Fic: Forever Home, Chapter 3 of 100
Title: Forever Home
Author: Shadowc44
Fandom: Glee
Pairing: Kadam (Kurt Hummel/Adam Crawford)
Rating: R (PG-13 for now)
Spoilers: None. AU. If you’ve seen Kurt and Adam interact, you’re good.
Summary: Adam is bored, and realizes he needs a companion. He decides to adopt a hybrid human/cat.
Warning: Mentions of past abuse (non-sexual) from other canon Glee characters. This fic is not particularly kind to most canon Glee characters.
Length: 2,500 words this chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story; they're owned by Fox. Any non-Glee characters are my own invention.
A/N This part is still PG-13.
The first part is here: Chapter 1
Chapter 2
CHAPTER 3
“Let’s see… What do you like to do, besides sing?” Adam wanted to know.
Kurt looked at him curiously. “I’m sorry, I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Well, what do you do when you’re not singing?”
“Um, most of the time I’m a cat, so I sleep, eat a little, sleep some more, try to avoid getting beat up…”
Adam winced. “Okay, when you’re a human, what do you like to do?”
Kurt sighed, obviously frustrated. “There’s not much I can do, or am allowed to do.”
“Well, then, what do you want to do? If you could do anything?”
“I miss cooking. And baking.”
“Oh yeah? I like to bake. It’s more fun that cooking.”
“Depends on what you’re cooking, but yeah,” Kurt agreed. "I also like listening to music, and watching movies."
“Do you read?” Adam wished he’d hadn’t asked, seeing the look on Kurt’s face. “Do you know how?”
“Yes.” Kurt sighed, but he didn’t look annoyed, as though Adam had insulted him. “My mother used to hold me on her lap and read to me, when I was very young. I learned to read by looking at the shapes of the words as she read aloud. I read a lot at home, before - well -“
“And what about since then?”
Kurt’s eyes widened. “There are no books here. I haven’t read anything since they took me away from my dad.”
Adam raised his eyebrows. Well, that’s about to change.
Kurt blinked his eyes, then turned his gaze down, looking very sad. “It’s not allowed,” he added, sniffling for good measure.
Right. We’re still being observed.
“Well, I’m sure we’ll find something to do. Erm, as I recall - do you, um, sleep a lot?”
Kurt nodded rapidly. “Yes, sir. As a cat, maybe 17 hours or so a day. As a human, maybe 10 or 12.”
“So, you’ll need naps during the day. That’s fine.” Adam smiled at Kurt, pleased to see a smile in return. “I’m at home a lot of the day, and quite a few evenings, too, so we’ll be spending a lot of time together. I’m sure we’ll sort everything out.
“Another thing I’d like to know.” Adam paused, and Kurt looked at him expectantly.
“Do you have any idea how often - Emma said you’d been mostly staying in cat form, and she didn’t think that was good for you. I’m just curious, do you have any idea how often you’ll want to be a cat, as opposed to human?”
“Will I have a choice?” Kurt seemed astonished.
“Well, yes, of course. To a degree. I mean, I guess it’s something we’ll have to sort out. I was trying to think, for instance, about sleeping arrangements.”
Kurt immediately tensed up.
“I mean, they have some of those cute cat beds here, and I wondered if you might need one.”
Kurt looked warily at Adam. “What - what do you want?”
Adam tried to be patient. “I want whatever will be best for you, Kurt. If you prefer to sleep in cat form, at least at first, that’s fine. I was wondering whether you would prefer to have your own bed, or you could sleep on my bed. With me. I mean, at the end of the bed, or curled up next to me, or whatever you want, and oh my God, please stop me before I keep babbling.”
Kurt still looked hesitant, but at least he was slightly smiling.
Right, then. Adam continued babbling. “Or, it would probably make the most sense for me to just turn the guest room over to you. You can sleep in there as a cat or human, whichever you prefer, and that way you’ll have your own space, a sanctuary of sorts.”
Kurt looked both astonished, and as joyful as Adam had seen him yet.
“Really? You’d give me a whole room to myself?”
Adam nodded firmly. “It’s not huge, but there’s a bed, a dresser, and a chair. We’ll figure out what you need once you move in. I mean, once I adopt you, if I do.”
“It’s definitely better than a cage,” Kurt muttered. He looked back up at Adam and smiled, though he kept his lips over his teeth. “Thank you, that will be fantastic, if you adopt me, that is.”
“Definitely. It will be good for you to have your own space, when you want to be alone.”
Emma rapped on the door, then opened it.
“I’m sorry, but we’re going to be closing in a little while, and I thought you might have some questions for me. You don’t have to make up your mind right now. You can always come back tomorrow. That is, if it’s convenient.”
Adam stood up. “Certainly, that’s fine. I think I’ll need a little time, anyway, to figure out -“
He heard a high-pitched whine from Kurt. He turned, and saw the boy's eyes filled with tears again.
Adam did some rapid damage control. “I just mean - there’s a lot I still don’t know about -- I think I need to learn more about hybrids, about having a pet, and - yes, I’ve got some questions, and I’m sure I’ll be back tomorrow. Probably with more questions.”
Kurt was practically hyperventilating in his distress.
“I’ll come back and see you again tomorrow, Kurt, I promise.” He added hesitantly. “Would you like that?”
Kurt nodded, and wiped his eyes, but didn’t speak.
“If you’ll come with me, please,” Emma directed. “Will can bring Kurt back to his cage.”
Adam turned back to Kurt to say goodbye, but he saw he’d already changed back to a cat.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Kurt, I promise. Sleep well.”
He hoped Kurt would sleep better that night than he likely would.
Adam followed Emma into the main room. He noticed some of the other hybrids had changed to their animal form.
“When Will gets Kurt settled, he’ll feed them all, and once we’re through and out of here, they’ll settle down and go to sleep.”
“Do you just leave them here, unsupervised, all night?” Adam asked. It didn’t sound safe to him.
“No, we have a night-time crew, mostly for security. They might get here before you leave. They’re here in case anyone gets sick, or has a nightmare, or needs to be comforted.”
“What about Kurt? Does he have a lot of nightmares?”
Emma flinched, and hesitantly replied, “Yes, he has a lot of nightmares. He doesn’t sleep too well, despite the nightlight we leave on, and the soothing music, and everything else we’ve tried. But I’m certain he’ll settle down once he’s in a home and doesn’t have so many others around him.”
Adam nodded, but made a note to try to find out what he could about soothing hybrids after a nightmare. He supposed it might be similar to calming a child or an animal. Maybe he just needed to be held and reassured he was loved.
Emma took Adam to her office. He noticed every surface was gleaming. There wasn’t a speck of dust or anything at all out of place. The papers were perfectly aligned with the edges of the desk. He was almost hesitant to sit in one of the visitor’s chairs. He started to sit down, but Emma squeaked.
“Oh! Just a moment, here, you have some cat hair on you.”
Adam didn’t find the news terribly surprising, though Kurt had only been on his lap for a few minutes. Emma handed him a roll of sticky tape, and he used that to remove the few strands of hair from his clothes.
Emma took the tape, carefully sealing the hair inside as she wadded up the tape around it, and deposited it into the trashcan. The only other object in there was the plastic liner.
Emma gathered up a number of flyers, and handed them to Adam.
“You might want to read these through at home, to give you some more things to consider, before making a decision.”
He glanced at the fistful of pamphlets:
You and Your Hybrid Pet - The Basics
What to Feed Your Hybrid, and What to NOT Feed it, Under Any Circumstances!
Sleeping Arrangements
Your Hybrid and Sexuality - Its and Yours
Socialization - How to Treat Your Pet in Public
10 Fun Facts About Hybrid Pets You Might Not Know (But Really Should)
TV or Not TV, That is the Question! Should Your Pet Be Allowed to Watch Television?
The Healthy Hybrid - When To Take Your Pet to the Vet
The Happy Hybrid - What You Can Do to Cheer Your Pet Up
Depression - If Your Pet Needs More Help
Breeding - Do You Want to Earn Money from Your Pet?
Adam was torn between wanting to take Kurt home with him immediately, to keep him safe from these lunatics, but he knew it was a huge responsibility, and he owed it to Kurt to learn as much as he could, so he could be as responsible an owner as possible.
One thing he resolved to do for sure, was to download “Hybrids For Dummies” onto his Kindle. There must be one of those, surely?
“Thank you. Can you tell me a little bit more about the singing, why your husband was interested in that?”
“Well, Will used to teach high school, but he got frustrated by the lack of interest in a glee club. Neither the students nor the principal, or even the school board, thought it was necessary to have the kids compete for recognition in singing. Will’s family had a bird hybrid, growing up, and it’s not that uncommon for them to sing. But when he inherited this store from his aunt, he got the idea of teaching the hybrids to sing, to see if they might enjoy it. It turns out most of them did, and now all the pets here at least know how to sing, though some are more gifted than others.”
“I was amazed by Kurt’s voice. It’s incredible. And his range. I’m very impressed by what I heard.”
Emma winced. “Well, I’m glad you enjoy his voice, but the others really don’t like to listen to him. What about his speaking voice, didn’t that grate on you?”
Adam gritted his teeth, then forced his face to relax, and he smiled. “No, I like his speaking voice. It’s pitched a bit higher than you usually find in boys his age, but there’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Well…I’m glad we’ve finally found someone who likes his voice.”
“And how old is Kurt?” He’d already asked Kurt, but wanted to make sure he received the same answer from Emma. It was more to test her honesty than Kurt’s, he realized.
Emma sighed heavily, and rearranged a couple of items on her desk, then put them back in exactly the same place.
“He’s 18. He should have been adopted years ago, but as I said, he was very resistant. Most of the others here are a little younger. These are a bit older than most because of the time Will wasted - spent, trying to train them to be a musical group. I wouldn’t say it’s been a huge selling point, but some people do like having a pet with skills most of them don’t have.”
“I see. And what other skills does Kurt have?” He wondered how many Emma might know about.
“I’m not sure…let me get his file and see.”
Emma looked through her filing cabinet, and returned with a thin file, and glanced through it. Adam’s hands itched to take the file from her. “Any chance I could get a copy of that, if I do buy - adopt him?”
“Oh, yes, everything will be copied for you. You should have as much information as possible.” She glanced at the file.
“Oh, this is interesting. Kurt can do some cooking, some sewing, housekeeping…and apparently his father taught him how to change tires and things like that, at his auto shop. Huh, I wouldn’t have expected that.”
Neither would Adam have expected it, but he was quickly learning a lot of his preconceived notions about hybrids - and Kurt in particular - were wrong.
“You know about his vocal abilities. Huh, Will recommends - never mind, we can discuss that later.”
Adam wondered why Emma suddenly looked so embarrassed.
“Can you tell me more about why things didn’t work out for the hybrids, as a singing group? I’d have thought the novelty would charm people.”
“Will tried to teach them to sing together as a group. He thought he could create a really unique singing group, but some got adopted, some don’t want to sing in public, and the few times he took them to nursing homes or hospitals…let’s just say the audience didn’t really appreciate them. It was hard to keep bringing in new hybrids into the group, so he decided to just focus on getting them adopted.”
Adam tried to imagine the impact on society, if a group of hybrids had been allowed to record, perhaps go on tour, be on TV…it would have gone a long way towards showing people that their human side was more like everybody else than most people realized.
There were other things he realized he needed to know.
“What about Kurt’s parents?”
Emma blinked, then handled the question smoothly. “The hybrids are taken from their families at age 13, to be fully trained to be adopted.”
“What if the parents want to keep them?”
“It doesn’t matter. They don’t have any say in the matter. In fact, Kurt’s father -“ She seemed to realize that she was about to divulge confidential information.
“Well, regardless of the wishes of the parents, the hybrids are brought here or to similar stores. The parents are compensated, monetarily, for the time and costs of raising a hybrid up to that stage of life.”
“And how does the government get its money back?” Adam hated being cynical, but he was sure there had to be a catch.
Emma looked uncomfortable, but explained, “Our prices are quite high, because the government gets 75% of the sale price. Just for the hybrid, not any of the other items.”
“I see.” He suspected the British government did something similar.
“We do our best to train them, to be sure they’re housebroken, obedient, and polite…it works better with some than others. We determine which will be better for a household with children, and which wouldn’t be comfortable around a small child. We also take into consideration sexual preference, though it’s not up to us whether the potential owner agrees to that. That’s why we at least try to make it clear, so the client knows what to expect, and how difficult it might be to get what they want from their pet.
“Of course, we discourage any outright abuse or punishment if a pet is expected to act outside their preference, but once the pet has been adopted, there’s little we can do. As you know, hybrids don’t have the same rights as full humans, or even full animals.”
Yes, Adam knew that much. Knowing, and being happy about it, were two very different things.
Next - Chapter 4