~*~ Chapter Eight ~*~

But I can't and I won't live a lie - No, not this time
[Kevin Rudolf; Let it Rock]

'Hybrid origins – Myths and Facts', or better Myths or Facts?"

"Fascinating tales, surprising revelations and a lot of scientific drivel." This is how Lydia Hanver describes her newest book 'Hybrid origins – Myths and Facts'.

The non-fiction deals with the biological, as well as the mythical aspect of the heritage of hybrids and discusses controversial opinions. In the first chapters the author explains and analyses common myths, fairy tales and fables, throwing a closer look at repeatedly occurring figures appearing in stories all around the world. Above all creatures from the greek mythology where countless mixes between human and animal are known.

Even in the oldest book known to man, as Lydia Hanver calls it, the Bible it is believed in Hungary that when God took Adam's rib to form the woman a cat caught his hand and stole the rib. She tried to escape, but God got her tail and formed Eve. According to them this was the origin of the cat hybrids. Apart from that one of the most common representatives is probably 'The Puss in Boots', who in addition to his English relatives (Dick Whittington's cat) also has some female relatives. Depending on the continent the transformation and the type of cat can verify depending on the wild species in the environment where the legend was born. The term 'Cathybrid' only occurred in the beginning of the 19ts Century. Typical reasons for a transformation are throwing over an animal skin, complicated rituals, spells, curses, but also kinship with animals as mentions in some Celtic legends about ancient Scottish and Irish families.

After dealing with the mythological origin of hybrids Lydia Hanver puts it in conjunction with the biological aspects of the hybrid heritage. The results out of her research and her final conclusion will remain secret though. At least until the publishing of 'Hybrid origins – Myths and Facts' on the 23st of September, available in most public book stores.

"Alright son, it's time to stop moping around and take actions." Burt Hummel crossed his arms in front of his chest, a sure sign that he was not in the mood to argue and built up in front of his son. Ever since the disastrous breakfast on saturday morning Kurt had retired to his room, refusing to come out as long as Carole and Finn stayed over. Burt did not know in detail what had went down between the two boys, but from what he had heard and grasped from his son's mood, Finn must have seriously screwed up. That did not mean though that he thought of Kurt as completely innocent: He knew quite well how overly dramatic he tended to be, hating to admit when he was wrong and unknowingly hurting people with his sometimes brutal honesty. Right now he was curled up in front of the TV, tail occasionally sweeping over the backrest of their couch and his ears twitching irritably when his father blocked his view on his German soap opera. Alexander had just been about to propose to Maike, after all.

"You know my opinion on the topic, Dad." He crossed his arms defensively, trying to glare his father away. Sadly he seemed to be one of the few persons this did not work on.

"Yes, and I think it's hasty and not thought through. You can't expect Finn to read your mind. The boy's only repeating what he has heard." Outraged Kurt rose halfway from the couch, about to give his father a serious piece of his mind about hybridphobia and naivety, but Burt held up his hands in appeasement. "I'm not saying he was right, or that he is allowed to talk to you like that, but he won't be able to understand your anger unless he knows the whole truth."

Kurt sighed wholeheartedly. His anger had vanished as soon as it had arose, leaving him with the now familiar sinking feeling in his chest that has been there ever since their fight. He slowly chewed the inside of his cheek. This was not the first time, Burt had brought up the topic and surely not the last if Kurt did not start to seriously consider this option.

It was not like he expected Finn to completely freak out and beat him up, or run to the police, but given his reaction to the newspaper article and Kurt's view on hybrids, Kurt was pretty sure that he would not react very pleasantly to having a hybrid in his possible future family.

Sure, there was the chance that if educated rightly Finn could turn out understanding and even supportive, but still ...his whole life Kurt had been told to keep quiet. Never tell anybody. If they will find out ... what if? During the last few days Kurt had considered his options and since his father did not seem all too fond of his suggestion to leave the country, cutting of the contact to the Hudsons was out of question. That left either ignoring the topic and forever avoiding Finn – not a very pleasant thought -, or as his father was suggesting revealing his secret to Finn.

All this though didn't change the fact that he barely knew the other boy. Nor did he trust him, or had had any experience with him that would Finn make earn his trust.

Even though ... that could partly be his fault. After all he was the one avoiding the Hudsons for days now.

"I know Dad," he murmured conciliatory. "I just ... don't trust him yet. Barely know him and I can't imagine revealing my secret to someone who has proven to be so narrow-minded, so stuck-up and senselessly - "

"Kurt," Burt said warningly.

His son rolled his eyes, but stopped his rant. "Yeah, sorry. What I meant was just that his opinion seems pretty set and I don't think that he would understand ... my situation."

Burt ran his hand over his head,

"Alright kiddo, in the end it's your decision. But promise me to at least talk to him, okay?"

"Yeah, sure whenever I get the chance." Like in ten years, or so. He waved his hand dismissively. "Can I get back to watching my show now?"

"Sure thing." With a victorious smile, that had Kurt narrowing his eyes suspiciously, his father willingly retreated, casually walking towards the kitchen door. Right before leaving the room, he stopped though and turned towards Kurt.

"By the way ... Carole and Finn are coming to dinner this evening in ... say five minutes, or so," he told Kurt casually, quickly fleeing the room.

"What? Oh my god, Dad! What the hell?" He heard his son shout after him, while he trotted chuckling into his kitchen. If his son wasn't going to see reason, Burt would have to take matters into his own hands. Very capable hands, if he could say so himself, while he listened to his son swearing and rumbling downstairs. Probably covering up his tail and ears, before -

... The door bell rang. Speaking of the devil, Burt thought, practically prancing to the door – at least as much as was possible for a man of his height and weight – and greeting Finn and Carole cheerfully with a hug and in the latter case a chaste kiss on the cheek.

He and Carole had agreed that the Hudsons would bring take-out from a nearby Chinese restaurant, because hey, Burt was already on his son's bad side with the unannounced visit and all, so some unhealthy food would not kill him / why not go all out. Burt send Finn into the living room, where the boy happily settled in front of the TV, zapping through a reality show, one of Kurt's soap operas and finally settling on a baseball game. He saw Carole rolling her eyes fondly at her son, before she joined him in the kitchen. Together they unpacked their food, served it on different plates and were just about to reheat everything in the microwave, when a gloomy looking Kurt stomped up the stairs.

"Hello Carole," he growled through gritted teeth. "Lovely to see you."

She giggled amused, stepping forward and briefly hugging him. "Kurt, dear. I see your father managed to surprise you with our visit." Burt smiled apologetic, patting his son on the shoulder. Kurt promptly turned to avoid his hand and stubbornly glared at him. His father sighed, resisting the urge to roll his eyes at this behaviour. "Finn is in the living room," he mentioned casually. "Maybe you could go and join him?" For a moment Kurt looked like he wanted to protest, maybe start a fight to shirk from that conversation, but under the stern glance of his father his resolve faltered. So he just grunted something that could be counted as a 'yes', but also as a 'fuck off' and trotted into the living room.

Finn was launching on the couch, feet probed up and both arms thrown across the backrest right and left. When he spotted Kurt in the doorway he nearly fell of the cushions. "Oh, um Kurt ... dude."

Kurt grunted in a greeting, shuffling towards the boy, only stopping when he was right in front of him. An awkward silence settled between them in which the only noises came from the TV in the background and Burt and Carole's muffled voices in the kitchen. Finn was shifting uneasily on the couch, eyes flickering between Kurt's grim face to the baseball game going on behind him.

"So ..." Finn finally broke the tension. "Uhm, what's up?"

"My Dad thinks we need to talk," Kurt said monotone. A loud crash was heard from the kitchen and Kurt rolled his eyes. "And I absolutely share this opinion. Totally."

"Uh yeah, it's been kind of uncomfortable, right?" Finn offered, still unsure and if Kurt did not know any better, he would think that he even seemed to be ... afraid of him? Well, maybe not afraid, but most certainly cowed and annoyingly this soothed Kurt's anger more effective than anything else had the past few days. You just couldn't be angry at someone who looked like a confused veal and was sprawled out like a starfish on your couch and yes, Kurt had been watching far too many animal documentaries lately, so what?

"Can I sit?" Kurt asked, still somewhat offish, but not longer deeply annoyed.

"'Course, dude! It's your house, after all." Kurt grimaced at the title, but lowered himself gracefully on the very end of the cushions. The room fell silent again and just as Kurt was about to open his mouth when he felt like he could not bear the tension anymore, Finn cleared his throat.

"Look dude ... I know this fight was stupid."

Kurt's anger flared up again. "Finn, do you-"

"No, please, let me finish." Kurt harumpfed, but stayed silent. "My Mom tried to explain to me why you were so angry and while most of it sounded really complicated, god I had no idea someone could feel that much, I think I understood it ... a bit. She then also talked to me about hybrids a lot, but from that I didn't understand much either, but I couldn't tell her, because she hates it when she can't explain something and gets really sad ...What I want to say, I guess, is that after that talk I read a terribly long article about hybrids online, well not really online, also in a newspaper, dude did ya' know they have these on the internet, online? Isn't that awesome? Anyway it said a lot of very smart stuff about DNA and he ... her ... erm."

"A hermitage?" Kurt asked confused.

"No," Finn whined. "With more 'E's and an 'I', I think ..."

"Heredity?" Kurt tried again and Finn's face lit up.

"That's the one! I read about that stuff and didn't understand most of it, besides it was so long I didn't want to read it all, so I searched a little bit on youtube instead. It was much easier to understand everything on there and now I know that most of the things I said aren't even true! And that is so unfair, because everybody tells you these things and they just ... aren't true! I don't understand this!" He looked honestly scandalized. "So, I wanted to tell ya' that you were right ... What you probably already know, but I wanted to tell you anyway in case you didn't." He paused for a second, before remembering something. "And I'm sorry. About yelling and being wrong, I mean. Even though you yelled first and I had been in a bad mood anyway, having a really bad start in the day, fighting with Quinn and oversleeping, but Mom said that doesn't matter. So, ya' know: I'm sorry."

Kurt was rendered speechless. From everything he had expected as a reaction, an apology had surely not been among it. He had been prepared to yell, fight and maybe cry a bit, if it would help his case, but now ... he had run out of reactions.

His father's words ran through his head 'He won't be able to understand your anger without knowing your situation'. But Finn had. In his own admittedly naive and simple way he had brought the main hybrids issue straight to the point and seemed honestly upset about it. Maybe ... and that was just a thought, ready to be discarded again, but maybe he had been wrong about the other boy. Judged too quickly, set on too little information.

His silence must have gone on for too long, because Finn shifted nervously again. "Uhm, Kurt? Dude? Shouldn't you, I don't know, say something?" Then as an afterthought, he added: "Or are you still angry? Did I say the wrong thing again?"

"No! No, Finn you didn't say anything wrong at all." Kurt paused, still trying to sort out what was going on in his head. "I just -look, there is this thing. A legitimate reason why I was so upset about the fight and reacted quite ... intense." Finn looked like he was about to comment the understatement, but an icy glare from Kurt made him close his mouth again. "The problem is this reason is, erm ... a secret. It's a secret reason and now I don't know if I can tell you that secret."

He raised his head expectantly, like he anticipated Finn to know the answer to his dilemma.

What in hindsight was quiet naïve, but Kurt was confused and dangerously torn. On the one hand remained the image of the football playing, dumb, biased jock -Finn that Kurt had gotten to know during his last years of school, but right now that was definitely not the Finn in front if him. This Finn was truly remorseful, caring, admittedly a bit untaught and influenced too much by the wrong people, but with the honest intention of changing his views.

"Well, I've no idea what you're talking about, but ya' know if you tell me a secret I will keep it. Hay, that rhymed!" He grinned amazed of himself for a moment, before turning serious again. "I know everybody thinks I'm kinda' a chatterbox, but I'm good at keeping things secret ... At least really important things."

Kurt stared at him for a few seconds, then he heaved a deep sigh. "I can't believe I'm doing this. Finn, what I'm going to tell you is a big, a really, really big secret. Probably the biggest you ever needed to keep and if you tell anyone, I mean it anyone then I'll be in great danger." The other boy's eyes had widened dramatically during his little speech and he was nodding firmly.

"Okay." Kurt exhaled again, raising his hands to his hair. "Just ... don't freak out, okay?"

He bit his bottom lip, considering his decision one last time, before he snapped open one of his clips. Fake hair, glue and clips disentangled from his ears, curling together in his hands like a little animal, before Kurt let it drop on top of the the couch table. Finn's eyebrows had wandered up to his hairline until then, mouth dropping open.

"You ... there – You have ears," he stated disbelieving. A sarcastic retort on the tip of his tongue, Kurt freed his other ear, before crossing his arms self-conscious.

"Like ... animal ears," Finn said slowly, mouth never really closing.

"Yes, thank you, Finn. I'm aware," Kurt bit back, having enough of the other boy's starring.

"Sorry, I just ... can I touch 'em?" he asked eagerly, already extending a hand.

"What?" Kurt shrieked, cupping his ears protectively. "No!"

Finn's hand fell to his side again. "But dude! That would be so cool."

"No," Kurt said firmly, ears twitching irritably, where he had left them unprotected again.

"Oh my gosh. They're moving!" Finn exclaimed excitedly.

"Of course they're moving. They're just as much part of my body, as my arm, or foot," Kurt replied annoyed.

"Does that - Wait, am I the only one that knows?" Finn's eyes grew big. "Because that would be so supernatural of you! Two brothers bonding over their secrets and all that."

Kurt willed himself not to roll his eyes and point out towards the boy just how much was wrong with his statement. "No, Finn. You're not the only one. As far as human go my Dad knows, obviously, your mother, because she's working for my doctor, also some of the New Direction girls. You just can't have sleepovers with these... things in your hair." He gestured towards the knot of hair and clips on the table.

"Oh." Finn looked disappointed for a moment. "Wait. What about your doctor? Mom's boss, right? Doctor Leyfert. Doesn't he ... notice?"

"Yeah, I forgot to mention that. He knows about me too, obviously. Such a drama to discretely find someone specialised on hybrids, without coming across suspicious. But we've some hybrid friends that pointed him out as trustworthy and tacit. It's him who runs through my monthly check-up." When Finn cocked his head, puzzled, Kurt continued to explain. "Every hybrid is obliged by law to let himself be examined at least once a month to test his physical, as well as psychic abilities. Doctor Leyfert has to send regular reports to the hybrid's office."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait. I thought this whole hybrid-thing's a secret? Super-mega confident?"

"You mean confidential," Kurt corrected mildly.

"Whatever dude. What's the point when the government knows anyway?"

"It's a bit more complicated than that," Kurt said, folding his hands neatly. "As you may have suspected by now I've inherited the hybrids gene from my mother." At Finn's blank face, he rolled his eyes. "Hybridism is inherited through a recessive gene complex, that only expresses when mother, as well as father are carrier of this – Finn! Are you even listening?"

The other boys gaze quickly snapped back to Kurt, where it had slowly drifted out of the window. "Uhm, yeah, 'course ... Sorry dude. Just – Can I get the short form?"

"Fine, so I inherited the gene from Maman, who was of course registered by the government. As carrier of the gene complex she was observed closely when she met and married my father. As you know hybrids have a very poor position among our society and are often victims of prejudice and – Finn!"

"Sorry! I'm listening!"

"Alright, so Maman got pregnant, was observed extra carefully, there was no possibility of hiding her son's mutation and right after my birth a record in the hybrid office was created for me," he reeled down. "The first few years weren't that bad, at least that's what Dad told me. Sure, we were isolated and avoided from everyone, but other than that we lived our life peacefully abreast. Everything started when I got into kindergarten. Until then Maman had kept mostly to herself, Dad doing grocery shopping and interacting with our neighbours, so not many people knew about our ... condition. My mother is originally French and as everyone knows the hybrid acceptance in Europe is much higher than here, so she was never ashamed, or shy to reveal her true nature. Unlike my Dad, who grew up in this country, knowing how narrow-minded people could be. He tried to convince her of hiding at least me, until the start of school, but Maman was insistent that there was no reason for her child to hide. Today I wish she had listened to Dad." He has to stop and take a deep breath, when there are suddenly tears in his eyes.

"My Dad refuses to tell me too many details, but from what I grasped it got pretty bad. Name calling, defacing our car and windows, there even was a petition trying to ban us. When I was eight Maman's car was hit by a truck, sending her over the guardrail and into a tree." He pauses again, pressing his hands together and avoiding Finn's eye. When he continues his voice is scratchy.

"Until today my father isn't certain that it really was just an accident, but nobody investigates in a hybrid's case, so ... The funeral took place two days after the accident. But while hybrids have the right to be buried and get a tombstone, no priest is obligated to attend, or lead through one of their funerals. My Dad was tired of fighting, so in the end it was him and me, who buried the urn. We were also the only ones attending the funeral. That evening after all lights were out, Dad came into my room and told me that we would have to go on a very long vacation. He had packed our bags and we left the town in the middle of the night, unseen and unheard. I remember driving and driving until dawn, when we stopped at some cheap motel. We stayed the day, but as soon as the sun has set we were back in the car, driving further. I don't really think Dad knew where he was heading. We continued travelling like this for weeks, staying the day in different establishments, always in motion. I think Dad tried to escape ... just everyone and everything. Our past, the government, people in general. I had to wear big hats and remember hating them, because it was warm and itchy underneath them, but Dad insisted. One day, after nearly a month of flight, we arrived at our next location, morning dawning and were awaited by an official looking man in the hotel lobby. It turned out that he was an governmental employee, having followed and kept track of us. That was when Dad realised that there was no escape.

The employee expressed his sympathy concerning our loss, but strictly advised us to settle down and to stop drawing unwanted attention towards us. At that time we stayed at the state border of Ohio, having crossed Indiana a few days ago and so after detailed research we settled on Lima as our new home town." He took a deep breath and cleared his throat, dry from talking too long.

"The rest is history, I guess. I was made fun of all through Elementary school, because of the massive hats I had to wear everyday and tried to keep to myself the rest of the time. When I entered Middle School the harmless teasing developed to full out bullying and wearing hats, that anybody could snatch away became too dangerous. Besides while until then I had put together quite the collection, a hat just isn't an everyday accessories. It took over a year, but today I can finally leave the house, looking just like the average teenager and until today Dad and I've managed to keep my condition secret, apart from a few insiders."

Finn was silent for a minute, comprehending what he had just heard, before he raised his head, frowning. "But what about school? They're getting your medical infos, right?"

"That's why we're so happy to have Doctor Leyfert. He's experienced with cases like ours and knows who he needs to send my real medical records and who is going to be satisfied with the ... edited version. Dalton, as well as McKinley have no idea that most of my documents are altered by him."

"Man, that's ... huge," he exclaimed, stretching the last syllable. "And illegal, but in a totally cool ninja-agent-way!"

Kurt ignored the last part of the sentence, because ninja- agents? Really? What is that even supposed to be? And clarified one last time: "That's why it's so important to keep quiet about this, Finn."

"I know, dude. I promised!" Finn replied, honestly offended. "I'm taking this to my grave!"

"Well, let's hope that never happens," Kurt chuckled, feeling lighter than in days. "Oh, there's one last thing though ..."

Finn looked up worriedly. "Uh, yes?"

"Don't call me dude." Kurt crossed his arms at the same time that Finn's eyes widened comically.

"Wait, like ... never?" he asked disbelieving.

"Well, if it's your birthday and the name accidentally slips, I won't bite your head of, but other than that ... yes."

"B-but du- I mean, Kurt. What-"

"No."

Finn sticks out his bottom lip and pouts. Downright pouts and even though it's working a little bit, Kurt gaze stays stern, until the other boy huffs and gives in. "Fine, du- Kurt. This isn't going to work!"

Kurt rolled his eyes, patting his shoulder good-naturedly. "I'm sure you'll manage." In that moment Carole pokes her head in the room. When her eyes fall on Kurt's ears, her mouth opens in surprise. "Oh, uhm, wow. Kurt! I thought ... Burt said ... Never mind. Is everything alright, boys?" she asked carefully, gaze flickering between the two of them.

"Everything's great, Carole," Kurt replied affectionately. "We've just ... finished."

For a moment Carole considered asking further, deepening the topic and demanding to know what had went down between them, but then she just shrugged. "Just wanted to let you know that dinner's ready."

Finn jumped up immediately. "Sweet!" he exclaimed, galloping towards the door and impatiently turning around, when Kurt does not follow quick enough. Under his accusing gaze, Kurt holds up his hands in appeasement, raising from the couch. "I'm on my way. What are we having?" he asked Carole, who shuffles nervously from one foot to the other. "Oh, er, that's a ... surprise?" she murmured guiltily, before distractedly ushering them into the kitchen.

"A surprise?" Kurt asked disbelieving. "Why does this make me feel -oh my god Dad, is that Chinese take-out?"