Glee Fic Update: The Bruise of a Rough Start, Kurt/Blaine, Sam/Mercedes, R, 4/8 (+epilogue)
Title: The Bruise of a Rough Start
Artist: bluefire986
Author: hildigunnur
Rating (art/fic if different): G/R
Warnings (apply for the entire fic): multiple mentions of past childhood sexual abuse, mentions of sex work (Sam's stripping)
Fic Summary: AU. Kurt Hummel and Mercedes Jones might have thought that senior year at McKinley would pretty much the same as the other three years. But when Sam Evans returns to McKinley with his new friend, the motorcycle-riding, seemingly free-spirited Blaine Anderson, things get turned around.
Chapter 4 on AO3
Author's Notes: My thanks to sarka for the beta. Remaining errors are all mine.
Title is from Adam Lambert's song - The Light.
I expect to post the next chapter in the beginning of September.
At one of the meetings with his therapist, Blaine had voiced a theory of sorts about himself; that his personality was developing a bit like computer software. There was little Blaine, Blaine 1.0 if you will. That Blaine was a polite and a people-pleasing child and also a very trusting child. That was perhaps the reason he changed so much after what happened with Mr. Harris. Pre-teen Blaine cared more about honesty, with himself and others, than necessarily getting people to like him.
This bled into his early teens, aided by the therapy he had attended. It was this honesty that had him coming out at the tender age of fourteen.
But this version of Blaine was vulnerable as well. It got him gaybashed at a school dance, keeping him from school for the rest of that school year and ultimately being home-schooled for over a year. That Blaine was definitely the beta version of Blaine 3.0. He wasn’t totally sure that the beta testing was fully done yet.
After the attack his parents had wanted to wrap him up and never let him out. He was still mostly bed-ridden when their behavior had started giving him cabin-fever, but it had been easier said than done for him to regain the freedom that he had enjoyed before the attack; his parents wanted to keep him out of school and got him a home tutor. They didn’t want him to be in any contact with the few friends he’d had before.
His salvation came in the form of a blonde college student named Wendy. Wendy was hired as his tutor. What had escaped Blaine’s parents was that Wendy was a party girl as well as being a student with a high GPA. She felt sorry for this cute boy who had been cut off from hanging out with his peers. Her intentions had been pretty pure at first; inviting Blaine to come with her and spend a weekend in Columbus so he could see people closer to him in age and not just his parents.
There would be many more invitations for Blaine where he followed Wendy and her friends around the party scene of Columbus. Blaine would have his first proper crush on another boy, a friend of Wendy’s named Jeremiah, who thought Blaine was too young. It turned out, though, that plenty of college-aged guys didn’t think Blaine was too young.
So he had his fun, going to gay bars with his fake ID’s. Sometimes he would get drunk, but he also liked going there sober. There were a few places he frequented and he’d gotten to know the men there, some in a carnal way but most merely in a friendly way.
He knew it was more than likely that Kurt had never been to a bar and maybe he wouldn’t be into it, but still, a gay man growing up in Lima had to go to Scandals, the local gay bar, at least once in his life. If Kurt hated it, that was okay. Wendy was on standby to pick them up.
It was hard to say whether Wendy was a fairy godmother or simply just an enabler. Blaine’s therapist had questioned her before but he also understood how isolated Blaine had been while he’d been homeschooled.
Walking up to the house Kurt lived in, he noticed it wasn’t as large as the one he lived in but it seemed ample enough to house a couple with two teenagers.
Blaine was prepared to meet Kurt’s dad as he rang the doorbell, but he’d hardly lifted his finger from the button when the door was opened wide and out stepped Kurt.
“Sorry, I was waiting by the door, a little too excited,” Kurt said as he shut the door behind him. “And yeah, I don’t think we’re at the point yet where you should meet my dad. I mean, he’s great and all, and if we weren’t going on a date I probably wouldn’t have any qualms about you meeting him but yeah… while I’ve never brought home a guy before, I just know he’ll get a little overprotective. So yeah, let’s go out. Where’s your bike?”
Kurt had obviously thought they were going on the bike as he was dressed in this leather suit, of sorts, and looking stupidly hot with his hair swept up. They were certainly going to notice him in Scandals.
“Yeah, I didn’t bring the bike, I actually have a ride to where we’re going.”
Wanting to keep a certain element of mystery and surprise, he handed a small card to Kurt.
“What’s that?” Kurt said, examining the card. “Oh my god, that’s a fake ID, Blaine,” he added, in a hushed voice.
“Yeah, you’re gonna need it where we’re going.”
Thankfully, Kurt mostly looked excited and not nervous. Blaine had gotten the impression that Kurt’s ideas of rebellion were pretty tame.
When they got to the car, Wendy introduced herself to Kurt who looked curiously at her.
“Oh,” he said when he was able to fit her in amongst the people Blaine had talked about. “You’re Blaine’s old tutor.”
“I prefer a friend,” Wendy said smiling.
“And enabler,” Blaine added. “Or I should say, liberator.”
Kurt looked a bit confused so Blaine launched into the tale of poor, lonely, homeschooled Blaine and the party girl who saved him.
Kurt was pleasantly tipsy. Knowing that he was a lightweight when it came to drinking, he’d only had a couple of cocktails. Blaine, on the other hand, was a little more sloshed. The guys there seemed to know him and some of them wanted to buy him drinks. Not that any of them were hitting on Blaine. Instead they all looked appreciatively at Kurt, whose inebriated state had him preening just a little bit.
Scandals was just what you could expect from a gay bar in a small town in the Mid-West. What little decor there was underlined stereotypical masculinity with just a hint of 80s nostalgia. With the exception of a couple of Britney and Gaga songs, the music they played was all older than Kurt himself, but he liked that. Still loads of tracks he could dance to, and dance he did. The leather suit made him feel hot and sweaty but feeling Blaine moving against him, touching him, Kurt felt sexy, which was something he hadn’t really felt before.
“Don’t you two look cute?” One of the patrons came up to them, looking at them with what looked like appreciation to Kurt’s eyes. The guy was probably somewhere in his late thirties, maybe even in his early forties. Kurt just laughed at his comment, swaying a bit in Blaine’s arms.
That might have been the wrong thing to do, as the guy took it as an invitation to move behind Kurt, putting his hands on Kurt’s hips and pressing against him. That sexy feeling completely vanished and instead Kurt felt sick, but before he could react Blaine had realized what was going on. He pulled Kurt away from the guy and stepped in front of him.
“Hands off him,” Blaine growled. The possessiveness amused Kurt more than anything but the guy, on the other hand, wasn’t happy that he’d been told not to touch the merchandise.
“I would’ve thought you’d share, Anderson, judging from how you’ve thrown yourself around,” the guy said in a snide voice.
“Excuse me.” Blaine sounded livid. “What I do and don’t do doesn’t have anything to do with whether Kurt here is comfortable with some sleezebag groping his ass.”
“Geez, you’re the last person I would’ve thought would turn into a prude,” the guy said as he stalked away.
Kurt stood there, feeling almost rooted to the floor.
“You okay?” Blaine asked, moving away from the middle of the dance floor. It took Kurt few moments to get his limbs moving in order to follow him. He made a noncommittal sound as if to indicate how okay he was.
“I’m sorry,” Blaine said, sitting down on a nearby chair. Kurt looked at him, not understanding what Blaine was apologizing for.
“I mean, I’m not a gatekeeper or anything like that to your body. This wasn’t my call to make.”
“Uhm, oh, yeah… I see,” Kurt said, finally comprehending what Blaine was going on about. “I didn’t mind?”
“Just… okay, cool. I’m glad you didn’t mind… geez, I’m not sober enough for this conversation. Wanna get back on the dance floor?”
With the music beckoning them, an old Depeche Mode song starting up with an electric keyboard riff playing, Kurt, with a smile, put out his hand for Blaine to take.
+
It was mid morning when Kurt woke up, his mouth feeling dry. He wasn’t alone in bed but that wasn’t a surprise to him. When Wendy had come to pick them up at Scandals, she’d said something about her roommate to Blaine who’d sighed in irritation. Apparently he’d planned to crash at Wendy’s place but that wasn’t an option anymore. He hadn’t seemed keen on going to his house, saying something about his parents. Without giving it too much thought, Kurt had suggested that Blaine could crash at his place. Blaine’s face had lit up and then he’d solemnly promised that there wouldn’t be any funny business. Kurt had laughed at that. They weren’t there quite yet and they were both well aware of that, no matter whether they were sober or drunk.
There were faint sounds coming from downstairs, indicating that some of the other inhabitants of the house were already up. Kurt’s money was on his father and Carole as Finn always used every opportunity possible to sleep in.
Pulling himself up in the bed, he looked at the other occupant who was still dead to the world, his curly mop sticking out from under the sheet he had pulled over himself. Kurt got up, tiptoeing to his en suite bathroom to pee, brush his teeth and have a sip of water. Then he planned to freshen up at his vanity but as he stood in the bathroom with the toothbrush, he heard the door to his bedroom being opened and his father’s voice sounded out:
“Hey buddy, wake up. You were promising me that we would cook breakfast together and… you’re not Kurt.”
With his mouth still full of foaming toothpaste, Kurt came running back into his bedroom and saw his father standing over his bed, staring at a very disorientated-looking Blaine.
Then his father noticed him.
“Care to explain, Kurt?”
Making a “please wait” gesture with his hand, Kurt ducked back into the bathroom to spit out the toothpaste and rinse his mouth.
His father was now standing with his arms crossed over his chest and Blaine was sitting up in the bed, looking like he wanted to sink into the pillows and disappear.
“Yeah, uhm, Dad, this is Blaine, my… gosh, we’ve… okay, we’re dating but… yeah, Blaine, this is my dad, Burt Hummel.” Kurt looked between them but both his father and Blaine had deemed the situation awkward enough without them shaking hands at this point.
“So, Kurt, I’m gonna go downstairs now and I’d appreciate it if we could have a word.” His father didn’t even look at him when he left the room and a sense of dread settled in the pit of Kurt’s stomach.
“Shit, I’m… we didn’t think this one through, Kurt,” Blaine said, looking forlorn.
“I swear I didn’t expect him to come into my bedroom so early. I had planned on telling him that you slept on the floor or on top of the sheets or something but…” Kurt looked over to the bed; there was no way he could feed that story to his father now. All he could hope for was that his dad wouldn’t physically kick Blaine out.
Taking those steps down to the kitchen felt like the longest walk ever to Kurt. His feet felt heavy, like his socks had been filled with lead.
Kurt’s cup had been set out on the kitchen table, filled with steaming hot coffee. His father was standing next to the table, waiting, a bit like an interrogator. Kurt could almost imagine a desk lamp on the table.
“Sit, Kurt.”
Kurt did exactly that. There was no disobeying Burt Hummel when he used that tone of voice.
“So, care to explain why there is a strange boy sleeping in your bed?”
It was obvious that the alcohol had been clouding Kurt’s judgement when he came up with the idea of letting Blaine stay over. He should have known that this wouldn’t go unnoticed by his father and that he wouldn’t be pleased.
“Uhm, yeah, we were out last night and Blaine was drunk and our place was closer and I thought…”
“Wait,” his father interrupted. “You kids are drinking?”
Kurt wanted to roll his eyes at his father. While he himself hadn’t had many drinks since the Bambi incident back in sophomore year, until last night at least, Finn had been drinking numerous times and had come home more than little buzzed. At most, Carole had added to his chores but only after cooking him something greasy for his hangover.
“Yes.” Kurt didn’t want to lie but he also knew that any attempts to defend himself wouldn’t go down well with his father at the moment.
“You know that’s illegal? And dangerous? I mean, people can take advantage of you when you’re drunk, and I sure hope that you kids weren’t driving.”
Maybe getting his dad occupied with the fact they had been drinking would have him forgetting about Blaine.
“We weren’t driving, I would never do that. You know that, Dad.”
“Well, I’d thought that you wouldn’t sleep with some stranger underneath my roof without asking me but there is currently evidence to the contrary in your room. I don’t ask for much, Kurt. Showing me a little respect isn’t asking too much.” Burt had taken off his cap, running his hand over his head.
“Nothing happened!”
“No need to be yelling. Carole and Finn are still sleeping.”
“I just… we might be dating and all, but Blaine really needed a place to crash and nothing was going to happen. It was late so I didn’t think…”
“That’s right, Kurt. You didn’t think. You didn’t think while getting drunk, you didn’t think while inviting a stranger into your bed… Kurt, you’re putting yourself in a harm’s way.”
Having his father be disappointed in him was so much worse than having him be angry. Even though Kurt wasn’t completely convinced he should apologize for having Blaine stay over, he knew he had to apologize.
“I’m sorry, Dad. If I want Blaine to stay over again, I’ll ask and I’ll accept your decision.”
Burt harrumphed and put his cap back on his head.
“You’re a good kid, Kurt. Carole and I worry enough about Finn when it comes to this stuff and I… let’s just say that I know you’ve got enough ambition to make it out of Lima, so I would hope you wouldn’t get yourself in trouble that might keep you here longer than necessary. Now go and get that Blaine kid and I’ll cook you something. Though I don’t think I’m gonna attempt those shirred eggs you were talking about.”
Kurt couldn’t help but chuckle as he got up to fetch Blaine.
Mercedes didn’t share any of her Monday classes with Kurt, but she shared her first period American History with Finn and Rachel, and Finn had spent the entire class telling them all about what Kurt had been up to over the weekend. American History with Mrs. Hagberg was the best place in McKinley to gossip, because Mrs. Hagberg never took any notice of what her students were doing - most of them were sleeping, except for those who wanted to gossip, like Mercedes.
Everything Finn had told her sounded so unlike Kurt, she would have accused Finn of making it up if she thought he had the imagination. But Finn didn’t make up stories about people, least of all Kurt. He knew what Kurt would do to him if he found out.
She kept an eye out for Kurt the entire morning but by lunchtime she still hadn’t seen him. Instead she ran into Sam.
“Hey,” Sam said, waving her over in the caféteria. Mercedes had some vague plans for sitting with Shane but she couldn’t see him anywhere.
“Hey yourself,” she said as she sat down at the table where Sam was sitting.
“So, did you do anything fun over the weekend?” Sam asked. Mercedes had a hard time recalling what she’d done, her mind was so filled with Kurt’s alleged weekend activities.
“No, but I heard Blaine got Kurt into a lot of trouble.”
There was a look of confusion on Sam’s face, his eyebrows knitted and he was frowning slightly.
“What do you mean?”
“He apparently took Kurt to a gay bar and got him drunk, then slept with him at Kurt’s house. I heard Kurt’s dad was furious.”
“Did Kurt tell you that?”
“No, but like the next best source, Finn.” Mercedes couldn’t help but feeling a bit anxious, sharing this with Sam. She could sense that Sam wasn’t sharing her concerns.
“Oh, yeah, I wouldn’t call him the next best source of anything, even though he might have witnessed the whole thing. Number one, Finn loves to jump to conclusions, and number two, he has like this rivalry thing going with Blaine, which I’m trying to stay out of ‘cause I’m friends with them both.” Sam still looked unhappy.
“But you know, Kurt would never…”
“Kurt is eighteen. So he shouldn’t be drinking and all that, but it’s not like Blaine is just trouble and into getting others into trouble, you know, despite the tough guy thing. Maybe Kurt has just been waiting to do something wild.”
Mercedes didn’t really know what to say more. What Sam was saying didn’t convince her much, but she changed the subject and tried her best not to think too much about how unfairly cute Sam was or about the flirty little looks he was giving her.
As she was cleaning off her tray before heading to her next class, Shane came up to her.
“Why were you having lunch with Sam?” There was tension in his voice.
That shook Mercedes out of her reverie. The jealousy was apparent in every line of his face.
“I just had things to talk about with him and I didn’t see you anywhere.”
“I was sitting at the footballers’ table. If you’d just checked there, you’d have seen me, but no, you just had to sit with Sam.”
“Whoa, I don’t need to explain why I want to talk to my friends, Shane.” Mercedes slammed down her tray onto the pile of dirty ones and turned away from Shane. Thankfully, Shane didn’t follow her.
+
She wasn’t exactly proud of it but she ended up ambushing Kurt at his locker after classes had ended that day, before they were needed at West Side Story rehearsals.
“So what’s the deal about you and Blaine and your wild weekend?” he asked, without any preamble.
“Wild weekend? Where did you hear that?” Kurt didn’t exactly look confused, more amused if anything.
“Just, Finn told me that Blaine got you drunk and… you slept together,” she added in a hushed voice.
Kurt started laughing.
“Well, I can’t deny the whole getting drunk thing but it wasn’t like Blaine was pouring the liquor down my throat. I could have said no but we had fake ID’s and a designated driver, so why not? I mean, I had to get over the whole April Rhodes fiasco eventually. And Blaine and I slept together, but I need put an emphasis on the sleeping part. Though I guess, since Santana has come up to me twice today to shout ‘Wanky!’ at me, my lily white reputation might be tarnished a little.”
“Oh,” was all Mercedes could come up with. She knew that while, up until recently, she and Kurt were similarly inexperienced when it came to the matters of the flesh, Kurt wasn’t planning on playing the same waiting game she was. Still, his lack of mortification felt strange to her. She couldn’t fathom how she’d feel if anyone at school thought she was sleeping with Shane, or with Sam for that matter.
“If Finn knows, does your dad know?” She asked, trying to get her mind away from the mere thought of sleeping with Sam.
“Oh.” Kurt was blushing. “He kind of found Blaine sleeping in my bed and he wasn’t all that pleased, but you know, he didn’t throw Blaine out or anything. Actually, he made us breakfast. But he wants me to put in a few hours at the garage instead. Not until after the musical, though.”
“So you and Blaine? Are you like… serious boyfriends?”
Kurt pursed his lips but it was like something had lit up in his eyes.
“Maybe, it’s still so early, but… I’ve never felt this way about anyone.” There was a tiny smile on Kurt’s face.
“Lucky you,” she said, without thinking.
“Oh, so you and Shane? It’s not serious? But he, like, dotes on you.”
“Uh, he does but… there’s someone else I like,” she said in a lowered voice.
“Sam?” Even though Kurt had said it like it was a question, Mercedes knew he was on to her.
“Yeah,” she sighed. “I don’t know what to do. I mean, I like Shane and he treats me so well… but I like Sam too and he’s always flirting and… I don’t know. I do need to do something because Shane is getting really jealous.”
“Yeah, it’s not like you to be leading a guy on. But what does your heart tell you? When you close your eyes and imagine, like, a really good kiss, like the best kiss ever, who do you imagine: Shane, Sam or Shemar Moore?”
“Kurt,” she whined; he was being seriously unfair. But she knew the answer and it wasn’t Shemar Moore.
“And?”
“I… it’s Sam,” she whispered.
“Well, I’m not going to tell you what to do, but I don’t think you’re doing anyone any favors by keeping things as they are,” Kurt added, shrugging a little.
And she knew he was right.
ATTENTION: THIS STORY WILL ONLY BE UPDATED ON ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN FROM NOW ON.
Artist: bluefire986
Author: hildigunnur
Rating (art/fic if different): G/R
Warnings (apply for the entire fic): multiple mentions of past childhood sexual abuse, mentions of sex work (Sam's stripping)
Fic Summary: AU. Kurt Hummel and Mercedes Jones might have thought that senior year at McKinley would pretty much the same as the other three years. But when Sam Evans returns to McKinley with his new friend, the motorcycle-riding, seemingly free-spirited Blaine Anderson, things get turned around.
Chapter 4 on AO3
Author's Notes: My thanks to sarka for the beta. Remaining errors are all mine.
Title is from Adam Lambert's song - The Light.
I expect to post the next chapter in the beginning of September.
At one of the meetings with his therapist, Blaine had voiced a theory of sorts about himself; that his personality was developing a bit like computer software. There was little Blaine, Blaine 1.0 if you will. That Blaine was a polite and a people-pleasing child and also a very trusting child. That was perhaps the reason he changed so much after what happened with Mr. Harris. Pre-teen Blaine cared more about honesty, with himself and others, than necessarily getting people to like him.
This bled into his early teens, aided by the therapy he had attended. It was this honesty that had him coming out at the tender age of fourteen.
But this version of Blaine was vulnerable as well. It got him gaybashed at a school dance, keeping him from school for the rest of that school year and ultimately being home-schooled for over a year. That Blaine was definitely the beta version of Blaine 3.0. He wasn’t totally sure that the beta testing was fully done yet.
After the attack his parents had wanted to wrap him up and never let him out. He was still mostly bed-ridden when their behavior had started giving him cabin-fever, but it had been easier said than done for him to regain the freedom that he had enjoyed before the attack; his parents wanted to keep him out of school and got him a home tutor. They didn’t want him to be in any contact with the few friends he’d had before.
His salvation came in the form of a blonde college student named Wendy. Wendy was hired as his tutor. What had escaped Blaine’s parents was that Wendy was a party girl as well as being a student with a high GPA. She felt sorry for this cute boy who had been cut off from hanging out with his peers. Her intentions had been pretty pure at first; inviting Blaine to come with her and spend a weekend in Columbus so he could see people closer to him in age and not just his parents.
There would be many more invitations for Blaine where he followed Wendy and her friends around the party scene of Columbus. Blaine would have his first proper crush on another boy, a friend of Wendy’s named Jeremiah, who thought Blaine was too young. It turned out, though, that plenty of college-aged guys didn’t think Blaine was too young.
So he had his fun, going to gay bars with his fake ID’s. Sometimes he would get drunk, but he also liked going there sober. There were a few places he frequented and he’d gotten to know the men there, some in a carnal way but most merely in a friendly way.
He knew it was more than likely that Kurt had never been to a bar and maybe he wouldn’t be into it, but still, a gay man growing up in Lima had to go to Scandals, the local gay bar, at least once in his life. If Kurt hated it, that was okay. Wendy was on standby to pick them up.
It was hard to say whether Wendy was a fairy godmother or simply just an enabler. Blaine’s therapist had questioned her before but he also understood how isolated Blaine had been while he’d been homeschooled.
Walking up to the house Kurt lived in, he noticed it wasn’t as large as the one he lived in but it seemed ample enough to house a couple with two teenagers.
Blaine was prepared to meet Kurt’s dad as he rang the doorbell, but he’d hardly lifted his finger from the button when the door was opened wide and out stepped Kurt.
“Sorry, I was waiting by the door, a little too excited,” Kurt said as he shut the door behind him. “And yeah, I don’t think we’re at the point yet where you should meet my dad. I mean, he’s great and all, and if we weren’t going on a date I probably wouldn’t have any qualms about you meeting him but yeah… while I’ve never brought home a guy before, I just know he’ll get a little overprotective. So yeah, let’s go out. Where’s your bike?”
Kurt had obviously thought they were going on the bike as he was dressed in this leather suit, of sorts, and looking stupidly hot with his hair swept up. They were certainly going to notice him in Scandals.
“Yeah, I didn’t bring the bike, I actually have a ride to where we’re going.”
Wanting to keep a certain element of mystery and surprise, he handed a small card to Kurt.
“What’s that?” Kurt said, examining the card. “Oh my god, that’s a fake ID, Blaine,” he added, in a hushed voice.
“Yeah, you’re gonna need it where we’re going.”
Thankfully, Kurt mostly looked excited and not nervous. Blaine had gotten the impression that Kurt’s ideas of rebellion were pretty tame.
When they got to the car, Wendy introduced herself to Kurt who looked curiously at her.
“Oh,” he said when he was able to fit her in amongst the people Blaine had talked about. “You’re Blaine’s old tutor.”
“I prefer a friend,” Wendy said smiling.
“And enabler,” Blaine added. “Or I should say, liberator.”
Kurt looked a bit confused so Blaine launched into the tale of poor, lonely, homeschooled Blaine and the party girl who saved him.
Kurt was pleasantly tipsy. Knowing that he was a lightweight when it came to drinking, he’d only had a couple of cocktails. Blaine, on the other hand, was a little more sloshed. The guys there seemed to know him and some of them wanted to buy him drinks. Not that any of them were hitting on Blaine. Instead they all looked appreciatively at Kurt, whose inebriated state had him preening just a little bit.
Scandals was just what you could expect from a gay bar in a small town in the Mid-West. What little decor there was underlined stereotypical masculinity with just a hint of 80s nostalgia. With the exception of a couple of Britney and Gaga songs, the music they played was all older than Kurt himself, but he liked that. Still loads of tracks he could dance to, and dance he did. The leather suit made him feel hot and sweaty but feeling Blaine moving against him, touching him, Kurt felt sexy, which was something he hadn’t really felt before.
“Don’t you two look cute?” One of the patrons came up to them, looking at them with what looked like appreciation to Kurt’s eyes. The guy was probably somewhere in his late thirties, maybe even in his early forties. Kurt just laughed at his comment, swaying a bit in Blaine’s arms.
That might have been the wrong thing to do, as the guy took it as an invitation to move behind Kurt, putting his hands on Kurt’s hips and pressing against him. That sexy feeling completely vanished and instead Kurt felt sick, but before he could react Blaine had realized what was going on. He pulled Kurt away from the guy and stepped in front of him.
“Hands off him,” Blaine growled. The possessiveness amused Kurt more than anything but the guy, on the other hand, wasn’t happy that he’d been told not to touch the merchandise.
“I would’ve thought you’d share, Anderson, judging from how you’ve thrown yourself around,” the guy said in a snide voice.
“Excuse me.” Blaine sounded livid. “What I do and don’t do doesn’t have anything to do with whether Kurt here is comfortable with some sleezebag groping his ass.”
“Geez, you’re the last person I would’ve thought would turn into a prude,” the guy said as he stalked away.
Kurt stood there, feeling almost rooted to the floor.
“You okay?” Blaine asked, moving away from the middle of the dance floor. It took Kurt few moments to get his limbs moving in order to follow him. He made a noncommittal sound as if to indicate how okay he was.
“I’m sorry,” Blaine said, sitting down on a nearby chair. Kurt looked at him, not understanding what Blaine was apologizing for.
“I mean, I’m not a gatekeeper or anything like that to your body. This wasn’t my call to make.”
“Uhm, oh, yeah… I see,” Kurt said, finally comprehending what Blaine was going on about. “I didn’t mind?”
“Just… okay, cool. I’m glad you didn’t mind… geez, I’m not sober enough for this conversation. Wanna get back on the dance floor?”
With the music beckoning them, an old Depeche Mode song starting up with an electric keyboard riff playing, Kurt, with a smile, put out his hand for Blaine to take.
+
It was mid morning when Kurt woke up, his mouth feeling dry. He wasn’t alone in bed but that wasn’t a surprise to him. When Wendy had come to pick them up at Scandals, she’d said something about her roommate to Blaine who’d sighed in irritation. Apparently he’d planned to crash at Wendy’s place but that wasn’t an option anymore. He hadn’t seemed keen on going to his house, saying something about his parents. Without giving it too much thought, Kurt had suggested that Blaine could crash at his place. Blaine’s face had lit up and then he’d solemnly promised that there wouldn’t be any funny business. Kurt had laughed at that. They weren’t there quite yet and they were both well aware of that, no matter whether they were sober or drunk.
There were faint sounds coming from downstairs, indicating that some of the other inhabitants of the house were already up. Kurt’s money was on his father and Carole as Finn always used every opportunity possible to sleep in.
Pulling himself up in the bed, he looked at the other occupant who was still dead to the world, his curly mop sticking out from under the sheet he had pulled over himself. Kurt got up, tiptoeing to his en suite bathroom to pee, brush his teeth and have a sip of water. Then he planned to freshen up at his vanity but as he stood in the bathroom with the toothbrush, he heard the door to his bedroom being opened and his father’s voice sounded out:
“Hey buddy, wake up. You were promising me that we would cook breakfast together and… you’re not Kurt.”
With his mouth still full of foaming toothpaste, Kurt came running back into his bedroom and saw his father standing over his bed, staring at a very disorientated-looking Blaine.
Then his father noticed him.
“Care to explain, Kurt?”
Making a “please wait” gesture with his hand, Kurt ducked back into the bathroom to spit out the toothpaste and rinse his mouth.
His father was now standing with his arms crossed over his chest and Blaine was sitting up in the bed, looking like he wanted to sink into the pillows and disappear.
“Yeah, uhm, Dad, this is Blaine, my… gosh, we’ve… okay, we’re dating but… yeah, Blaine, this is my dad, Burt Hummel.” Kurt looked between them but both his father and Blaine had deemed the situation awkward enough without them shaking hands at this point.
“So, Kurt, I’m gonna go downstairs now and I’d appreciate it if we could have a word.” His father didn’t even look at him when he left the room and a sense of dread settled in the pit of Kurt’s stomach.
“Shit, I’m… we didn’t think this one through, Kurt,” Blaine said, looking forlorn.
“I swear I didn’t expect him to come into my bedroom so early. I had planned on telling him that you slept on the floor or on top of the sheets or something but…” Kurt looked over to the bed; there was no way he could feed that story to his father now. All he could hope for was that his dad wouldn’t physically kick Blaine out.
Taking those steps down to the kitchen felt like the longest walk ever to Kurt. His feet felt heavy, like his socks had been filled with lead.
Kurt’s cup had been set out on the kitchen table, filled with steaming hot coffee. His father was standing next to the table, waiting, a bit like an interrogator. Kurt could almost imagine a desk lamp on the table.
“Sit, Kurt.”
Kurt did exactly that. There was no disobeying Burt Hummel when he used that tone of voice.
“So, care to explain why there is a strange boy sleeping in your bed?”
It was obvious that the alcohol had been clouding Kurt’s judgement when he came up with the idea of letting Blaine stay over. He should have known that this wouldn’t go unnoticed by his father and that he wouldn’t be pleased.
“Uhm, yeah, we were out last night and Blaine was drunk and our place was closer and I thought…”
“Wait,” his father interrupted. “You kids are drinking?”
Kurt wanted to roll his eyes at his father. While he himself hadn’t had many drinks since the Bambi incident back in sophomore year, until last night at least, Finn had been drinking numerous times and had come home more than little buzzed. At most, Carole had added to his chores but only after cooking him something greasy for his hangover.
“Yes.” Kurt didn’t want to lie but he also knew that any attempts to defend himself wouldn’t go down well with his father at the moment.
“You know that’s illegal? And dangerous? I mean, people can take advantage of you when you’re drunk, and I sure hope that you kids weren’t driving.”
Maybe getting his dad occupied with the fact they had been drinking would have him forgetting about Blaine.
“We weren’t driving, I would never do that. You know that, Dad.”
“Well, I’d thought that you wouldn’t sleep with some stranger underneath my roof without asking me but there is currently evidence to the contrary in your room. I don’t ask for much, Kurt. Showing me a little respect isn’t asking too much.” Burt had taken off his cap, running his hand over his head.
“Nothing happened!”
“No need to be yelling. Carole and Finn are still sleeping.”
“I just… we might be dating and all, but Blaine really needed a place to crash and nothing was going to happen. It was late so I didn’t think…”
“That’s right, Kurt. You didn’t think. You didn’t think while getting drunk, you didn’t think while inviting a stranger into your bed… Kurt, you’re putting yourself in a harm’s way.”
Having his father be disappointed in him was so much worse than having him be angry. Even though Kurt wasn’t completely convinced he should apologize for having Blaine stay over, he knew he had to apologize.
“I’m sorry, Dad. If I want Blaine to stay over again, I’ll ask and I’ll accept your decision.”
Burt harrumphed and put his cap back on his head.
“You’re a good kid, Kurt. Carole and I worry enough about Finn when it comes to this stuff and I… let’s just say that I know you’ve got enough ambition to make it out of Lima, so I would hope you wouldn’t get yourself in trouble that might keep you here longer than necessary. Now go and get that Blaine kid and I’ll cook you something. Though I don’t think I’m gonna attempt those shirred eggs you were talking about.”
Kurt couldn’t help but chuckle as he got up to fetch Blaine.
Mercedes didn’t share any of her Monday classes with Kurt, but she shared her first period American History with Finn and Rachel, and Finn had spent the entire class telling them all about what Kurt had been up to over the weekend. American History with Mrs. Hagberg was the best place in McKinley to gossip, because Mrs. Hagberg never took any notice of what her students were doing - most of them were sleeping, except for those who wanted to gossip, like Mercedes.
Everything Finn had told her sounded so unlike Kurt, she would have accused Finn of making it up if she thought he had the imagination. But Finn didn’t make up stories about people, least of all Kurt. He knew what Kurt would do to him if he found out.
She kept an eye out for Kurt the entire morning but by lunchtime she still hadn’t seen him. Instead she ran into Sam.
“Hey,” Sam said, waving her over in the caféteria. Mercedes had some vague plans for sitting with Shane but she couldn’t see him anywhere.
“Hey yourself,” she said as she sat down at the table where Sam was sitting.
“So, did you do anything fun over the weekend?” Sam asked. Mercedes had a hard time recalling what she’d done, her mind was so filled with Kurt’s alleged weekend activities.
“No, but I heard Blaine got Kurt into a lot of trouble.”
There was a look of confusion on Sam’s face, his eyebrows knitted and he was frowning slightly.
“What do you mean?”
“He apparently took Kurt to a gay bar and got him drunk, then slept with him at Kurt’s house. I heard Kurt’s dad was furious.”
“Did Kurt tell you that?”
“No, but like the next best source, Finn.” Mercedes couldn’t help but feeling a bit anxious, sharing this with Sam. She could sense that Sam wasn’t sharing her concerns.
“Oh, yeah, I wouldn’t call him the next best source of anything, even though he might have witnessed the whole thing. Number one, Finn loves to jump to conclusions, and number two, he has like this rivalry thing going with Blaine, which I’m trying to stay out of ‘cause I’m friends with them both.” Sam still looked unhappy.
“But you know, Kurt would never…”
“Kurt is eighteen. So he shouldn’t be drinking and all that, but it’s not like Blaine is just trouble and into getting others into trouble, you know, despite the tough guy thing. Maybe Kurt has just been waiting to do something wild.”
Mercedes didn’t really know what to say more. What Sam was saying didn’t convince her much, but she changed the subject and tried her best not to think too much about how unfairly cute Sam was or about the flirty little looks he was giving her.
As she was cleaning off her tray before heading to her next class, Shane came up to her.
“Why were you having lunch with Sam?” There was tension in his voice.
That shook Mercedes out of her reverie. The jealousy was apparent in every line of his face.
“I just had things to talk about with him and I didn’t see you anywhere.”
“I was sitting at the footballers’ table. If you’d just checked there, you’d have seen me, but no, you just had to sit with Sam.”
“Whoa, I don’t need to explain why I want to talk to my friends, Shane.” Mercedes slammed down her tray onto the pile of dirty ones and turned away from Shane. Thankfully, Shane didn’t follow her.
+
She wasn’t exactly proud of it but she ended up ambushing Kurt at his locker after classes had ended that day, before they were needed at West Side Story rehearsals.
“So what’s the deal about you and Blaine and your wild weekend?” he asked, without any preamble.
“Wild weekend? Where did you hear that?” Kurt didn’t exactly look confused, more amused if anything.
“Just, Finn told me that Blaine got you drunk and… you slept together,” she added in a hushed voice.
Kurt started laughing.
“Well, I can’t deny the whole getting drunk thing but it wasn’t like Blaine was pouring the liquor down my throat. I could have said no but we had fake ID’s and a designated driver, so why not? I mean, I had to get over the whole April Rhodes fiasco eventually. And Blaine and I slept together, but I need put an emphasis on the sleeping part. Though I guess, since Santana has come up to me twice today to shout ‘Wanky!’ at me, my lily white reputation might be tarnished a little.”
“Oh,” was all Mercedes could come up with. She knew that while, up until recently, she and Kurt were similarly inexperienced when it came to the matters of the flesh, Kurt wasn’t planning on playing the same waiting game she was. Still, his lack of mortification felt strange to her. She couldn’t fathom how she’d feel if anyone at school thought she was sleeping with Shane, or with Sam for that matter.
“If Finn knows, does your dad know?” She asked, trying to get her mind away from the mere thought of sleeping with Sam.
“Oh.” Kurt was blushing. “He kind of found Blaine sleeping in my bed and he wasn’t all that pleased, but you know, he didn’t throw Blaine out or anything. Actually, he made us breakfast. But he wants me to put in a few hours at the garage instead. Not until after the musical, though.”
“So you and Blaine? Are you like… serious boyfriends?”
Kurt pursed his lips but it was like something had lit up in his eyes.
“Maybe, it’s still so early, but… I’ve never felt this way about anyone.” There was a tiny smile on Kurt’s face.
“Lucky you,” she said, without thinking.
“Oh, so you and Shane? It’s not serious? But he, like, dotes on you.”
“Uh, he does but… there’s someone else I like,” she said in a lowered voice.
“Sam?” Even though Kurt had said it like it was a question, Mercedes knew he was on to her.
“Yeah,” she sighed. “I don’t know what to do. I mean, I like Shane and he treats me so well… but I like Sam too and he’s always flirting and… I don’t know. I do need to do something because Shane is getting really jealous.”
“Yeah, it’s not like you to be leading a guy on. But what does your heart tell you? When you close your eyes and imagine, like, a really good kiss, like the best kiss ever, who do you imagine: Shane, Sam or Shemar Moore?”
“Kurt,” she whined; he was being seriously unfair. But she knew the answer and it wasn’t Shemar Moore.
“And?”
“I… it’s Sam,” she whispered.
“Well, I’m not going to tell you what to do, but I don’t think you’re doing anyone any favors by keeping things as they are,” Kurt added, shrugging a little.
And she knew he was right.
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