Author's Notes: Monsters don't sleep under your bed

“Azrael” a deep voice echoed in the empty hallway, filling Penny’s heart with hope.

At least she wasn’t alone with the ginger boy.

Azrael immediately let go of her turning around, there was a tall man with piercing blue eyes stood behind them. The man’s body seemed to be made of sharp edges. He had an impeccable bone structure, high cheeks and broad shoulders.

“I thought you wouldn’t come” Azrael said, and there was something in his voice, it almost as if he was being defensive.

“I changed my mind” Deadly cheek bones retorted, fixating his icy blue eyes on Penny. “And who this lovely lady would be?” the corners of his lips were tugged in a half smirk.

“Penelope…” She said with a weak voice, “Penelope White”

“I just was showing her where the bathroom is” Azrael smiled stepping back. He held his hand up, motioning to a door behind them. It had a little silver sign hanging on craved with the word women in a curvy calligraphy.

“Here you go Penelope” he said politely, too politely. An unsettling gloom still lurked in the boy’s factures and even if it wasn’t the rabid-animal savagery of before, it still sent shivers through Penny’s spine.
It was like look in the eyes of a starved beast that had its tamer standing between its grasp and a bloody slice of meat.

“Well now you already helped the lovely lady in distress how about you accompany me” Deadly cheek bones said smiling, and for a moment Penny wondered if the tamer himself, wasn’t just a different breed of beast

Breaking his perfect posture for a moment, the man bowed the slightest bit. “It was nice to meet you Miss White”

“Y-you never told me your name” Penny murmured before she could help herself. She should be running, not asking questions.

The man’s blue eyes gleamed with proud and he couldn’t help but sound overly amused as he introduced himself. “Adrian Ablach” he said, causing Penny to gape.

Closely followed by Azrael, Adrian walked away, not sparing Penny a second glance, as he left the ginger woman behind with a shocked expression on her face. She just couldn’t believe.

She just met Adrian Ablach, the only heir of the Avalon’s industries.


**********************

“I swear, sometimes you act like a child Azrael” Adrian huffed, adjusting his red velvet tie. “I get you are 19 and all, but still, one would expect that someone with a life experience like yours would be bit more mature than that. God, it’s not like you never saw a pretty face…”

Azrael looked up, his delicate red eyelashes reflecting the pulsating lights coming from the stage. The next big thing on the soul music, Unique Adams, was reaching unbelievably high notes and stealing the attention from everyone around them. “You never said anything about-”

Adrian snorted, rolling his eyes “I also never said anything about jumping off a cliff, so now what? Are you planning a visit to the Grand Canyon?”

Azrael remained immobile glaring at Adrian quietly, as if calculating what to say next.

“I do not doubt of your talents, or that you would find a way of wiping Miss White’s existence off the face of the earth without leave a single trace that could compromise us” Adrian said, and he wasn’t lying, if there was one thing Adrian trusted was on Azrael’s talents. “But I need you to be more careful. I can’t afford losing you Azrael, you said yourself that you had come across evidences that made you believe that Chang is in New York.”

If Adrian wasn’t so used to Azrael’s lifeless brown eyes he would probably get mad at the mechanic nature of the boy’s next words. “You are right. I am sorry”

“No, you are not” Adrian dismissed setting his eyes in one of the colorful waiter robots “And now I need a drink”
Azrael placed ones of his gloved hands on Adrian’s forearm

“You shouldn’t drink” he murmured, clenching at the fabric of the taller man’s tuxedo. “It’s not good for your condition”

Adrian looked down, moved “Look at you, actually worried about me...” At such distance he could practically smell the faint, but sharp, tang of neatness that always lingered around the ginger boy, now mixed with something else, a sort of fainting mellow sweetness that only emanated from Azrael’s pores when he was about to have someone’s throat slit. It was a delicate blend of sweat and adrenaline and it caused a strange kind of fascination on Adrian. It amazed him, how someone could actually smell like death. And well, would be such a shame let such peculiar scent be soured by frustrated ambitions, wouldn’t it?

“You know what? If you behave and wait patiently while I do the all the required social interactions, when we get out of here we can go look for a red headed so you can play” Adrian said smiling at the way Azrael’s usually emotionless eyes sparked again.


**********

“Oh my god what took you so long?! I was this close of going after you” Walter cried griping at Penny’s shoulders.

White as a sheet of paper, Penny clenched at the bruises on her wrists. “There was this boy h-he-”

Holding out Penny’s bruised wrist so he could see it better, Walter’s expression was twisted in mix of fury and concern. “What happened? What boy? What he did to you Penelope?”

Penny shook her head. “N-nothing he just-”

“This doesn’t seem nothing to me” Walter grunted, hazel eyes fixated at Penny’s wrist.

She sighed “I am fine Walt, I swear”. Penny looked down biting her lip. “He just had his look in his face, it wasn’t normal Walter... And his hands-”

Walter narrowed his eyes. “What about his hands?”

“I don’t know… H-he wore these leather gloves… I think he had prosthesis” Penny explained.

“That doesn’t make sense” Walter frowned. Someone that could afford to come to a ball like this should be able to pay for the most luxurious prosthesis in the market and even the cheaper ones were so human like that most people couldn’t tell the difference. “You shouldn’t be able to tell if he was wearing prosthesis”

“I know!” Penny cried, brown eyes wide “But I swear Walt, he had metallic hands, you have to believe me”

“I believe in you Penny” Walter murmured taking off his blazer and placing on his partner’s pale shoulders “If you say so, I believe you. But I think it’s time to get out of here, it was a long night and you look like you need some rest”

“Can you give me a ride home?” Penny asked quietly. She looked down biting her lower lip for a moment, before look up again, brown eyes huge and pleading. “Please? I know I said I would get a cab, but-”

“And you really thought I would let you just get a cab at first place?” Walter smiled circulating Penny’s shoulders with one of his arms “C’mon you have been through a lot for one night”


**********************

Tina clenched her cell phone between her fingers.

Her black fingernails were bitten; the anxiety medicine was no longer effective as it was before. Practically holding her breathe she counted the seconds until her call was picked up. “I think we have a problem” she rushed, not giving to the person in the other side of the line the time to properly process what she was saying.

“What you mean?”

Running her fingers through her thick hair Tina took a deep breath “I had a fight with Project Metempsychosis” she confessed, before close her eyes, already anticipating the outburst of anger that would certainly come from the other side of the line.

“Over what!? I can’t believe this, why the hell you would fight with him!?”

Tina sighed. “I freaked out okay? I caught Kurt- I mean, Project Metempsychosis, making out with this boy and-”

There was a gasp in the other side of the line. “Wait a minute… Making out with a boy? You mean that Project Metempsychosis is actually getting some?” The mockery underlines which those words were spoken made Tina’s stomach knot.

“I guess…”She murmured. Tina didn’t know if Kurt was getting some, she didn’t want to.

“Well that is a little bit unexpected…But still not reason enough for you get your panties in a twist. I mean you know very well how much time was invested so Project Metempsychosis could be sexually functional.”

Tina felt her stomach burn. How could someone be so coldly clinical? “I didn’t freak out because he is sexually functional. I freak out because Kurt is in a relationship with someone.”

The line went silent for a while. “Hmm… You are right that could be a hindrance to our plan” the words were said in such a guiltless way that Tina couldn’t help but snap.

“You got to be kidding me” She gritted between her teeth. Because seriously, a hindrance to their plan? Is that how they are going to call this? As if Kurt being in a relationship wasn’t nothing but a small hitch that could be easily overcome?

“What? You are the one that said we had a problem…”

Tina sighed heavily. “I know just-”

“You just too emotionally compromised and think just because Project Metempsychosis found someone to fuck we should reconsider our plan”

Tina bit her lower lip. “I don’t know, maybe…”

“Tina, sweetheart, we are not changing our plans, so please, do what most of people do when they get emotionally invested in something they shouldn’t, drink yourself to oblivion and when you get sober again, remind yourself why you are doing this and focus on your mission”

“There is really no other way we can do this?” Tina felt tears burning her eyes “We really don’t have any other choice? I don’t know m-maybe we could just runaway, leave the country”

“Runaway? Leave the country?” A loud snort echoed in the other side of the line making Tina immediately feel stupid for her suggestion “Because that turned really well for Gunter, didn’t it?”

Tina was lost for words for a second. She could hardly breathe around the pain that jolt through her chest at the mention of Gunter’s name. It reverberated through her body like a shockwave, releasing memories of afternoons spent between test-tubes, laughing at the way Gunter’s accent seemed to turn heavier when he excitedly talked about his love for the Mutant Teen Ninja Turtles. It used to be his favorite cartoon. She still remembered when he told her he always watched the MTNT’s cartoon when his father feel asleep and he could turn the TV on without being afraid of having a bottle of whisky thrown on his head.

“And besides I heard Azrael is back” The mention of Azrael’s name caused a completely different kind of feeling to reverberate through Tina. It was a mix of rage, revulsion and fear, but mostly fear.

“Its truth what they say about him?” Tina asked in whisper, unsettled by the memory of those soulless brown eyes. “That he had his hands cut off so he could put robotic prosthesis in their place?”

“Treacherous robotic prosthesis, he doesn’t even need to carry a gun anymore…You saw yourself the pictures of what happened with Gunter, does any of that look like something that could be made by human hands?”

Tina gulped. “S-so what we are going to do now?”

“Who is Project Metempsychosis boy toy?”

“Blaine Anderson” Tina answered almost mechanically. She had to get her head back to the game, get rid of the emotional attachment she had developed for Project Metempsychosis. Those feelings were a liability that she couldn’t afford, she need to suppress them in order to survive.

“The son of the federal agent!? Does he know about what is going on between project Metempsychosis and his son?”

“I doubt it” Tina supported her cell phone between her chin and shoulder as she opened one of her anti-depressants bottles.

“I need you to make sure of that then, because one thing is help a humanlike robot, another quite different is accept that the same robot is taking advantage of your human son under your roof.”

It didn’t take much to figure out which would be their next step. “So you want me to expose their relationship to Walter?” Tina asked.

“No, you are going stay out of this. We can’t afford Project Metempsychosis being suspicious of you. His believe on the genuineness of your friendship will be crucial so when the time come, we can intercept him. For now, I just need you to get as much of information as you can on the nature of the relationship between Project Metempsychosis and the federal agent’s son. Are they just fucking? Dating? There are feelings involved? Find out, and I will find a way of using whatever they have to deteriorate the bond our little scientific miracle developed with those who protect him”

“Okay, I will contact you soon I have the information” Tina said before flip her phone shut and toss it across her nightstand watching it skid to a halt after it bounced off the wall. She grabbed the glass of water she kept there and then swallowed her pills.

She tucked Gunter’s picture back to her pocket. He wouldn’t be proud of her if he knew what she was about to do and with whom she had associated herself with. But Gunter had always been an idealist. He truly believed the good always won in the end. But Tina knew better, the good were always the first ones to go, mauled by their naive beliefs and unwavering faith on the kindness of other’s people heart. Fools killed by their dreams. There was no kindness in this world, not in a world where monsters like Azrael could walk freely after take countless innocent lives.

Tina wouldn’t end like Gunter. She wished she could be
someone that would make him proud, but if there was something Tina was, it was a survivor, she has had been for a long time before this mess and survivors always do what they have to.


**********************

Blaine seemed a little less of a mess when Kurt sat him down on the bed. He was still shaking, and there were dry tracks of tears on his cheeks but the sobs that had insisted on break through him violently and painfully, seemed to have ceased. And while Kurt knew Blaine needed to cry more, that lock such darkness inside of him again couldn’t be good for him, he just couldn’t bring himself to say that out loud. Because really, how you tell someone that they probably need let go and allow themselves have a full, nasty breakdown because they were just keeping too much for themselves?

Kurt just couldn’t find the right words. They probably didn’t even exist. Blaine obviously felt humiliated for crying in front of him but the emotional stress wore him out in such a way, that even though he had his face flushed and couldn’t quite meet Kurt’s eyes, Blaine still didn’t offered resistance as the android took off his boots and laid him down. Ignoring his skin care routine Kurt squeezed himself between Blaine and the wall putting a blanket over them before wrap his arms around the older boy’s waste.

Kurt wished the circumstances were different, that the first time they laid down together like that wasn’t consequence of such horrible moment for Blaine. But still, the worry that weighted his heart wasn’t nearly strong as the warm feeling that spread through his chest when he realized how big it was for someone like Blaine, so used to act strong and ruthless, let Kurt see this other side of him, the side he have been desperately trying to keep from everyone, including himself.

Like pieces of a puzzle that had finally come to place, forty minutes later they were still pressed together from shoulder to hip, legs tangled. It was overwhelming for Kurt, feel Blaine so close, his senses were taken by the smell of the Blaine’s skin and the heat of his body. But regardless how good it felt have Blaine in his arms, he still needed to keep his rational side working and Walter could come back anytime.

“Your dad is going to arrive any minute” He murmured burying his face on Blaine’s hair, breathing him in.

“I know” Blaine whispered.

Kurt placed a chase kiss on the back of his neck before unravel his arms of the older boy’s waist. “I should go to the futon then” he said sitting up.

Looking at Kurt’s eyes with an unusual intensity Blaine sat up as well, reaching up to cup Kurt’s face. “You don’t have to” he murmured.

Kurt frowned. “Do you want to sleep in the futon then?”
Blaine remained silent, eyes locked to Kurt’s, his fingers tracing down the android’s neck, caressing at his collar bone.

“Y-you know Walter always check up on us” Kurt said feeling the blood rush out of his face and somewhere near his stomach. Vibrant hazel eyes stared at him, into him, eyes moving over Kurt’s face in such a way that made the android vaguely uncomfortable, prickly all over, itching for Blaine to close the rest of the distance between them.

Fingers were curled around Kurt’s neck and a warm hand placed above the android’s thigh. It seemed to burn his skin through the thick fabric of his jeans. “I don’t care” Blaine said against Kurt’s lips. His voice was deep, low, not much more than a whisper, but the anger in it was all too audible, there was want and the desire there as well, but so, so much anger.

Kurt pushed Blaine off him. “I won’t let you do this” he said running his fingers through his chestnut hair.

“W-what are you talking about it?!” Blaine was again was reaching up, to touch, to take it-

“I won’t let you use me to hurt your dad” Kurt stood, watching as Blaine’s eyes go wide. It was far too obvious what Blaine was planning and Kurt wouldn’t let himself be used like that.

Blaine shook his head “Kurt I wasn’t-”

“I know you Blaine.” Kurt interrupted him. “And when people make you bad about yourself, your first instinct is to wear whatever people used against you as armor. When they called you freak, you made a point of showing them what being freak is about, that is why you so proudly wear that little leather jacket of yours and break people’s windshields with baseball bats. You grew tired of being hurt and began to use everything people hate on you to hurt them. And I get that, I do, but I am not making part of this. I am not letting you use what we have in an attempt of hurting your parents. If you want tell Walter about us, fine, we will do it, but in a proper way, so when Walter walk in that living room we will be sat there holding hands. I am not going to do this in any other way just because you want to shock your dad, because you want him to run and call your mother about how he caught you in a bed with another boy a few hours after you screamed at her how you are going after some dick.”

A dry laugh broke through Blaine’s lips and he looked down. “Fuck” he murmured.

“D-Don’t laugh! I am being serious here!” Kurt hissed cheeks red and fists clenched on his sides.

Blaine stood. “I know, I know” He rubbed a hand to his forehead “You just know me so well.” He looked up, into
Kurt in the eyes, and something shifted in Blaine’s eyes, they softened and suddenly Kurt could see beyond the self-destructiveness. “Just don’t ever change ok?” Blaine said, voice hoarse as he clenched Kurt’s shirt between his fingers.

And well, that was something Kurt couldn’t promise.

“Blaine I-”

Blaine grinned brightly. “I am serious. You are the most amazing person I ever meet”

Kurt inhaled sharply. “I can’t promise I won’t ever change… M-maybe there is things about me that-”

“I like everything about you,” Blaine reached out for Kurt’s hands and interviewed their fingers together
“Especially how you don’t put up with my shit” He teased leaning in.

Kurt felt tears gathering at the corners of his eyes and forced himself not to let them fall – he could hold them back, he had to. “But what if can’t help it? What if I end doing something that changes the way you see me?”

Blaine squeezed Kurt's fingers between his, smile spread on his face. “You wouldn’t do that” he said so faithfully that Kurt couldn’t help but feel sick.

“How can you be so sure?” he murmured eyes filled with tears. There was a twist to his mouth that spoke of anger. He was furious with himself, with his lies, his own condition as a fucking robot.

And if there was one thing Kurt was not ready was to the unsettling sincerity which Blaine’s next words were spoken.

“Because you won’t break my heart” The older boy said closing the distance between them with a chase kiss that Kurt couldn’t even bring himself to respond properly.

Because, really, it was only a matter of time wasn’t it?


**********************

It was late when Walter arrived home and he was about to check up on the boys when he felt his phone buzzing on his pocket. It was Barbara. He raised an eyebrow. He was excepting Penny to call him, not his ex-wife.
Undoing his bowtie he answered the call. “Hey Barbara, I was about to -”

“Did you know Blaine is gay?” She interrupted him, voice weak but demanding.

Walter walked pass the boy's room and went straight to his bedroom. There he sat on his bed and ran a hand through his curls “I-I… Yeah he told me a few days after he moved in, actually we had a fight and he kind threw it on my face”

“And it didn’t even cross your mind to tell me about our son’s sexuality?”

Walter sighed. “I thought he would tell you when he was ready to. What I assumed it happen tonight…”

“Wow Walter… No wonder you were 198th district’s finest detective” The poison on Barbara’s words evoked a cruel, sharp edge of guilty on Walter, the same that cut its way through his chest every time he saw in her eyes the complete absence of warmth.

He didn’t know what he was supposed to say, but he had to say something. “Barbara-”

“You know what pathetic Walter?” Barbara cut in. She was drunk, so obviously drunk, and Walter knew her, he knew her too damn well, and he had to stop her before she said something she would regret.

“You are drunk Barbara” He said trying to remind her that there was no way this was end well, she would probably only hurt herself more.

“I hate you Walter” She gritted and she wasn’t lying, her words were too heavy, too hurtful to be lies. “And I have hated you since the day you walked away from me and our son, but I still put my best dress tonight and bought some of your favorite Chinese food. And you know why I did that Walter? No because deep down I still love you, believe me, I don’t. But earlier, when I called Principal Figgins he told me that Blaine’s behavior had improved and that he hadn’t skip classes in the past weeks. That filled me with so much hope Walter. Hope that you had found a way of fixing things. So I thought what if he can fix everything? What if, somehow, we can go back to what we were, a real family?” She snorted and Walter could hear her swallowing down a sip of cheap alcohol. “Doesn’t that make a pathetic Walter? The fact I was willing to put my best dress trying to impress the man I hate just because I miss who I was and what I had before our family become this toxic mess?”

“It’s not pathetic Barbara.” Walter said with some sort of resigned inflection. He didn’t expect any less than hate for Barbara, he never fooled himself someday she would forgive him, he knew she wouldn’t. “You have all the right to hate me.”

A sob broke its way so loudly through Barbara’s lips that Walter couldn’t help but feel his own eyes watering as well. He still remembered the last time he heard her sobbing like that. It was ten years ago, but he would never forget the expression she had on her face when he got on the hospital, as if her muscles were trying to twist her flesh in all directions at once.

“Why didn’t you pick up Coop Walter?” Barbara once more pleaded, just like she did in that waiting room years ago and Walter still didn’t have an answer.

His throat clenched up, too much trying to get out at once, too much paying cutting its way through his heart “I-I have been asking that m-myself for the past 10 years”

“You know what?” Barbara let out a shuddering breathe “I have to go, this is was a mistake, calling you like this-”

“Barbara-”

She sighed. “What Walter?”

Walter closed his eyes. “Just don’t turn your back to our son because of his sexuality” he said, and only then realized what bad shape his voice was in—it was only a harsh croak. He cleared his throat and tried again. “T-There is no enough reason to walk away from our son, believe I am talking for experience here, I was selfish and blinded for my own pain and I lost some so much. Sometimes I can barely recognize Blaine. He is not the same dapper boy that used to call me papa, damn, he doesn’t even call me dad anymore. So don’t make the same mistake I did when I walked away from him, you are better, stronger, than me”

Barbara didn’t reply Walter’s plea; she was silent for more than a few seconds and then hung up.

Several minutes later Walter found himself holding at his cell phone, motionlessly staring at his bedroom wall while tears streamed down his face. His emotions have been stewing together for so long that it would understandable if they'd all be mixed together now, just one thick, sticky, indeterminable mess, but no, Walter never been so sure before of what throbbed on his chest.

Guilt.

It was his fault, the ruin of his family, the death of his son… If Walter had any remaining doubt on that subject it had been wiped from his thoughts after Barbara’s call. The only question still echoing his Walter’s head was how he was supposed to live with himself with that certain weighing on his shoulders.


**********************

“Coffee?” Kurt asked placing a mug of black coffer in front of Blaine.
Supporting his chin on his hands the Blaine looked up.

“Thanks”

“Do you think we should wake Walter up?” Kurt wondered taking a bite of his toast. “He is usually is the first one to wake up”

“He is probably just tired” Blaine dismissed sinking on his chair. He wasn’t really sure if he wanted to deal with Walter. The events of the previous night were still too fresh in his memory.

Noticing the hurt expression that crossed Blaine’s factures Kurt sighed leaving his mug on the sink. “You don’t look so well” He said squeezing Blaine’s shoulders, he circulated the boy’s shoulders with his arms. “Do you want me to make chocolate pancakes?”

Blaine smiled leaning on Kurt’s warmth. He felt good, like home. “I am good, but thank you. I just have a headache, but is nothing, so don’t worry”

Still worried but convinced to give Blaine some space, Kurt didn’t asked any other questions resigning himself to only place light kisses on Blaine’s cheek “I will get you some aspirin then” he said before the doorbell rang starling both of them.

Kurt frowned. “Who could be at this hour?”

Blaine shrugged “I don’t know, Penny maybe?”
“Yeah is probably her” Kurt hummed nodding. “Anyway I will get it” he smiled heading to the front door.
The smile died on his lips in the moment he opened the door.

It was Tina. She seemed nervous, uncomfortable.

For what seemed forever the both of them just stared at each other hesitantly until Kurt broke the silence.

“What you want?” He demanded, blunt and dry. “If you are here to try to convince me how wrong “my life style is” please, don’t even bother-”

“No!” Tina cried “I-it’s not like that I am here to apologize” she said, eyes big and pleading.

Kurt frowned taken back “A-apologize?”

“Yeah” Tina rubbed the back of her neck nervously “I was stupid and I would like to try to explain myself”

Kurt raised an eyebrow, arms crossed above his chest. A big part of him wanted to listen what Tina had to said, after all for a long time she had been his only friend, but he wasn’t sure if could trust her, if this conversation wouldn’t end in more homophobic slurs.

“You have five minutes” He said stepping outside of the apartment and closing the door behind him.
Tina took a deep breath “Like I said I was stupid, I behaved like a jerk with you.” She looked up and Kurt didn’t seem impressed by her words, he still had his arms crossed above his chest and a skeptical expression on his face.

“I-I come from a very conservative family. And it surprised me see you like that with another boy.” She lied. Tina didn’t come from a conservative family. She didn’t even have a family.

“So you thought it was okay to judge me? To treat me as if I was some sort of freak?” Kurt retorted.

“I was confused Kurt! Please forgive me, I am really sorry for the way I treated you, you are one of my best friends I don’t want to lose you” She pleaded, her eyes burning with tears. Deep inside she secretly hoped Kurt wasn’t as generous and kind as she knew he was. She hoped he would deny her forgiveness and stay away from her.

Too bad that robot was too much of a good person to deny someone a second chance. “You are my only friend Tina, do you have any idea how much you hurt me?”

Tina nodded, eyes glued to the ground.

“You promise you won’t judge me like that anymore, that you won’t look down at me for who I love?” Kurt asked trying to keep his voice steady.

“I-I promise!” Tina squealed looking up. “And besides this Blaine is kind of cute”

Kurt chuckled, “Yeah he is”

Tina smiled “Can we be back to what we were then?” she asked hopefully “I promised I will make all the hot cocoa you and your boyfriend can drink”

Kurt smiled, “Friends then, with no judgment and all the hot cocoa benefits?” He asked raising a hand.

Tina smiled. “Friends” she said clenching his fingers between hers.

He grinned and his blue eyes were filled with such warmth and hope that Tina felt as if she was being punched in the stomach. “I-I kind have to go now” she couldn’t be around him any longer “You know, work”

“Right, right” Kurt nodded “So I will text you”

“Sure, and don’t forget to send me that ginger cookie recipe you promise me” Tina smiled, already turning her back to Kurt.

“Hey Tina wait!” Kurt called causing her to close her eyes and hesitate for a second before turn around with a forged smile on her lips. “Yes?”

Kurt bit his lips, looking around “Please don’t tell anyone about me and Blaine”

Tina heartbeat speed up “So Walter doesn’t-”

“He is one of the reasons why it is a secret” Kurt blushed. “Well, at least for now, we will tell him eventually”

“I see…”Tina trailed off before squeeze Kurt’s shoulder reassuringly “Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me”


**********************

Blaine gripped the coffee mug tightly, a large deep blue one with a Police Academy logo on it, chipped on the rim right above the handle, it was his father’s, older than Blaine himself.

He had heard Tina’s voice and was about to go check up on Kurt when the click of Walter’s bedroom door being opened and the man’s heavy steps as he crossed the hallway echoed in the small apartment. As if frozen on his spot, Blaine couldn’t bring himself to move until Walter entered the kitchen. Surprisingly the man didn’t say anything. He just stood there; hands bunched in an old sweatshirt looking as if hadn’t sleep at all.

“You look like shit” Blaine, not so kindly pointed before take a sip of his coffee.
There was an unreadable but somehow painful expression on Walter’s face and for a while he just stared at his son as if afraid of speaking. “I talked with your mom” he finally said and Blaine felt the hair stand up on the back of his neck.

“Of course you did” The boy snorted.

Walter sighed tiredly. He knew Blaine had all the reasons in the word to act like that, he was hurt, feeling reject by his own mother over something he had no control about.

“Blaine I am sorry about the way she reacted but Barbara loves you, and you sexuality didn’t change the way she feels about you. She just needs time to get used to the idea…”

Blaine had his jaw clenched, nostrils flared. “Do ever stop think that maybe her reaction changed the way I feel about her?” He gritted through his teeth. Blaine was tired of waiting for people to get used to him, to the things he liked, to who he was, that was just sick, always have to wait for those who he love to get their shit sorted before they are able to be in his live and love him for who he was.

“Blaine…” Walter tried to reach up for his son but the boy stepped way.

“Stop defending her! She certainly wouldn’t do the same for you” Blaine heard his voice rising and made the conscious decision of not to lower it.

“What I did with her, with y-you, that was inexcusable” Walter took a deep breath. He couldn’t even meet his son’s eyes, ashamed of himself, of the way his abandon had shaped his son in this untrusting, overly defensive person. “But B-Barbara is just confused, she comes from a very conservative family, give her some time, wait and see… She will come around”

“I already tried waiting once” Blaine snapped challengingly, glaring at Walter. “I didn’t work so well…”
Walter closed his eyes, supporting himself on the kitchen table. “Blaine” he whimpered, part of him hated that it came out like he was begging, but he was, irrevocably and shamelessly begging for forgiveness, for Blaine’s trust,
“I-I am so sorry I would give anything to-”

“Didn’t even crossed your mind talk about my sexuality with Barbara?” Blaine cut in, changing the subject.
He couldn’t bring himself to once again have Walter apologizing for leaving. Blaine wasn’t ready to accept those apologies, hear them and consequently feel sorry for Walter would only make Blaine angrier at his father, angrier because the man’s stupidity didn’t only hurt Blaine and Barbara but himself. And that was a concept Blaine couldn’t deal with, at least not yet. Because yes, in some ways Walter was another victim of the mess their family had become, but nothing he could say or do would ever change the fact he left. And after years been told and telling himself, that Walter was the story’s bad guy, it was hard for Blaine accept the fact that maybe he still loved the bad guy, and that maybe this whole time he have been just waiting for the bad guy to come back and make everything right again.

“I thought you would tell her when you were ready. Sorry I am just horrible at this I guess" Walter’s voice was thick. Through the lumps constricting his throat he swallowed down further apologies, if the way the boy was rolling his eyes was any indication, Blaine didn’t want them.

Blaine let a humorless laugh. “Yes you are” he bit his lower lip and looked into his father wet eyes. Cooper used to have Barbara’s eyes but it was Blaine’s that had Walter’s and now there was so much pain there, it was like that mix of green and hazel was threatening to burst and spill at any moment.

“But you weren’t always like that” the boy said and if someone asked him, Blaine wouldn’t know explain why he did that, why he offered comfort to his father.

“No?”Walter looked up and his eyes were so wide and he seemed so vulnerable that it was hard to tell he was forty-five years old man, respectable federal agent and former homicide detective.

And yeah, maybe Blaine did love the bad guy after all, because he could have stopped right there. He could have walked away or shut down but he didn’t. “Once you were the my hero, the best dad in the whole world…But that was until you left me behind wondering why I wasn’t good enough to make you stick around”

Walter gaped horrified. He searched for his son eyes, trying to think in something to say, but Blaine still wouldn’t look at him, eyes down and splintering “That wasn’t the reason why I didn’t stay-”

A bitter and sharp smile cut its way across Blaine’s factures “It wasn’t it?” he asked and more than anything Walter wanted to belief that he was being ironic, that Blaine knew it that Walter’s departure wasn’t his fault, but there were such agonizingly self- depreciative undertones on the boy’s words that Walter couldn’t shake off the feeling that Blaine actually believed it that his father departure had been his fault.

And how fuck up was that? That his son was looking Walter in the eyes not sure if he had been the cause of Walter’s absence, as if anything Blaine could have done as child could somehow justify his father’s indifference. For how long Blaine had been thinking like that? How many nights as a child he had spent awaken thinking that he wasn’t reason enough to make his father stay?

“No! Of course not!” Walter cried reaching up and gripping onto his son’s arms.

Blaine didn’t flinch away as he usually did. Gazing tiredly at the older man’s face, he allowed his father clench at his arms. It didn’t change anything did it? “Too bad I spent ten years thinking like that then…” he said, practically murmured, hazel eyes locked at his father’s watching at his words dilacerate him inside out.

Maybe he did hate the story’s bad guy after all.

Walter let go of him and his arms feel flat on his sides. “Do you think I will ever be able to go back to what we were?” he said voice weak and pleading.
With the back of his hands Blaine wiped tears he consciously didn’t felt falling. “Time doesn’t go back Walter”

Walter gave a step back, running his fingers through his curls. “So you think I could, I don’t know, be something else, not a hero, but maybe someone that is there for you?” He was so desperate, that he would take anything, the smallest hope, the most insignificant probability that maybe they could work things out. He just needed to ake things right with his son, with his boy.

“I don’t know,” Blaine said surprising himself with his honesty. “But I hope you find a way Walter, I really do” Maybe Blaine didn’t need to figure out if he loved or hated the bad guy just now, at least not yet.


**********************


“You were right” Tina sighed on her phone. Laid on her couch, engulfed by darkness of her apartment she covered her eyes with her hands.

“Once I am always right, I guess you will have to be a little more specific”

Rolling her eyes Tina grunted. “Walter doesn’t know about his son’s relationship with Project Metempsychosis, actually according with Kurt himself, Walter is one of the main reasons why their relationship is secret”

A loud laugh echoed in the other side of the line. “That is perfect, just perfect!”

“So what we are going to do now?” Tina asked sick of her stomach.

“We are going to wait until the perfect opportunity of using Project Metempsychosis’s little fling in our favor present itself and then we are going finally leave this behind us”

Tina closed her eyes breathing deeply “Fine I will keep you updated”


**********************

Spread on his bed with his hazel eyes fixated on the roof, Blaine had his headphones on. He had replied over and over his conversation with his father and still hadn’t decided how he felt about it when his phone buzzed above the nightstand. A picture of Santana sticking her tongue out was flashing on its screen.

Groaning a little he picked up but didn’t even have time to talk before being interrupted.

“I am throwing a party tomorrow and you better show up” Santana said blowing at her fresh painted red nails.

Blaine raised an eyebrow. “Oh good morning for you too Santana, how are you in this fine morning?” He said sarcastically, because seriously, some people didn’t have manners.

Santana huffed loudly and Blaine could practically see her rolling her dark eyes “Cut the crap I am mad at you” she said indignantly.

Blaine sighed. He couldn’t even remember what he had done. “Do I want to know why?”

Putting her phone on speaker Santana rolled around her bed to get the nail polisher and the cotton from her nightstand “Why you didn’t tell me you and porcelain doll are dating?” she cried.

Blushing crimson red, Blaine naively tried to play dumb. “What are you talking about it?”

He should have known better.

Santana rolled her eyes, coloring her toenails with vivid red. “I am talking about the fact you and Kurt are dating and I had to go through Quinn’s texts to you to find out”

“Do you guys don’t know the term privacy?” Blaine cried upset “Seriously, you and Quinn have to stop going through other people’s messages”

“Now you are just trying to change the subject” Santana said unaffectedly inspecting her work. She smiled, because, damn, red was really her color.

“I don’t even know what you are talking about” Blaine retorted, honestly considering hung up on Santana’s face.

“Oh really?” Santana snorted, grabbing her purse, she rammed around a little before find Quinn’s phone. “So when you texted Quinn, and I are quoting here, “He makes me feel like I never felt before” you were just randomly quoting some Nicholas Spark’s novel or it was a Taylor Swift’s song? Because that sounds cheesy enough”

“You have Quinn’s phone?!” Blaine couldn’t believe it, Santana had actually pickpocket Quinn’s phone. “Did you steal from her?”

Santana gaped “I am offend Anderson, do you really think I would steal from one of my friends? You know very well my rules. I only steal from creepers that don’t stop staring my tits while I am talking with them. Quinn came around for our weekly unholy trinity meeting and forgot her phone”

“And instead giving it back you decided go through her
messages.” Because of course she would do that, apparently no one in that damn group understood simple concepts such as violation of privacy. “I am never texting any of you ever again” Blaine stated because seriously, what the fuck?

“Yeah right… And how you are going to spend your time on math class?” Santana opened her closet going through its mess after something to wear. “But back for the point, so its truth you and Kurt are dating?” she asked holding a black dress over her body in front of a mirror.
Blaine bit his lower. There was no point on denying, but that didn’t men he knew how to explain the nature of his relationship with Kurt. “It’s not like that, I mean- It is complicated”

Santana rolled her eyes. “Let’s auntie Tana make easier than. Are you into him?”

Looking around to make sure no one was listening to their conversation Blaine murmured. “Y-yes”

“Do the two of you have been affectionate towards each other, and by that I mean romantically, as in kissing, holding hands and cuddling” Santana inquired throwing away the black dress. It didn’t match her earrings.

Blaine sighed. “There is point on this conversation besides embarrass me?” He was not admitting the cuddling, that word didn’t even exist on his dictionary.

“I will take that as a yes” Santana said zipping a high waist black skirt. “Have you screwing around other people?” she asked as if she was commenting on the weather.

“No” Blaine cried defensively.

Santana raised an eyebrow to that. Blaine Anderson not sleeping around? The concept seemed a little hard to grasp. “Are sure? Not even a little?” She asked narrowing her eyes as she boned down to grab her high boots.
“What that’s even mean?” Blaine frowned. There was the scale from sleeping around just a little to a lot? “How the hell you screw around just a little? You just kiss strangers but not get really in their pants?”

“Don’t play the innocent Anderson, I bet you already screwed someone just a little” Santana huffed a breath raising an eyebrow at her reflection, she didn’t like her shirt, it didn’t matched her boots. “Anyway, so you and Kurt are being romantic towards each other, you are really into him and obviously cares about him as you never cared for anyone before, once you actually stopped screwing around…Hmm I am sorry break this to you honey, but you two are dating. Commitment, exclusivity and feelings involved are basically the definition of serious relationship”

“I don’t-”

“So you are denying Kurt is your boyfriend?” Santana pressed.

Blaine ran his fingers through his curls “I am just not
ready to label our relationship yet okay? Now can you please drop it?”

“Alright, alright” Santana breathed still not convinced.
“But for the record, I am still mad at you”

“Mad at me?” Blaine snorted. “Santana, you are the one that invaded my privacy, I should be mad at you!” he pointed heatedly.

Santana actually placed a hand above her heart dramatically “You and me hobbit?” she cried “We are friends, we are family. You should have told me about getting a boyfriend” And before Blaine could retort she kept going “Even if you are not ready to label him as such, what is stupid by the way”

“Oh Fuck off Santana” Blaine grunted. So much double standard was killing him. “You didn’t told me about Brittany either! I didn’t even know who she was the first time you brought her to hang out with us”

Santana frowned, hands place on her hips. “I didn’t think
I had to tell you”

“Why?” Blaine retorted impersonating Santana’s drama queen’s tone “Aren’t we friends, family?”

“That is not the reason I didn’t told you” Santana replied expression in frown, because seriously Blaine didn’t know about her and Britt? “I just thought you already knew, everyone knew! A tape of me and Brittany having sex leaked, didn’t you heard about “2 girls, 1 cat” it was all over the school”

“No I didn’t! And there was a cat on? That is just disgusting Santana.” It was even coming from Santana.

“It’s not like that! The kitten was cleaning the kitchen!!” She cried defensively. “But again, you are missing the point, you found yourself a boy toy and didn’t tell me and now I am angry” She wasn’t going let Blaine walk freely for have omitted such thing from her.

Knowing he wasn’t going to get Santana off his ass any time soon Blaine sighed. “I am going regret this, but alright Santana, what I have do to make you stop bothering me about this?”

The Latina girl’s lips were curled into a mischievous smile. “I am feeling generous today. So in order to earn my forgiveness you just have to bring the booze for the party I am throwing for Lord Tubbington”

Blaine frowned. “Wait-who?”

Santana rolled her eyes. Sometimes Blaine acted as if he lived in another planet. “Britt’s cat”

Blaine smirked mockingly. “The one of sex tape?”

“Oh shut up” Santana cut in. “The party is tomorrow night, so use that little fake ID’s of yours, get some alcohol. Oh and bring lady lips with you, Britt loves to watch some boy on boy action”

Blaine couldn’t even reply before she hung up on him.

Well apparently he was going to a party then.