Chapter 26: Family
TPD: Rumours

Blaine was starting to feel the urgency of the year drawing to an end. He was just a little short on next year's tuition, and his parents were pushing for him to go to Crawford. Part of him wished he hadn't blown so much on bus trips to Lima or coffee dates with Kurt, and the other part of him was angry at himself for wishing he hadn't done anything related to Kurt. It was Kurt. Maybe he was exaggerating or fooling himself, but he was pretty sure he'd do anything for Kurt.

Except apparently tell him about his past.

Blaine couldn't think about that now. He'd made a meeting with the Dalton headmaster to ask if he could get a partial refund on his dormitory if he moved out. He explained that he needed the money for next year's tuition.

Luckily, the Headmaster was understanding and they had a transfer from another state that they really wanted but had no place for. He was all too happy to turn the last few weeks of Blaine's room payment into a credit for next semester's tuition.

So Blaine found the cheapest motel he could and moved into it. It was in Lima, so he still had to blow a bunch of money on the bus, but it wasn't like he wouldn't have been going back and forth anyway to see Kurt.

He kept to himself and tried to get noticed as little as possible. The last thing he wanted was for anyone to question why a high school sophomore was living alone in a motel room. The manager seemed to have his suspicions, but Blaine paid in cash, so it didn't seem to bother him enough to say anything to anyone.

Then one day Blaine was getting in late from a Warblers concert at a wedding reception and he saw a McKinley student delivering a pizza to someone in his motel. He ducked out of sight quickly, and was confused when the other boy walked into the motel room. Then Blaine realized he hadn't had a pizza, just the uniform.

Oh.

That Friday night he and Kurt had another movie date, but they had company. Burt, Finn, and Carole were all piled into the living room. He was thrilled to execute his carefully crafted plan when Burt suggested pizza and Blaine just happened to remember a certain delivery place that had been handing out coupons.

The movie was Sharktopus which Kurt wasn't too happy about, but Finn had just gotten it on DVD and Blaine didn't mind bad sci-fi at all. He especially didn't mind the part that startled Kurt into his side. "Scared?" Burt teased.

"Shut up," Kurt threw back and Blaine couldn't help but grin, and not just because Kurt was still close enough that Blaine could feel the warmth from his body. There was another kind of warmth in the room, too, and it took Blaine half the night to figure out that it was family. The Hummel-Hudson household was warm and loving and he adored being there. It felt like he was part of theirs on nights like this and they barely knew him. He wondered if they'd feel differently if they knew Blaine was different. He wondered if Finn would beat him up, or they'd all accuse him of lying or being some kind of fraud. He wasn't. Blaine wasn't a fraud. He was a boy. Kurt slipped his hand into Blaine's. He was a scared boy, and apparently it had shown on his face. At least Kurt thought it was the movie.

He was spared any more thoughts when the doorbell rang with the pizza. "We'll get it," Blaine volunteered.

"We will?" Kurt asked skeptically as Blaine tugged him off the sofa.

It went perfectly. Sam hadn't said too much, but Kurt was perceptive and it didn't take too much to get the truth out of him. Blaine had been wrong. He'd thought it was just Sam, not his whole family. Even better, Blaine hadn't had to say he'd seen anything and therefore didn't have to explain what he was doing at a cheap motel late at night.

Blaine felt amazing by the time Kurt walked him out to the porch. However, when Kurt revealed he was going to go over to Sam's, he realized he'd missed one important thing: what if Kurt saw him there?

They kissed goodnight and Blaine walked back to the motel, twice as careful about being seen as usual.

***

The next time he visited the Hummel-Hudson house, Carole was at work and Kurt was showing off his suit. Blaine really hoped he wasn't going to chicken out. This was so important to Kurt, and he wanted to support his boyfriend so badly, and he was so scared. He wondered if he'd be the kind to take a punch for Kurt or if he'd just lock up and...

"You okay?" Kurt asked.

They had to stop spending so much time on the porch. "I'm great," Blaine grinned.

"Good, because I'd hate to have to consider trashing that suit. I spent hours on it."

"The fact that you've even considered considering it speaks volumes," Blaine assured him and took his hands. He almost said I love you but stopped himself. The last thing he wanted to do was make Kurt feel any pressure to say it back or to get in too deep or what if Kurt didn't feel the same? What if it scared him off? "You're going to be the most handsome guy at that Prom."

"And I'm going with the second most handsome," Kurt quipped. "I'll let you know when he gets here." Blaine leaned forward and kissed the other boy gently. When they parted, it took Kurt a moment, but he breathed, "Okay, you win. He's here."

Blaine laughed a little. "I'll see you tomorrow night."

"See you," Kurt beamed back.

Maybe it was the lingering glow of the goodnight kiss, but Blaine was careless when he went home that night.

"I knew it!"

Blaine whirled in horror to see Sam and started instinctively backing away. Sam followed and Blaine ran into the bushes, feeling cornered.

"Why are you following me?" Sam asked.

"I'm not-"

"Then how did you know I was-"

"Because I saw you the other night."

"So you just hang out at cheap motels late at night? Is there something you're not telling Kurt because-"

"It's not what you think," Blaine begged.

"Kurt's a good friend to me, Blaine," Sam said. "He's coming over to help, he's not telling anyone about this, and you're- what? Cheating on him?"

Blaine clenched his jaw. "I live here."

Sam scoffed, waiting for Blaine to admit he was joking or something, he guessed. "Wait. What?"

"Please don't tell anyone," he pleaded.

"What?"

"I live over there-" Blaine pointed to his room which was only a few doors down from Sam's- "and no one can know."

"Why not?"

"Please promise you won't tell."

"Tell me why."

"Because I live there alone."

"Where are your parents?"

"At home, traveling, I don't know."

Sam only looked more confused. "And they just let you live alone?"

Blaine opened his mouth to reply. He couldn't look Sam in the eye. "Please just promise you won't tell anyone. Not anyone."

"I suppose I kind of owe you," he replied hesitantly. "For not telling anyone about my family. Except Kurt, apparently."

"I didn't tell him," Blaine promised. "I just told them where to order pizza. I wasn't even a hundred percent sure you'd be delivering it."

"Okay," Sam relented. "I guess... it's not any of my business. And, unlike some people, I won't take matters into my own hands."

"Thank you."

Blaine went to sleep that night resolved to never be so careless again.