Fic: When Fears Are Realized
Title: When Fears Are Realized
Characters / Pairings: Vague Kurt/Blaine. Burt, Carole, Finn.
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Vague spoilers for 2.15
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee.
Warnings: Child abuse.
Summary: Burt's worried and Kurt doesn't understand why. Then Blaine shows up on their doorstep.
A/N: I'm convinced that the look Burt was giving Blaine as he was walking away from their conversation wasn't of annoyance but of concern. This has absolutely nothing to do with the Nick-Verse, and it won't. This isn't the storyline I'm using for Blaine in that verse, but as always, this story got in the way and wouldn't let me work on anything else until I wrote it. So here you go.
“I’m worried about your friend.”
Kurt looks up from his homework to where his dad is standing just inside his doorway. He creases his forehead in confusion, thinking over what’s been happening in his friends’ lives that would have his dad concerned.
“Which friend?” he asks, setting his books to the side and giving his dad his full attention. His homework could wait. It is the weekend, after all.
“Blaine.”
“Blaine?” It isn’t the name Kurt is expecting to hear and he wonders just when his dad had time to be concerned about Blaine. “Why are you worried about him?”
Burt crosses the room and sits next to Kurt on his bed. He takes his ever present cap from his head and turns it over in his hands.
“He stopped by the shop a couple days ago, said he was worried about you...”
“Wait. Is that what prompted ‘The Talk?’” Kurt interrupts, incredulous. He looks ready to drive to Waynesfield and give the other boy a piece of his mind, so Burt puts a restraining hand on his arm to stop him from moving.
“Yes. He may have helped move it along, but that talk was going to happen anyways. Blaine just made it happen sooner.”
“Oh. So he came to talk to you?”
“Yeah, and that’s fine. I’m glad that your friends care so much about you that they can talk to me about their concerns, but son... what do you know about Blaine’s family?”
“Not much,” says Kurt. “He’s got an older sister, she goes to Yale, and his mom is never really around, so a lot of the time it's just him and his dad. Dad... why are you so worried about him? What did he say to you?”
Kurt’s never had any reason to think that Blaine’s home life is a bad one. Sure, he doesn’t really talk about it a lot, but now that Kurt thinks about it, not talking about something isn’t always good. Blaine does tend to come over to Kurt’s house to hang out a lot and they spend most of their weekends together. In fact, the only time they’ve not seen each other for more than 24 hours was over Christmas break, when Blaine went to Massachusetts to visit his grandparents.
“Oh my God.” His voice is soft, almost a whisper, and Burt has to lean towards him to hear, but Kurt doesn’t say anything else. Looking at his son, Burt can see that Kurt’s come to some shocking realization about his friend.
“What, son?” he asks.
“Dad... I don’t know.” Kurt turns to look at his dad, eyes intense. “What did he say to you?”
“It really wasn’t much, just enough to get me thinking. He mentioned that his relationship with his dad isn’t like what we have and that his dad tried to straighten him out. That was the part that got me, you know? I look at you... and, and I can’t imagine doing anything to force you to be someone you aren’t.”
“That’s because you’re amazing, Dad.” Kurt smiles, eyes bright and sad. “But not everyone is as lucky as me. Try not to worry about Blaine too much, okay? I’ll talk to him on Monday.”
“Yeah? Okay.” Burt stands, patting Kurt’s knee as he stands and walks to the doorway. He’s halfway out when he turns to look back at Kurt, who’s gathered his books and is focusing on his notes. “Hey, kid.”
“Hmm?” Kurt looks up at him.
“I love you.”
Kurt smiles, his whole face lifting from the distressed frown that he’d been wearing.
“Love you too, Dad.”
As it turns out, Monday doesn’t come fast enough.
The weather on Sunday night is disastrous. It’s pouring rain and every time the windows tremble they Kurt braces himself for the loud clap of thunder that’s sure to follow. The Hummel-Hudson family is crowded around their dining table, food piled high on their plates when there’s a stuttering knock on the front door. Curious as to who is stupid enough to be out in this weather, Burt excuses himself from the table to answer it. It's possible that Kurt has ordered yet more clothes online and it's the UPS guy.
He doesn’t expect to find a trembling, soaked to the bone, Blaine Anderson on his front porch. His hair is plastered to his forehead, water running down his face in rivulets and he’s got his coat wrapped so tightly around him that it's a wonder he isn’t cutting off circulation. He’s staring at his shoes, but the light spilling out from inside the house does nothing to hide the split lip and bruised fingers.
“Blaine?” Burt reaches out a hand to the boy, drawing back when he flinches from him. “Hey, kid. It's okay. You know where you are?”
Blaine gives a shaky nod, head wobbling a little as though he’s lost control of his neck. “K-K-Kurt’s,” he stutters out, teeth chattering.
“Right. You’re at Kurt’s. You remember who I am?” Blaine gives another shaky nod. “Okay. Then you know I’m not gonna hurt you, right kid?” Burt reaches out again, sighing in obvious relief when Blaine let’s him place a hand on his shoulder. The kid’s looking up at him now, tears pooling in his eyes and Burt’s heart aches.
“Come on,” he says. “Let’s get you out of this cold and warmed up.” He leads Blaine inside and steers him toward the couch, gently pushing on his shoulders to get him to sit. “You just sit here. I’m going to get Kurt and some blankets and I’ll be right back, okay?” He starts to remove his hand, but there’s suddenly icy fingers wrapped around it and frightened eyes staring up at him.
“N-No! Ple-Please don’t... don’t l-leave.”
“No, hey. Okay,” he says, crouching down beside the couch and reaching out a hand to smooth Blaine’s hair back from his forehead. “Okay. You’re okay, now.” A gasp from the doorway jerks Burt’s attention from the boy in front of him and causes Blaine to sink in on himself. Carole’s standing there, a hand to her mouth and eyes wide as she takes in the sight before turning to the hallway, presumably to get some blankets. Looking back to Blaine, Burt rubs soothing circles on the back of the hand still clutching his.
“Blaine?” He waits for the boy to turn to him, drawing his knees up and laying his head on them. “You want Kurt?” Blaine doesn’t say anything, but the pleading in his eyes is all the answer Burt needs.
“Kurt!” he calls out. “Can you come here, please?” He hears the scrape of a chair in the dining room and can feel Blaine tensing as Kurt’s footsteps get come towards the living room.
“Blaine?” Kurt’s voice is soft, disbelieving, as if he isn’t sure the sight in front of him is real. Blaine turns his head to look at him and his face crumbles as the sobs he’s been repressing tear themselves free. Kurt’s across the room in a second, sitting next to Blaine and pulling his unresisting body to him. He cards a hand through Blaine’s curls just as Carole comes back with the blankets and immediately wraps one around the trembling boy on the couch. Blaine’s got his face tucked into Kurt’s chest, almost heaving with the force of his cries. Kurt grabs one of the blankets and spreads it out across the two of them, using one corner to wipe at Blaine’s hair in an attempt to dry it out. He’s murmuring nonsense into Blaine’s ear, telling him that it's okay, that they’ll work through this, that he’s safe, but Burt isn’t sure Blaine’s hearing them.
“What’s going on?” He doesn’t know how long Finn’s been standing in the doorway, but judging by the confused look on his face, it isn’t long. Carole jumps in before Burt has a chance to, telling Finn to go find something for Blaine to change into, something warm. Finn nods absently, turning to go to his room.
Blaine’s stopped sobbing now, instead just hanging on Kurt, body limp and Burt catches Kurt’s gaze. His son’s eyes have a helpless quality to them at the moment, silently asking his dad what he needs to do. But Burt’s clueless, he doesn’t know what to do either, but he takes a deep breath and tries.
“Blaine?” he asks, reaching out again to rub soothing circles on the boys back. He gets a shaky intake of breath in return, and flattens his lips together, not sure how this conversation is going to work.
“Blaine. I need you to look at me, okay?” It takes a few minutes, but Blaine does shift so that his cheek is resting against Kurt and he’s looking at Burt, face utterly blank.
“Thank you. How are you feeling?”
Blaine shrugs awkwardly from his position, teeth still chattering. “C-cold.”
“Yes, well, being soaked through with freezing rain will do that. Finn went to get you some dry clothes. He’ll be back in a minute and then you can get changed and get warmed up, okay?” Burt takes a breath here, glancing back at Kurt who’s looking down at Blaine with a fondness that Burt hasn’t seen out of his son in some time. “Can you tell me what happened?” Blaine freezes, eyes darting away from Burt to pick at the blanket covering him. He shakes his head, but Kurt leans down to whisper something in his ear and he sits up, curling into the corner of the couch and letting Kurt grab one of his hands, curling their fingers together. He doesn’t say anything for awhile, and Carole reappears from where she disappeared into the kitchen, a tray of steaming mugs in her hands. She places it on the coffee table before wrapping Blaine’s other hand around one of them, and he lets out a sigh of relief at the warmth it brings his fingers.
“I got kicked out.” Burt knew it was coming, he was just hoping it wasn’t true.
“Then you’ll stay here,” he responds immediately, causing Blaine’s head the snap up from where he’d ducked it toward the mug, inhaling the steam rising from it.
“No. I-I couldn’t...” Burt holds up a hand to stop him, and Blaine bites his lip to keep from speaking, wincing as his teeth catch on the wound.
“Do you have anywhere else to go.” The boy looks pitiful, eyes downcast and brow furrowed. He gives a small shake of his head, and Burt knows that the fight just left him. “Then you will stay here. For as long as you need to, you hear me?” Blaine just looks at him, lips trembling and tears still falling from his eyes.
“Thank you,” he whispers, voice thick.
“So what happened? Why?” Kurt asks.
“I-I don’t know where to start. I guess... three years ago. That was when I told him I was gay, and he... he didn’t talk to me for two weeks.” Kurt clings a little tighter to Blaine’s hand at that, and Burt tries to imagine not talking to Kurt for two weeks. He can’t. “There’s always been a plan, in my family, and I was deviating. He doesn’t like it when we deviate.”
“A plan?” Burt asks. Who plans out their kid’s life?
“Yeah. I was to play both soccer and lacrosse. Graduate with honors from Dalton and then I’d go to Princeton and study law. Get a job in the family company and find a trophy wife. He eventually adapted it to my sexuality, I’d still marry a girl, but I could have a boyfriend on the side. “As a treat,” he said. As if I’d ever be able to just use someone like that.” He’s looking down at his mug again, twirling a finger around the rim.
“Today... I told him I didn’t want to go to Princeton. Told him that I wanted to go out to L.A. or to New York and go to an art college. He just kind of... snapped, I guess. Started throwing things. He-He said...” Blaine’s breath stutters a little and Kurt rubs at his back, encouraging him.
“He said that the Anderson’s were a legacy at Princeton, and that there was no way his... his fag son was going to end that.” Blaine spits out the last half of his sentence as though it leaves a bad taste in his mouth. "And then he grabbed me, and he threw me out. I didn't have my keys, so I just walked here." He curls up again, turning his face to press into Kurt’s shoulder. Carole’s got tears in her eyes, wanting nothing more than to grab the boy and pull him to her, protect him forever, but as she looks at the two of them huddled on the couch she realizes that it isn’t her job to protect him. It's Kurt’s.
Finn appeared in the doorway sometime during Blaine’s explanation and he stares at Blaine, disbelief etched across his features. What kind of person said those things to their son? He wanted to find this guy and punch him, because every time he’s met Blaine the boy has been so confident and to see him broken like this changes everything Finn thought he knew about him.
Burt, for his part is ready to drive to Blaine’s house and kick the everlasting crap out of his father. It doesn’t matter what your viewpoint on his sexuality it, or if you think him going to an art college is the wrong decision. There is absolutely no reason to ever treat your son the way that Mr. Anderson has treated his. It didn’t matter now. Blaine was here and he was safe, and by God, Burt was going to make sure it stayed that way.
“Blaine,” he said. “I want you to listen to me. You, from what little I’ve seen, are an amazing person and a fantastic singer. If art college is what you want to do, then by all means, you do it. You get scholarships and you apply for loans and you get as far away from the pain and abuse as you possibly can.”
Blaine looks up at the word abuse and opens his mouth to protest, but Burt beats him to it.
“Don’t tell me this isn’t abuse. Judging from your lip it's not only emotional but physical as well.” Blaine doesn’t contradict him, just nods.
“Finn,” he says, addressing his stepson. “Did you get those clothes?”
“Yeah. Right here.” Finn hands the clothes to Blaine, who shoots him a small smile in appreciation.
“Okay. You boys head upstairs. Get cleaned up and changed. I’ll be up in a few to check on you, okay?” Kurt stands, pulling Blaine up with him before heading for the stairs. Blaine just follows, still looking lost. Burt lets them have a few minutes, spending the time downstairs thinking about tonight’s events. He doesn’t understand how someone can hurt their own child. He shakes his head and stands, wincing as his legs ache from kneeling on the floor. He goes upstairs slowly, pushing open Kurt’s door to see the two boys sitting shoulder to shoulder on Kurt’s bed, both dressed in sweatpants. Blaine’s got on a McKinley hoodie as well, whereas Kurt’s just wearing a simple white t-shirt.
“Hey boys. You feeling warmer, Blaine?”
“Yes, sir. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, kid, and you can call me Mr. Hummel. None of that ‘sir’ stuff in this house.”
“Dad,” Kurt starts, but Burt holds up a hand to stop him.
“Blaine, you’re going to stay with Kurt tonight and we’ll get you set up in the guest room tomorrow. I’m going to call the school in the morning and excuse you both from classes. I know you have rehearsal tomorrow afternoon, so you can sleep in and then go to that. We’ll also stop by your house and get some of your things for you, okay?” Blaine just nods, but Kurt stands and crosses the room to give Burt a tight hug, murmuring a soft thanks in his ear. Burt can see Blaine’s envious look from over his son’s shoulder, and pats Kurt on the back to get him to let go. He steps over the bed and pulls Blaine up and into a hug before the boy can say anything.
“Everything’s going to be okay,” he says into the boy’s hair and feels him relax against him. Burt always took care of his boys, and judging from the way Blaine’s relationship was going with Kurt, Blaine was going to be one of those boys before long.
Part Two
Characters / Pairings: Vague Kurt/Blaine. Burt, Carole, Finn.
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Vague spoilers for 2.15
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee.
Warnings: Child abuse.
Summary: Burt's worried and Kurt doesn't understand why. Then Blaine shows up on their doorstep.
A/N: I'm convinced that the look Burt was giving Blaine as he was walking away from their conversation wasn't of annoyance but of concern. This has absolutely nothing to do with the Nick-Verse, and it won't. This isn't the storyline I'm using for Blaine in that verse, but as always, this story got in the way and wouldn't let me work on anything else until I wrote it. So here you go.
“I’m worried about your friend.”
Kurt looks up from his homework to where his dad is standing just inside his doorway. He creases his forehead in confusion, thinking over what’s been happening in his friends’ lives that would have his dad concerned.
“Which friend?” he asks, setting his books to the side and giving his dad his full attention. His homework could wait. It is the weekend, after all.
“Blaine.”
“Blaine?” It isn’t the name Kurt is expecting to hear and he wonders just when his dad had time to be concerned about Blaine. “Why are you worried about him?”
Burt crosses the room and sits next to Kurt on his bed. He takes his ever present cap from his head and turns it over in his hands.
“He stopped by the shop a couple days ago, said he was worried about you...”
“Wait. Is that what prompted ‘The Talk?’” Kurt interrupts, incredulous. He looks ready to drive to Waynesfield and give the other boy a piece of his mind, so Burt puts a restraining hand on his arm to stop him from moving.
“Yes. He may have helped move it along, but that talk was going to happen anyways. Blaine just made it happen sooner.”
“Oh. So he came to talk to you?”
“Yeah, and that’s fine. I’m glad that your friends care so much about you that they can talk to me about their concerns, but son... what do you know about Blaine’s family?”
“Not much,” says Kurt. “He’s got an older sister, she goes to Yale, and his mom is never really around, so a lot of the time it's just him and his dad. Dad... why are you so worried about him? What did he say to you?”
Kurt’s never had any reason to think that Blaine’s home life is a bad one. Sure, he doesn’t really talk about it a lot, but now that Kurt thinks about it, not talking about something isn’t always good. Blaine does tend to come over to Kurt’s house to hang out a lot and they spend most of their weekends together. In fact, the only time they’ve not seen each other for more than 24 hours was over Christmas break, when Blaine went to Massachusetts to visit his grandparents.
“Oh my God.” His voice is soft, almost a whisper, and Burt has to lean towards him to hear, but Kurt doesn’t say anything else. Looking at his son, Burt can see that Kurt’s come to some shocking realization about his friend.
“What, son?” he asks.
“Dad... I don’t know.” Kurt turns to look at his dad, eyes intense. “What did he say to you?”
“It really wasn’t much, just enough to get me thinking. He mentioned that his relationship with his dad isn’t like what we have and that his dad tried to straighten him out. That was the part that got me, you know? I look at you... and, and I can’t imagine doing anything to force you to be someone you aren’t.”
“That’s because you’re amazing, Dad.” Kurt smiles, eyes bright and sad. “But not everyone is as lucky as me. Try not to worry about Blaine too much, okay? I’ll talk to him on Monday.”
“Yeah? Okay.” Burt stands, patting Kurt’s knee as he stands and walks to the doorway. He’s halfway out when he turns to look back at Kurt, who’s gathered his books and is focusing on his notes. “Hey, kid.”
“Hmm?” Kurt looks up at him.
“I love you.”
Kurt smiles, his whole face lifting from the distressed frown that he’d been wearing.
“Love you too, Dad.”
As it turns out, Monday doesn’t come fast enough.
The weather on Sunday night is disastrous. It’s pouring rain and every time the windows tremble they Kurt braces himself for the loud clap of thunder that’s sure to follow. The Hummel-Hudson family is crowded around their dining table, food piled high on their plates when there’s a stuttering knock on the front door. Curious as to who is stupid enough to be out in this weather, Burt excuses himself from the table to answer it. It's possible that Kurt has ordered yet more clothes online and it's the UPS guy.
He doesn’t expect to find a trembling, soaked to the bone, Blaine Anderson on his front porch. His hair is plastered to his forehead, water running down his face in rivulets and he’s got his coat wrapped so tightly around him that it's a wonder he isn’t cutting off circulation. He’s staring at his shoes, but the light spilling out from inside the house does nothing to hide the split lip and bruised fingers.
“Blaine?” Burt reaches out a hand to the boy, drawing back when he flinches from him. “Hey, kid. It's okay. You know where you are?”
Blaine gives a shaky nod, head wobbling a little as though he’s lost control of his neck. “K-K-Kurt’s,” he stutters out, teeth chattering.
“Right. You’re at Kurt’s. You remember who I am?” Blaine gives another shaky nod. “Okay. Then you know I’m not gonna hurt you, right kid?” Burt reaches out again, sighing in obvious relief when Blaine let’s him place a hand on his shoulder. The kid’s looking up at him now, tears pooling in his eyes and Burt’s heart aches.
“Come on,” he says. “Let’s get you out of this cold and warmed up.” He leads Blaine inside and steers him toward the couch, gently pushing on his shoulders to get him to sit. “You just sit here. I’m going to get Kurt and some blankets and I’ll be right back, okay?” He starts to remove his hand, but there’s suddenly icy fingers wrapped around it and frightened eyes staring up at him.
“N-No! Ple-Please don’t... don’t l-leave.”
“No, hey. Okay,” he says, crouching down beside the couch and reaching out a hand to smooth Blaine’s hair back from his forehead. “Okay. You’re okay, now.” A gasp from the doorway jerks Burt’s attention from the boy in front of him and causes Blaine to sink in on himself. Carole’s standing there, a hand to her mouth and eyes wide as she takes in the sight before turning to the hallway, presumably to get some blankets. Looking back to Blaine, Burt rubs soothing circles on the back of the hand still clutching his.
“Blaine?” He waits for the boy to turn to him, drawing his knees up and laying his head on them. “You want Kurt?” Blaine doesn’t say anything, but the pleading in his eyes is all the answer Burt needs.
“Kurt!” he calls out. “Can you come here, please?” He hears the scrape of a chair in the dining room and can feel Blaine tensing as Kurt’s footsteps get come towards the living room.
“Blaine?” Kurt’s voice is soft, disbelieving, as if he isn’t sure the sight in front of him is real. Blaine turns his head to look at him and his face crumbles as the sobs he’s been repressing tear themselves free. Kurt’s across the room in a second, sitting next to Blaine and pulling his unresisting body to him. He cards a hand through Blaine’s curls just as Carole comes back with the blankets and immediately wraps one around the trembling boy on the couch. Blaine’s got his face tucked into Kurt’s chest, almost heaving with the force of his cries. Kurt grabs one of the blankets and spreads it out across the two of them, using one corner to wipe at Blaine’s hair in an attempt to dry it out. He’s murmuring nonsense into Blaine’s ear, telling him that it's okay, that they’ll work through this, that he’s safe, but Burt isn’t sure Blaine’s hearing them.
“What’s going on?” He doesn’t know how long Finn’s been standing in the doorway, but judging by the confused look on his face, it isn’t long. Carole jumps in before Burt has a chance to, telling Finn to go find something for Blaine to change into, something warm. Finn nods absently, turning to go to his room.
Blaine’s stopped sobbing now, instead just hanging on Kurt, body limp and Burt catches Kurt’s gaze. His son’s eyes have a helpless quality to them at the moment, silently asking his dad what he needs to do. But Burt’s clueless, he doesn’t know what to do either, but he takes a deep breath and tries.
“Blaine?” he asks, reaching out again to rub soothing circles on the boys back. He gets a shaky intake of breath in return, and flattens his lips together, not sure how this conversation is going to work.
“Blaine. I need you to look at me, okay?” It takes a few minutes, but Blaine does shift so that his cheek is resting against Kurt and he’s looking at Burt, face utterly blank.
“Thank you. How are you feeling?”
Blaine shrugs awkwardly from his position, teeth still chattering. “C-cold.”
“Yes, well, being soaked through with freezing rain will do that. Finn went to get you some dry clothes. He’ll be back in a minute and then you can get changed and get warmed up, okay?” Burt takes a breath here, glancing back at Kurt who’s looking down at Blaine with a fondness that Burt hasn’t seen out of his son in some time. “Can you tell me what happened?” Blaine freezes, eyes darting away from Burt to pick at the blanket covering him. He shakes his head, but Kurt leans down to whisper something in his ear and he sits up, curling into the corner of the couch and letting Kurt grab one of his hands, curling their fingers together. He doesn’t say anything for awhile, and Carole reappears from where she disappeared into the kitchen, a tray of steaming mugs in her hands. She places it on the coffee table before wrapping Blaine’s other hand around one of them, and he lets out a sigh of relief at the warmth it brings his fingers.
“I got kicked out.” Burt knew it was coming, he was just hoping it wasn’t true.
“Then you’ll stay here,” he responds immediately, causing Blaine’s head the snap up from where he’d ducked it toward the mug, inhaling the steam rising from it.
“No. I-I couldn’t...” Burt holds up a hand to stop him, and Blaine bites his lip to keep from speaking, wincing as his teeth catch on the wound.
“Do you have anywhere else to go.” The boy looks pitiful, eyes downcast and brow furrowed. He gives a small shake of his head, and Burt knows that the fight just left him. “Then you will stay here. For as long as you need to, you hear me?” Blaine just looks at him, lips trembling and tears still falling from his eyes.
“Thank you,” he whispers, voice thick.
“So what happened? Why?” Kurt asks.
“I-I don’t know where to start. I guess... three years ago. That was when I told him I was gay, and he... he didn’t talk to me for two weeks.” Kurt clings a little tighter to Blaine’s hand at that, and Burt tries to imagine not talking to Kurt for two weeks. He can’t. “There’s always been a plan, in my family, and I was deviating. He doesn’t like it when we deviate.”
“A plan?” Burt asks. Who plans out their kid’s life?
“Yeah. I was to play both soccer and lacrosse. Graduate with honors from Dalton and then I’d go to Princeton and study law. Get a job in the family company and find a trophy wife. He eventually adapted it to my sexuality, I’d still marry a girl, but I could have a boyfriend on the side. “As a treat,” he said. As if I’d ever be able to just use someone like that.” He’s looking down at his mug again, twirling a finger around the rim.
“Today... I told him I didn’t want to go to Princeton. Told him that I wanted to go out to L.A. or to New York and go to an art college. He just kind of... snapped, I guess. Started throwing things. He-He said...” Blaine’s breath stutters a little and Kurt rubs at his back, encouraging him.
“He said that the Anderson’s were a legacy at Princeton, and that there was no way his... his fag son was going to end that.” Blaine spits out the last half of his sentence as though it leaves a bad taste in his mouth. "And then he grabbed me, and he threw me out. I didn't have my keys, so I just walked here." He curls up again, turning his face to press into Kurt’s shoulder. Carole’s got tears in her eyes, wanting nothing more than to grab the boy and pull him to her, protect him forever, but as she looks at the two of them huddled on the couch she realizes that it isn’t her job to protect him. It's Kurt’s.
Finn appeared in the doorway sometime during Blaine’s explanation and he stares at Blaine, disbelief etched across his features. What kind of person said those things to their son? He wanted to find this guy and punch him, because every time he’s met Blaine the boy has been so confident and to see him broken like this changes everything Finn thought he knew about him.
Burt, for his part is ready to drive to Blaine’s house and kick the everlasting crap out of his father. It doesn’t matter what your viewpoint on his sexuality it, or if you think him going to an art college is the wrong decision. There is absolutely no reason to ever treat your son the way that Mr. Anderson has treated his. It didn’t matter now. Blaine was here and he was safe, and by God, Burt was going to make sure it stayed that way.
“Blaine,” he said. “I want you to listen to me. You, from what little I’ve seen, are an amazing person and a fantastic singer. If art college is what you want to do, then by all means, you do it. You get scholarships and you apply for loans and you get as far away from the pain and abuse as you possibly can.”
Blaine looks up at the word abuse and opens his mouth to protest, but Burt beats him to it.
“Don’t tell me this isn’t abuse. Judging from your lip it's not only emotional but physical as well.” Blaine doesn’t contradict him, just nods.
“Finn,” he says, addressing his stepson. “Did you get those clothes?”
“Yeah. Right here.” Finn hands the clothes to Blaine, who shoots him a small smile in appreciation.
“Okay. You boys head upstairs. Get cleaned up and changed. I’ll be up in a few to check on you, okay?” Kurt stands, pulling Blaine up with him before heading for the stairs. Blaine just follows, still looking lost. Burt lets them have a few minutes, spending the time downstairs thinking about tonight’s events. He doesn’t understand how someone can hurt their own child. He shakes his head and stands, wincing as his legs ache from kneeling on the floor. He goes upstairs slowly, pushing open Kurt’s door to see the two boys sitting shoulder to shoulder on Kurt’s bed, both dressed in sweatpants. Blaine’s got on a McKinley hoodie as well, whereas Kurt’s just wearing a simple white t-shirt.
“Hey boys. You feeling warmer, Blaine?”
“Yes, sir. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, kid, and you can call me Mr. Hummel. None of that ‘sir’ stuff in this house.”
“Dad,” Kurt starts, but Burt holds up a hand to stop him.
“Blaine, you’re going to stay with Kurt tonight and we’ll get you set up in the guest room tomorrow. I’m going to call the school in the morning and excuse you both from classes. I know you have rehearsal tomorrow afternoon, so you can sleep in and then go to that. We’ll also stop by your house and get some of your things for you, okay?” Blaine just nods, but Kurt stands and crosses the room to give Burt a tight hug, murmuring a soft thanks in his ear. Burt can see Blaine’s envious look from over his son’s shoulder, and pats Kurt on the back to get him to let go. He steps over the bed and pulls Blaine up and into a hug before the boy can say anything.
“Everything’s going to be okay,” he says into the boy’s hair and feels him relax against him. Burt always took care of his boys, and judging from the way Blaine’s relationship was going with Kurt, Blaine was going to be one of those boys before long.
Part Two