heavy topic.

They stop drinking tap water all together but find out, to their delight, that boiling water for coffee removes whatever chemical has been added to the water to draw them out. They figure this out one scary afternoon after Kurt grabs a coffee before school without thinking. When nothing out of the ordinary happens, they know coffee is safe.

Knowing about each other is freeing and liberating and they both breathe a little easier.

Blaine, feeling high on endorphins and promise, invites Kurt to Dalton’s homecoming dance and thinks that tonight, as he picks up Kurt looking dashing in his suit, he’ll ask Kurt to be his boyfriend.

They get to the dance and are instantly bombarded with loud, thumping music, smells of cologne from the boys and perfume from the girls, and the sight of hundreds of students dancing, laughing, or eating and drinking.

The pair is swept up in the atmosphere and spend an hour dancing with Blaine’s friend and each other and generally having a good time. After an hour they are both thirsty and Blaine leaves Kurt to dance by himself to pick them up some punch. He asks the teacher manning the drink table if the punch was made with tap water (“I have an allergy to fluoride,” he lies with a smile) and when he’s assured it was not, he brings two cups back over to Kurt.

“All clear.” He calls over the music, passing Kurt his drink.

“Thanks.” Kurt calls back with a smile and they begin to sip their drinks.

“Having fun?” Blaine asks.

Kurt nods, “This dance is MUCH better than McKinley’s...anything.” He says and the two laugh.

They enjoy their drinks in silence for a few moments before Blaine takes a deep breath and turns to Kurt, “Kurt, I wanted to ask you something.” He says.

Kurt looks at him with an open smile and Blaine takes another deep breath, ready to ask his question, “I was wondering if…”

He’s interrupted by a crash at the front of the hall. The pair turn to find the guitarist of the band crouched over after stumbling over a speaker. The whole hall is quiet, watching as the guitarist pulls himself, with difficulty, to his feet, clutching his head.

“Is he drunk?” Kurt whispers and Blaine shrugs.

“Maybe?” He says but they’re both proven wrong as the guitarist begins moaning ‘No, no, no, no, no’. He stumbles one more time and suddenly all the sound equipment on the stage begins to shuffle and move.

Blaine’s eyes widen as he realizes what is going on and he reaches to grab Kurt’s hand, “We’ve gotta go.” He says and begins to pull Kurt with him.

“Ladies and gentlemen, remain calm.” A voice says over the speakers and Blaine freezes, he knows that voice. He turns slowly to see his Dad stepping onto the stage, microphone in hand, “There is nothing to worry about.” His father continues as he injects something into the moaning guitarists neck and the man drops to the stage motionless, just like the previously moving sound equipment now is, “I am a representative of Manutek. Dalton was kind enough to allow us to do a bit of a round up at your dance tonight. They’ve been getting some reports of untoward behaviour. We ask that, if you haven’t already, you treat yourself to some punch and, well, we’ll just wait.” He smiles out at the crowd and suddenly the hall is abuzz with chatter, a mixture of confused, nervous, and downright panicked tones.

“The punch?” Kurt says next to Blaine, staring at his empty cup, and Blaine swears.

“We’ve gotta go.” He says again and tugs Kurt to the exit. He swears again when he sees the doors blocked by men wearing Manutek jackets. They’re trapped, unless…

“Kurt, you have to get us out of here.” He says.

Kurt looks distraught, “What?” He asks.

“Take us somewhere safe.” Blaine says meaningful. Kurt is still bewildered and not understanding. He keeps looking around the room as if looking for the next person to fall prey to the punch. It’s only a matter of time...and it could be either one of them.

Blaine doesn’t want to state what he means outright in the current environment but while he thinks of a way to get his point across to Kurt, his head begins to pound, “No.” He moans, dropping Kurt’s hand and backing up slightly. His heart begins to beat frantically and he can already feel sweat building up on his brow.

He can feel the bubble inside himself and grits his teeth to try and not outwardly show the symptoms of the chemical. It’s a losing battle though and he stumbles, which catches the attention of one of the men at the door, “Anderson!” The man calls at the same time as Kurt says, “Blaine!” in alarm.

Blaine’s head shoots up and from across the room he makes eye contact with his father, whose eyes widen before they narrow, “Kurt.” Blaine says urgently, grabbing Kurt’s arm, “Take us to your house. Now.” He says and he knows he’ll be outing Kurt too but staying is no longer an option.

Kurt’s eyes are wide but he gets it, taking a deep breath in and closing his eyes. Blaine looks back to see his father shoving his way through the crowd. He knows they’ll be gone by the time his father gets to them but in the moment before they leave Blaine has the thought that from now on, they’ll never be safe. They’ll be on the run for the rest of their lives or they’ll be taken into custody. He’s condemning them to lives as fugitives and as they blink out of the gym and into Kurt’s bedroom, he thinks that while he doesn’t want that life for Kurt (or himself) at least they’ll be together.