Don't Keep Your Distance: Prologue

Blaine Anderson was 16 years old when he first met Burt Hummel.

The year was 1998.

Blaine's day started off as a typical Wednesday. He woke up, ate breakfast, showered, brushed his teeth, and drove to school. At school he did his best to avoid the jocks, but he didn't have much luck. He was shoved into lockers several times, and had taunts and jeers thrown at him in the halls between classes. By the last class of the day, the new bruises on top of yesterday's ones had made Blaine's back so sore that he had to sit on the edge of his seat to avoid accidentally leaning against the back of the chair.

When school finally let out, Blaine breathed a sigh of relief as he headed to his car, and then stopped short.

Somebody had keyed his car.

Not only that, they had etched the word "FAGGOT" into the green paint in large letters that covered the entire driver's side.

Blaine felt his face heat up as his eyes burned with tears of shame. He couldn't drive the car home, he couldn't. If his dad saw…his parents still didn't know. They could never know.

Blaine hastily climbed into the car, blinking back his tears so he could focus on the road. Fifteen minutes later, he pulled into Hummel Tires and Lube, the auto shop that he drove past every day on his way to and from school. He parked the car and went inside the shop to seek help.

He was greeted by a gruff-looking man in a brown cap and blue coveralls. His nametag read 'Burt'.

"Hey kid, how can I help ya?" Burt asked. Blaine swallowed nervously.

"S-someone keyed my car," he stammered nervously. "C-can you please fix it?"

"Sure, no problem. I've got a ton of jobs to get through today, but maybe you could bring it back tomorrow morning around 10, and come back for it around 3?"

Blaine felt his eyes filling with tears again, and he shook his head frantically. "N-no, please, It has to get done now – I'll pay you extra, just please, sir, I can't let my parents see, they…"

Burt raised his eyebrows at Blaine in surprise. "Whoa, whoa, calm down kid. Let me see the damage, okay? I'll see what I can do."

Blaine nodded stiffly and turned to lead Burt to the car. When they reached the damaged side, he heard Burt breathe in sharply. Blaine squeezed his eyes shut, expecting that Burt would ask him to leave, or throw around some insults of his own. But the cold rejection never came. Instead, when Blaine opened his eyes, he found Burt looking at him with a sorrowful and deeply pitying expression on his face.

Burt slowly, cautiously, reached out a hand to squeeze Blaine's shoulder. Blaine looked down in shock at the gentle and comforting gesture. "Are you okay?" Burt asked, his voice full of caring and sincerity.

Blaine opened his mouth to repeat the lie he was so accustomed to telling – "I'm fine." But that's not what came out. Instead, before he could stop himself, the floodgates opened. He let out a choked sob and suddenly he was crying, sobbing brokenly, and Burt was pulling him into a tight hug.

A series of thoughts raced through Blaine's mind. Oh god, you are crying all over a total stranger, stop it, you're embarrassing yourself. You're pathetic. But he was helpless to stop the tears so long held in.

After about five minutes of borderline-hysterical sobbing, Blaine somehow managed to regain his composure, sniffling as he pulled away and grabbed a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe his eyes and nose. "I'm so s-sorry," he choked out.

"Don't be," Burt said firmly. "You have nothing to be sorry for. Come inside, let me get you a cup of tea or something."

"Oh, no, thank you for the offer sir, but I've already bothered you enough -"

"-Nope. I won't take no for an answer, now come on."

Blaine nodded stiffly, feeling too drained to argue, and followed Burt into the house adjacent to the garage. Upon entering, Blaine caught site of a little girl with short brown hair running through the living room in a pink princess dress and far-too-big heels. Burt chuckled lightly, and bent down to swoop the child up into his arms.

"What're you doing running around all crazy, kiddo? Have you been eating sugary snacks again?"

The girl giggled, and then seemed to notice Blaine. Her beautiful glasz eyes widened in surprise, before she buried her face in her father's neck.

Burt laughed. "That's weird," he said, "he's not usually the shy type."

Blaine started to ask her name, but then stopped, his jaw dropping in shock. He?

"This is my son, Kurt," Burt explained, looking at Blaine meaningfully. "Kurt, this is my friend…"

Blaine realised that he had never provided his name.

"Blaine," he said, turning to look at Kurt, who was peeking out at him from behind his dad's shoulder. "My name's Blaine. It's nice to meet you, Kurt," he said.

The boy smiled shyly at him. "I'm having a tea party," he squeaked, his voice adorably high-pitched. "Would you like to come?"

Blaine laughed, and suddenly his eyes were filling with tears again. He felt overwhelmed by Burt's acceptance towards his son, and extremely sad that his own parents would never love him so unconditionally.

"Kurt," Burt said, "Blaine is going to have tea with me, okay? We have grown up things to talk about." Kurt's face fell.

"No, no!" Blaine said quickly, desperately wanting to make the little boy smile again. "I'd love to join you, Kurt. That is, if that's okay with your dad…?"

Burt raised his eyebrows in surprise, before grinning down at Blaine. "Fine with me. Actually, if you're here, Blaine, I think I'm gonna head back out to the garage for a bit, see what I can do about your car. That is, if you don't mind watchin' Kurt for an hour or so."

"I don't mind," Blaine responded with a smile. "I babysit my cousins sometimes."

"Great. Come and find me when you get bored, okay?"

Blaine nodded as Burt put Kurt down. The boy immediately grabbed Blaine's hand and dragged him into the living room, where a small pink table sat, surrounded by chairs occupied by Barbie dolls and stuffed animals. A pretty porcelain tea set sat on the table, next to a tray of real sugar cookies.

"Wow," Blaine said, as Kurt pulled him down onto one of the tiny chairs. "This is a very pretty tea set, Kurt."

"Yes, I know," Kurt said primly. "I told my mommy that I wanted it to be elegant. Plastic is tacky."

Blaine barked out a sudden laugh, and Kurt quirked an eyebrow at him questioningly. This kid was something else. How did someone that young even know what the words elegant and tacky meant?

"How old are you, exactly?" Blaine asked.

"I am 3 and a half," Kurt announced proudly. "Soon I will be 4, and then I will be 5, and when I am 5 I will be a big boy and then I can go to school. How old are you?"

Blaine grinned widely.

"I'm 16," he said.

Kurt's eyebrows shot up. "Wow," he responded, his voice full of awe. "You're so old. Are you married?"

Blaine chuckled. "No, not yet."

Kurt grinned delightedly at that. "You have pretty eyes. I would marry you. Will you marry me someday?"

Blaine blushed, caught completely off-guard. He was unsure of how to respond to the child, who was looking up at him with big hopeful eyes. He decided to do the kind thing and humour him. "Of course I will," he said sweetly, reaching across the table to ruffle Kurt's hair. "Especially if you make me yummy tea like this."

Kurt's eyes lit up. "Good," he said. "But you will need to stop touching my hair, Blaine, because now it's all messy. Would you like a sugar cookie? I baked them myself."

It was after 6pm when Burt finally returned to the Hummel house to find Kurt and Blaine lying on their stomachs on the living room floor, watching The Little Mermaid and singing along to Part of Your World. Burt stood in the doorway for a minute and watched the two boys, smiling fondly. He hoped that Blaine would be okay. He was worried – if today was any indication, the poor boy wasn't coping too well at school. His heart clenched at the thought that one day his precious Kurt may have to go through the same hardships. Blaine had seemed so worried that his parents would see that horrible word etched onto the side of his car, and Burt felt a sudden surge of anger. At least Kurt would always have a supportive home to return to at the end of the day, no matter what happened at school – Blaine didn't even have that. Burt remembered reading an article in the paper a few months ago, about a gay boy around Blaine's age who had taken his own life after being bullied at school and receiving no support from his parents.

At that moment, Burt vowed to make sure that Blaine always had someone to talk to when he needed it.

He coughed, and the boys turned to him, grinning. "Did you have fun, kids?"

"Yes," the boys chimed, and Kurt ran up to his dad, clinging to his legs.

"I like Blaine, daddy," he stated. "Can he come over and play again sometime?"

Burt looked over to Blaine, who was grinning at Kurt with fond amusement.

"I dunno, Kurt, that's up to Blaine. I'd be happy to have him, of course."

Blaine smiled shyly, and lowered his head. "Are you sure, sir? I don't want to intrude."

"Call me Burt, kid. And yes, I'm sure. You're welcome here any time, even if you just need to talk."

Blaine looked up at Burt with wide eyes. "Thank you," he whispered.

"Don't mention it. I fixed your car, by the way."

"Oh!" Blaine exclaimed, climbing to his feet. "Thank you so much. How much…?"

"No charge," Burt said, shaking his head. "You babysat my kid for several hours anyway, I think that just about covers it."

"Several hours?" Blaine yelped, looking down at his watch. "Crap! Sorry, excuse my language, I completely lost track of time – I've got to get home or my dad will chew me out about missing dinner. Thanks for everything, Burt, you…you really helped."

"Like I said, kid, don't mention it. Come back and see us soon, yeah?"

"I will," Blaine responded sincerely, turning to Kurt.

"TTFN, Kurt!"

"Ta ta for now!" The boy replied, giggling at the Winnie The Pooh reference. They had been watching the show together earlier, and while Kurt had firmly asserted that Piglet was the best character, Blaine found that he associated more with Eeyore. It had turned into quite the heated debate.

As Blaine headed to the door, Burt hastily scrawled his home phone number onto a piece of paper and pressed it into Blaine's hand before he left the house. Blaine tucked it carefully into his jacket pocket.

He didn't say goodbye to Burt.

He knew he would be returning to the Hummel house soon enough. He didn't think he could stay away if he wanted to.

Over the next few years, Blaine Anderson spent more time with the Hummels than with his own family.

The second time he went to visit, he met Burt's beautiful wife, Elizabeth. She and Kurt had the same delicate features and stunning glasz eyes, and she immediately swept Blaine up into a hug and welcomed him into her home.

Blaine took to visiting the Hummels every day after school for an hour or two, as they always seemed eager to have him around. He felt at home in their house – it was like a sanctuary, the one place he could finally feel safe.

His parents never asked where he went after school, just so long as he was home in time for dinner. They had to at least keep up appearances of being a happy, functional family.

Blaine loved looking after Kurt, and Kurt seemed extremely excited to have a playmate – he would rush over to Blaine every time he arrived and demand that Blaine kiss the back of his hand in greeting, because "that's what princes do and you look like a prince, Blaine."

When Blaine wasn't playing with Kurt, he often confided in Burt and Elizabeth about his troubles at school. They did the best thing that anyone could ever do to help – they listened, and they told him everything would be alright, and they cared.

It was several months before Blaine had the guts to actually say the words to them – "I'm gay." He burst into tears after he said it, and they both hugged him and let him cry.

"We know," Burt said. "We know about Kurt, too. And you're perfect just the way you are. I'm sorry that some people are too blind and ignorant to see that."

That was the moment that Blaine realised that he had only known the Hummels for a few short months, but he already considered them to be his family. His biological parents shared his DNA, but that was all they would ever share. Burt and Elizabeth were the first people that he had ever come out to, and they accepted him unconditionally, as a family should. His parents would never do that for him.

When Blaine finally graduated from high school, he was beyond relieved to be escaping the narrow-mindedness of his peers. He had no idea how they had even figured out he was gay – he figured that it must have been the way he liked to dress (bowties and suspenders), or the fact that he had never had a girlfriend or been even remotely interested in girls, despite the fact that he had gotten several offers from very pretty, perfectly nice girls who had taken pity on him.

A few weeks after Blaine's graduation, Burt and Elizabeth sat Blaine and Kurt down and informed them that Elizabeth was very ill. Cancer, they said. Blaine broke down crying – all he knew about cancer was that it made you sicker and sicker and thinner and thinner, and then you died. When Kurt saw Blaine crying, he started crying too, and then the whole family was crying together.

Later that week, William Anderson informed Blaine that he would be studying Business at Ohio State University. Blaine didn't argue. He needed to be there for the Hummels, to help them in any way possible.

Elizabeth Hummel was a fighter. She stayed alive for over 3 years. During her illness, Blaine spent even more time with Hummels. He looked after Kurt when Burt and Elizabeth were at the hospital, and he helped around the house. He did everything he could to make the situation easier on them, especially Burt, who was not only having to deal with his own grief, but also spent a lot of time worrying about Kurt and Blaine.

Kurt was 8 years old when Elizabeth died. At her funeral, Burt held one of his little hands while Blaine held the other, and later on all three of them sat curled up on the sofa, and cried until they fell asleep.

Blaine stayed in Ohio for about six months after Elizabeth's death, completing his degree. It was hell, and everything hurt, but eventually things did get easier. By the time of Blaine's graduation, the Hummels had managed to get back on their feet somewhat, and things were looking brighter.

Immediately after Blaine graduated, Burt encouraged him to move to New York to pursue his dream. Blaine had wanted to go to New York for as long as he could remember, so he agreed. He told William and Judy Anderson that he was going there to look for a job with a big flashy company, but he had no intention of doing any such thing. He was moving to pursue his true passion – singing.

He said a tearful goodbye to Kurt and Burt at the airport, and when he knelt on the floor to hug Kurt, the boy pleaded with him not to go. Blaine had come to regard Kurt as something between a little brother and a best friend, and he felt extremely protective towards the boy. It broke his heart to see him so upset.

"I have to go, Kurt," Blaine whispered brokenly, regretfully. "I'm sorry. You'll be fine, I promise."

Kurt sobbed into his shoulder. "I'll miss you."

"I promise I'll stay in touch. We'll talk every day," Blaine said, looking up at Burt as he said it.

"You'd better, kid," Burt said gruffly, wiping tears from his eyes. "You're not getting out of this family that easy."

Blaine let out a choked sob, holding Kurt tighter.

"Goodbye," Kurt whispered, tears streaming down his face.

"No," Blaine said, trying to sound firm, but the tremble in his voice betrayed him. He cupped Kurt's little face in his hands and wiped the tears from his cheeks. "I'll never say goodbye to you."

And with one final family hug, Blaine picked up his bag and headed towards the gate, Kurt's sobs following him the whole way to New York.