FIC: Forever Home - Chapter 41 of 100
Title: Forever Home - Chapter 41
Author: Shadowc44
Fandom: Glee
Pairing: Kadam (Kurt Hummel/Adam Crawford)
Rating: R
Spoilers: 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: About 5,000 words this chapter. About 161,000 words so far.
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.
Chapter 40
CHAPTER 41
Adam tipped the security guard and thanked him for his trouble.
The man thanked him, then asked, “Is there any possibility, when it’s all put together, I can get a picture to show my wife? She might get a real kick out of it.”
“I’m sure I’ll be getting some pictures, before and while it’s being used. Give me your e-mail address, and I’ll get some to you.”
When the guard was gone again, he could see Kurt was trying very hard to control his impatience, but it wasn’t working. He gave in, naturally.
“Come on, let’s get these inside.”
As soon as they were over the threshold, Kurt asked, “Can we open them now?”
“In a minute,” Adam protested. “I need to use the bathroom. Let me get Harriet out of my bag before I forget, and you can put her and your glasses away. You might want to think of a good spot where you’ll always be able to find them, and leave them there when you take them off.”
“Okay, and I think it’ll be a good idea to not wear my glasses when I change to a cat. I don’t know if they’d go wherever it is my clothes go when I change, or if they’ll shrink like the collar, or if they’ll just fall on the floor.”
“None of those seems like a good option. Here’s Harriet.”
Kurt took the mouse from Adam and petted her, straightening out her fur. He took her and the glasses back to his room.
“Let’s see, let’s put you next to - Bernard. Bearnard? No, Bernard. Harriet, meet Bernard the Bear. Bernie, meet Harriet.” The bear was leaning against a pillow, so he put Harriet on the pillow near his face, so they could talk if they wanted to. He shook his head, knowing it was a ridiculous thought. They were both just stuffed toys, and he knew Harriet wasn’t even meant to be a cuddly toy like Bernie, but one he was meant to bite and chew on and throw around. But she was too pretty to hurt like that, so he was always careful with her.
He decided to put the glasses on his dresser, for now.
He went out to the living room a little while later, and found Adam with the scissors and both boxes.
“Good, you’re here. Did you get Harriet settled?”
“Yep. I introduced her to Bernard, so they’re hanging out together.”
“Bernard?”
“The bear.”
“Ah.” Adam grinned. “Bernard, not Bearnard?”
“I thought about that, but it’s kind of hard to say. And I think he prefers Bernie, but Bearnie just doesn’t work.”
He loved it when Adam laughed, and he wanted to find more ways to make it happen.
The phone rang, and Adam talked briefly to Nancy.
“I’ll be back in a minute, Kurt, to let Nancy in. If you can wait till I get back and we get her sorted out, we can open them together. I want to se the look on your face when you see what’s in the boxes.”
“Better get your camera ready, then, I’m sure both Dad and Lily will want to see it too.”
Kurt had thought he was being sarcastic, but Adam said, “Planned on it. Be back in a minute.”
Kurt rolled his eyes, but he didn’t mind the pictures that much. It was just one more way that Adam was showing him he liked him, and actually wanted to see pictures of him. Of course, most of the pictures were of him as a cat, but he didn’t take that personally. In his opinion, cats were generally cuter than humans.
He gasped as he remembered he should be at his post, by the door, waiting for Adam. If he wasn’t there, Adam might not come back. Well, he knew now that Adam would be back as soon as he could, with Nancy in tow. Whether or not Kurt was sitting in the chair by the door, Adam would show up. Right? But still, why take a chance?
He was waiting as patiently as possible when the door opened, and Adam brought in Nancy’s vacuum cleaner.
“Ah, there you are, Kurt! I wasn’t sure if you’d be waiting there or not.”
He moved out of the way for Nancy. She smiled at Kurt.
“Hi, Kurt! It’s good to see you again. Did you have a good time at the party?”
“Yeah, it was fun! I got to meet some of Adam’s friends, and they were really nice. I’m glad to see you, too.”
He stood up and handed Adam the free pass to the gym. Adam put it in his pocket while Nancy was getting her things set up.
“We already returned the extra chairs to Lily, and Kurt did the dishes, so there’s not a lot for you to do.”
“Yeah, it looks pretty good. I’m sorry I wasn’t here yesterday.”
“It’s alright, things happen. Maybe you can just vacuum the living room and dining room, and I think the rest will be fine till next week.”
Nancy looked at the two boxes that were conspicuously in her way. “Oh, wow, somebody’s been busy shopping online!”
“That would be me,” Adam confirmed, “but they’re things for Kurt. Two of them require some assembly, to create one large item, so he and I will attempt to put it together in his room.”
“If you need any help, just holler,” she offered. “I ended up being the family expert on the “some assembly required” projects.”
“Good to know. I want you to see the finished product when it’s done, if we finish before you leave. And there’s something else we need to talk to you about before you go.”
“Oh?” She looked faintly worried, and Kurt wanted to blurt out what it was, so she wouldn’t fret about it, but knew Adam wanted to wait for some reason.
“It’s something good, don’t worry.” Adam smiled reassuringly at her, and her shoulders relaxed.
Kurt helped Adam push the big boxes into his room, with the little one on top of one of them. But it reminded him of something.
“Hey, where’d you put the box the ottoman came in? I wanted to keep it!”
“I figured you did. It’s in your bedroom closet for now. I thought you might want to keep these as well.”
“Yeah! It’s nice to have different sizes,” Kurt agreed.
“Maybe we can just stack boxes inside each other until you either get tired of them, or find a better place for them.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Besides, I’m hoping you’ll have something better than a box, or an ottoman, in here.”
Adam looked around the room. They should probably move the desk elsewhere.
“Tell you what, for now, let’s move the bed sideways, so it’s against the wall. And we’ll put the desk near it.”
“Okay. Won’t that mess up the feng shui or whatever?” Kurt asked in all seriousness.
Adam looked puzzled. “Um, whatever that is, no, I’m sure it will be fine. We’re eventually going to get you a new bed, and once we do, we can get rid of these. Maybe find someone who wants them, or donate them to the thrift store or something.”
Between the two of them, they were able to move the bed and desk, which gave them a lot more room in one corner and the front half of the room.
“Remember, if we get you a loft bed, it won’t be as wide as this Queen size, which is almost as wide as it is long. So if we put it up against the wall, it won’t stick out this much.”
“And I can probably get one with a desk and dresser in it, right?”
“Yes. Not as large a dresser as you have now. Most of them have drawers in the steps, I was thinking, maybe we can move the dresser into the closet.”
It was a walk-in closet, not huge, but big enough to move the dresser, have room to pull the drawers out and stand in front of it, and still have a rod for clothes against two more walls.
“You know, this is almost a room in itself,” Kurt observed.
“True. Give some thought to what else you might want to do with it, but pretty soon you should have some more clothes you can hang up.”
“Okay, now I want to see what’s in those boxes!” Kurt insisted.
Adam handed him the smallest of the three. “This might not be as exciting to you now as it will be when you’re a cat,” he apologized.
“Don’t worry about it, I’m sure I’ll like it.”
When Kurt opened the box, he saw a long, soft object, something like a pillow, but narrower. It was about 18 inches long altogether, and 4 inches wide. The fabric on the outside was pretty, sort of a paisley pattern in brown, beige and gold, and there was a soft, furry, dark tail attached to the end. He could smell the catnip in it, and though it didn’t do much for him now, he knew he’d enjoy the toy later.
“Thanks, Adam! This should be fun.” He took it out of the packaging, which called it a Kickaroo, and set it at the foot of the bed.
Adam looked a trifle disappointed.
“I do like it,” Kurt assured him, “but I think I’ll like it even more when I’m a cat. We had something like this at New Directions, and all the cats fought over it. Instead of getting a few more, like one for everybody, they just got rid of it, and we were all pissed off about that.”
“How ridiculous! These are positively cheap! I think it was around six dollars.”
Kurt shrugged. “Maybe they thought we’d fight even more with more of them, I don’t know. I hardly got to play with it at all, but it was nice.”
“Well, now you have it all to yourself. At least you know here, nobody’s going to fight you for your toys. Now, let’s try box number two.”
The next box was not only much larger, but quite a bit heavier. They got the top open, and started taking things out of the box, one component at a time. There were so many pieces, but Kurt was thrilled with each one, even though he wasn’t positive what they would create. The floor was soon covered with various sizes and shapes of beige, fur-covered objects, and some poles covered partially in sisal.
Adam was having second thoughts now about the color. “They had it in a dark blue, and I know that’s your favorite color, but I thought this might be easier to see when there’s no light in the room.”
“Good idea. This is fine.”
“Ah, here are the instructions, thank God.” Adam glanced at them, then had an idea. “Maybe we’d better get Nancy in here to help. In the meantime, why don’t you figure out where you want the dresser to go in your closet.”
<><><><><><><><><>
Adam found Nancy in the dining room, and signaled for her to turn the vacuum cleaner off.
“I think we will need your assistance after all. There are a lot more parts than I realized. The tools are included, but I think I’d better fetch the screwdriver, too.”
“So what are you building?” She sounded enthusiastic, almost as much as Kurt.
“It’s one of those cat condo things. It’s kind of a gym as well, but huge. As soon as you’re done with the vacuuming, come on back to Kurt’s room and see.”
“Okay, I can stay a while and work on it.”
“I’ll pay you for your time, the same as if you were doing housework. Hopefully this will be more fun.”
“I have a feeling it ill be! I should be done with this in just a little bit.”
Adam looked at his watch. “Tell you what, don’t worry about finishing the vacuuming today. I just realized, it’s getting on towards dinner time. If you don’t have any plans, would you like to join us for dinner? I think we’ll probably just order pizzas, because I don’t want to stop doing this to cook. But if pizza is okay with you, it might be fun.”
Nancy admitted she had no other plans, and pizza was fine.
“Let me just ask Kurt what kind he wants.”
Kurt was just standing there, looking at the parts that were out, and petting one of them.
Nancy gasped at the sight of so many items. She picked up the directions Adam had abandoned and started reading them.
Kurt seemed delighted, but also overwhelmed. “Adam, I can’t believe it, this is - you don’t need to get me a bed, too, this will work just fine!”
“Well, you’ll still need a bed as a human,” Adam reasoned.
“But I may never change back again!” Kurt held one of the soft little slides against his body, clutching it protectively. “I’ll stay in here forever and just play and nap.”
Adam pouted. “Aw, but I’ll miss you. And you’ll miss me. Eventually.”
“Of course I will! But I’m still not sure what this is going to be yet.”
Adam tried to explain. “Remember that little kitty condo thing in the interview room at New Directions? The one that looked like a half-assed attempt at a castle?”
“Uh-huh. It wasn’t nearly as much fun as I thought it would be.”
“Exactly. Plus, you had to share it with others. This one will be entirely yours.”
“How big is it?” he asked, looking around the room.
“Nine feet high, so it goes up to the ceiling. It’s about the same width as the length of this bed, about seven feet, and almost four feet deep. It looks like there are about 30 different levels, or little hidey holes for you to nap in, plus various stairs, ramps and slides.”
“All for me? I don’t need that many!”
“But it will give you lots of variety, and exercise. Here, let me show you.”
Adam showed him the side of the box the picture was printed on.
Kurt read the name. “What? Kitty Mansions - Buckingham Palace*? That is SO cool! Adam, I love you!” Kurt kissed him, briefly and noisily, then went back to looking at the picture.
“I couldn’t resist, and I knew the Anglophile in you would appreciate it.”
Nancy was sorting through the different parts, putting similar ones together in piles, and making sure all the necessary parts were there to construct it.
Kurt sighed, “It’s huge! It must be meant for multiple cats.”
“It is,” Adam agreed, “but I thought this way you’ll get plenty of exercise, have lots of choices where to nap, and hopefully never get bored.” He couldn’t resist picking up one of the ladders and petting it.
“Yep, it should keep me busy!” Kurt set the slide down and opened the second box.
Adam hoped that meant it would be easier to write and get some other things done, if Kurt were occupied with something fun.
“Kurt, Nancy’s going to help us put this monument together, and I’m going to order pizzas for all of us. What kind do you want?”
They eventually agreed on two large pizzas with everything except anchovies.
“There will be enough left over to have pizza for breakfast!” Kurt noted with delight.
Adam grimaced at the thought. “Maybe Nancy will want to take some home?”
She shook her head in protest. “Oh, no, I can’t. This is gonna completely blow my diet, but it should be worth it! I love pizza, I just can’t have it very often.”
Kurt looked at her with surprise. “Nancy, you don’t need to be on a diet! You look beautiful just the way you are! You look like you’re just the weight you should be.”
“Well, that’s ‘cause I diet,” she explained. “I need to start exercising more, actually. I mean, the work I do is a lot of physical movement, but it’s not quite the same as exercise.”
“Ah, well, that’s a perfect segue to this!” Adam took the coupon out of his pocket and handed it to her.
She looked at it curiously and he explained.
“Kurt and I went to a gym yesterday that allows hybrids, as well as their owners, and has some classes we can take together, and of course, you don’t have to be a hybrid or owner to join. They have all sorts of amenities, and the two guys who own it are fantastic, and about as hybrid-friendly as we could want. They were having a special promotion, and gave us this certificate, for a friend to have a free 3-day trial membership. We wanted you to have it.”
She looked wary, but hopeful. “Oh, no, I couldn’t! Thank you, but I’m sure you have someone else you can give it to.”
“Well, I could give it to someone else, but I’d really rather give it to you. I had you in mind specifically. Be sure to call this number, and let Jerry know when you’ll be there. He’s one of the owners, and will give you a tour around the place. I really think you’ll find it rewarding.”
Kurt tried to coax her into the idea. “It was a lot of fun, Nancy, I really think you’ll like it.”
“Okay, I’ll give it a try. It’s probably too late tonight, but I can call tomorrow.”
“They’re open really late,” Adam pointed out, “so you could try tonight, or I suppose wait till tomorrow.”
“Well, maybe I’ll try now, so I don’t forget. I don’t know if I can actually afford a membership, but I’d like to check it out for a few days.”
<><><><><><><><><><>
While Nancy called on her cell phone, Kurt took Adam to one side to have a whispered conversation with him.
“Adam, I was thinking, whether it’s actually Donna or not, I think Nancy would really like it, but I’m not sure she can afford it.”
“Well, if it is Donna, I’m pretty sure they’ll probably give Nancy a lifetime membership.”
“But what if it’s not, and she likes it there anyway, but doesn’t have that much money?” Kurt bit his lip and looked sadly at the enticing boxes and the contents he couldn’t wait to try out. “Maybe you could send Buckingham Palace back, and use the money to pay for a membership for Nancy, as long as it will last?”
Adam’s eyes were bright, and he wiped at them with his hand before speaking.
“Kurt, you are the sweetest, kindest, most thoughtful man. No, darling, you keep your present. If Nancy doesn’t get some kind of offer from Jerry, I’ll pay for a year myself. But thank you for offering.”
Kurt wondered if it really counted as being a good guy, when he was secretly relieved he didn’t have to give up his toy - play area - gym - whatever it was. Adam hugged him, and he enjoyed the brief contact, but they were mindful that Nancy was at the other end of the room.
She hung up and came over to them, a half-smile on her face.
“Adam, you were right, that Jerry guy was very nice. He wanted to know if I could come over tomorrow. I don’t have any clients in the afternoon, so I can, but…this is all really new to me, and I’m kind of nervous. He said, maybe if you and Kurt are free, you could maybe come with me? He said there would be plenty of things for you to do while he’s showing me around.”
They looked at each other and nodded.
“It just so happens,” Adam began, “tomorrow afternoon is just about the only time we have free, until next Tuesday. We have plans in the morning, but nothing scheduled for the afternoon. I think as long as Kurt gets a chance to take a nap before we go, it should be fine. How does 1:00 or 1:30 sound? You can either meet us here, and we can all go together in my car, or I could pick you up, or we could meet at the gym, whatever you want.”
Kurt sort of wanted to step on Adam’s foot to get him to shut up and give her time to think, but Nancy just laughed.
“That’s so sweet of you! But I don’t want to take up the only time you have to rest. I should probably take my own car, in case you don’t want to stay the whole time or something, but it’s still being a little bit cranky.”
“It’s no problem,” Adam said. “If you’ll give me your address, we’ll pick you up, and then bring you home afterwards. You might be -- That is, depending on what you decide to try, it can be a little tiring. No, I insist,” Adam said, when she started to protest. “We’ll stay as long as you like, so don’t worry about cutting things short because of us. If you want to leave after just a little while, that’s fine, too, whatever you want.”
“Wow, you’re being so nice! I really appreciate it, Adam. Okay, thank you!”
Adam called in the pizza order, and they began taking the rest of the pieces out of the boxes, to try to put the puzzle together. They had it almost half-way done when the pizza arrived, so they took a break to eat.
Kurt talked to Nancy about going to the shop, and their encounter with Sebastian. She appreciated the story, and admitted she had a hard time standing up for herself, but it had been much easier standing up for Donna. “Even though I was really young, I knew it wasn’t fair, the way some people treated her. I didn’t understand why I had to go to a different school. We were learning some of the same things, but at the hybrid school she also learned things like, don’t get too attached to your family, because they’re going to give you away when you turn 13.” She sighed. “I think it confused her so much, because my parents and I loved her, and she loved us, and she didn’t understand why we would just give her away some day. My parents tried to tell her it wasn’t their choice, it was the law for every hybrid, but I’m not sure she ever really understood.”
Kurt nodded. “I had trouble with that, too. My dad treated me like a kid when I was human, and a beloved pet when I was a cat, then I’d go to school and the teachers and everybody were acting like there was something wrong with me, with all of us students. Some didn’t seem to care, and others were upset. Maybe it depended on how well they got along with their family. I was really glad we only had to go for a few years, age 4 to 10, I think. I really didn’t like school at all. And I kept thinking my dad was so stubborn, he’d find some way to keep me. But it didn’t work out that way.”
He was glad he’d finished three pieces of pizza, because he didn’t think he could eat any more. He was remembering too many sad things.
The others were done, too, so Adam picked up the pizza boxes and threw one away, and put the other in the refrigerator, while Kurt and Nancy threw out the paper plates and napkins.
Kurt wouldn’t allow any of them to touch any part of his palace until they’d all washed their hands again. He found his spirits brightening at the thought of working on his new toy.
Once they had it together, almost an hour later, they all stood back to admire it, then walked around it, pointing out little details in delight.
Nancy was grinning wider than Kurt had ever seen. “I wish I was a cat, I’d love to have something like this to play in!”
“If you were a cat, I’d let you play in it,” Kurt offered.
“That’s so sweet of you, Kurt, thank you!”
“Maybe Misty would like to try it out sometime,” Adam suggested, “if she ever comes over here to visit.”
“Yeah, sure, she can play with it,” Kurt agreed. “But she might want her own, and I don’t know if Lily would want to get her one like this.”
Adam explained, “Misty has a much smaller one, which you might not have seen yet. I think she’s perfectly happy with that. She’s not quite as active as you.”
“I can’t wait to try this out!” Kurt was bouncing on the balls of his feet.
“Are you ready to change?”
“Uh-huh!”
Within seconds, Kurt had become a cat.
Nancy gasped in delight. “Oh, I want to pet him! I shouldn’t, but I do.”
Adam shrugged. “I don’t mind if he doesn’t.” He spoke a little louder, maybe thinking Kurt would pay more attention. “Can you wait just a minute more, Kurt, so Nancy can pet you?”
He decided to be magnanimous, and jumped up on a platform near her, and leaned closer.
She reached out tentatively and stroked his head, and skritched behind his ears. He let out a low rumbling purr, and she continued, cooing soft sounds of encouragement at him. On a whim, he stretched his front legs out towards her, and with wide eyes, she picked him up and held him close. She held him securely, so he didn’t have to worry about being dropped.
“Oh, Adam, he’s so adorable!”
“I know.”
Kurt’s ears twitched at Adam’s voice.
Nancy gasped, and started petting Kurt’s neck and back, sinking her fingers into his fur. “I’m sorry, Kurt, I don’t know if you want to hear it or not, but you are adorable.”
He meeped in agreement, and snuggled in. He had to admit, it was nice to be held by women, because they had soft pillows he could rest his head on, that men didn’t have.
Nancy gasped, then giggled, and Adam coughed. Kurt straightened up, and rubbed his head under her chin in apology for (probably) being too familiar. She petted him for a few more seconds, then set him back on the platform he’d been on.
“Adam, is it okay if I stay a little while longer? I want to see him get to play in his castle!”
“Yes, of course. I’ve got my camera here, going to get a few pictures.”
Meaning a few dozen, most likely, but Kurt didn’t really mind.
“Will you send me some pictures? Is that okay?”
Did everyone in the world want pictures of him? He didn’t understand.
“No problem. Well, if His Royal Highness doesn’t mind.”
Kurt stopped listening to them, wanting to focus on exploring.
There were stairs, and bridges, and little hidey-hole towers, scratching posts, platforms, turrets, and so many places for him to hide, run, jump, or just nap. He was having the time of his life exploring everything. He climbed into the sleeping area in the center, and tested it out. Very comfortable, and he could easily see outside of it. He walked outside of that, and sharpened his claws on the scratching post. He ran up the little steps, onto the platform, and jumped from there into another little covered sleeping space. Also very comfortable.
He leaped out, and onto the platform again, then walked through the little tunnel to the other side, where he could jump up onto another platform. From there he could hop into another tiny room, and look out of several different windows. He jumped out of that and back onto the platform, then leaped higher to explore the higher, slightly larger room, which, like the rest, had a comfortable, furry carpet. Out again, and he scratched at another post, then climbed up the slide to the next level. He saw the two humans laughing and taking pictures. Fine, they weren’t having as much fun as he was!
There was another little sleeping room, and if he climbed up the inside of the wall, he could get to the next level, which was another sort of tunnel. One end was clear, so he climbed out of that and onto a platform, then there was another sleeping room above that. Then, on top of that was one more small platform he could barely fit on, because there was a tower in the way. But no matter, he could jump down to the little bridge and walk over to the middle area. He could also walk through the bridge if he walked back into the sleeping room, but decided to save that for another time.
Across the top of the bridge, he came to another round platform, with one more little bedroom in it. It was the highest place he could get to. He was just a couple of inches from the ceiling. Forget King of the World, he was King of the Universe from here! Well, the universe of Adam’s apartment, that is.
He crossed the next bridge to get to the far side, and it was pretty much a mirror image of where he’d been before, and had several places to nap or hide in. It also had another slide. This time he ran down it, face first, and jumped into another convenient room. He jumped out again and onto a platform, then down to the top of another 2-level bedroom. He decided the bottom level would be a nice place to take a nap, for now. He ignored the silly humans and their conversation he couldn’t be bothered to listen to, and let them pet and explore his play house. They were both too big to actually have the fun of crawling around on or in it, but he was willing to let them play with it, while to took a much deserved nap.
* http://www.kittymansions.com/Buckingham-Palace-Extra-Large-Cat-Tree-p/buckingham%20palace.htm
Next - Chapter 42