Author's Notes: .

B-word


“How do feel about going to a party?” Blaine asked as soon as Kurt entered their bedroom, closing the door behind him, “Santana just called me and she asked me to bring the booze.” He sat up, looking at Kurt expectantly.
Frowning, Kurt sat beside him, “And she invited me?”

Blaine furrowed his eyebrows, “And why the hell do you sound so surprised?” he wrapped his arms around Kurt’s waist, “The crew loved you,” he murmured into Kurt’s shoulder, squeezing him against his chest fondly.

“You really think so?” Kurt bit his lower lip.

“Why wouldn’t they?” Blaine rolled his eyes and laughed,

“So, you wanna go?”

“Will it be in her apartment again?” Kurt asked hesitantly. Last time he had been there it hadn’t ended well. If Kurt tried hard enough, he still could feel the bitter taste of alcohol under his tongue and how his eyes had burnt with tears due to Blaine’s rejection.

“Oh no, it’s going to be at an abandoned warehouse,” Blaine said deliberately, as if it was perfectly normal throw parties in abandoned warehouses.
It was a point of view not shared by Kurt, who gaped, horrified. “An abandoned warehouse?!”

“Yeah...” Blaine dismissed, as if it wasn’t a big deal, and for him it really wasn’t as his friends had thrown countless parties there. “Puck knows a guy who works as the vigilance of one of the places where they used to build humanoid androids, and sometimes he lets us throw parties there. But don’t worry, it’s safe and we can be as loud as we want without worrying about neighbors calling
the cops.”

Kurt bit his lower lip, looking down. “I don’t know…”

“C’monnn,” Blaine whined, placing a kiss on Kurt’s cheek.

“It’s going to be fun, I promise!”

“But what about Walter? He won’t let us go to a party in in abandoned warehouse.”

Blaine snorted. Sometimes Kurt was so na�ve. It was kind of adorable.

“He doesn’t need to know that we’re going to a party in an abandoned warehouse,” he said, the “duh” implied in his tone.

“So you’re gonna to lie to him?” Kurt asked, gasping.

“For a noble reason,” Blaine retorted, nipping at Kurt’s ear.

“To get drunk with your friends?” Kurt laughed; he was ticklish.

“No.” Blaine placed a kiss on Kurt’s neck, pulling him closer and onto his lap “Dancing with you and kissing you until the sun rises.”

“Look at you…. Secretly a dork,” The android teased, blushing crimson red, but allowing Blaine to keep going with his ministrations on his neck.

“Admit it, ice queen, you like it.” Blaine sucked at Kurt’s neck, not hard enough to bruise, but a little harder than he should have, causing Kurt to let out a yelp of protest.

He held the android tighter, pressing Kurt’s back to his chest in order to gain some leverage and to feel the goosebumps on Kurt’s skin against his own. “So what do you think?” He murmured right above Kurt’s ear. “We can dance until we die, you and I will be young forever…” he sung with his voice low, causing the opposite effect he expected to; Kurt burst out in giggles.

“Oh my god, you just sang Katy Perry to me.” Kurt laughed, unraveling himself from Blaine’s arms before falling onto the bed. He just couldn’t stop laughing.

Blaine wanted to kiss off the mocking expression on Kurt’s face. “I did, but if you ever tell anyone I will deny it vehemently.”

“Vehemently?”

Blaine nodded and Kurt sat up, all flushed from laughing and hair slightly messy. “Look at you, using big words,” he teased.

“And look at you looking all sexy,” Blaine leaned in, not giving Kurt the time to blush further before they were kissing, slowly and warmly.

And more than anything Kurt just wanted to keep kissing,
but Blaine broke away, face flushed and hazel eyes huge and pleading. “So, do you want to go or not?” he asked and Kurt groaned, burying his face in Blaine’s shoulder.

“Fine, we’ll go,” he breathed. Seriously, they could be making out, but Blaine wouldn’t stop insisting on it, so it was’t like there was really any other choice but to agree.

“We’re gonna have so much fun!” Blaine smiled, leaning in and placing another kiss on Kurt’s lips. It was soft,barely a peck, and far too chase for his liking.

“I just hope it ends better than last time with the whole balcony and the “almost kiss” fiasco,” Kurt said, camouflaging his insecurities with mocking undertones.
Blaine blushed, but shook his head, “Oh don’t worry, there won’t be any almost kisses. I’ll take every chance I get to kiss you breathless.” he bit his lower lip, looking at Kurt with such intensity, that it was almost as if those pools of hazel had become some sort of magnets, pulling Kurt in closer.

“Oh yeah?” Kurt whispered, just a few inches from Blaine’s lip.

“Yeah…” the older boy nodded before taking Kurt’s face between his hands and kissing him with purpose.

“But you know what?” Blaine said abruptly, breaking the kiss.

“What?!”” Kurt sighed in frustration.

“You should invite Tina,” Blaine said with a thoughtful expression on his face. He pulled Kurt towards him, until he had the android nestled on his chest.

“Tina?” Kurt asked, and an eyebrow rose as his fingers played with Blaine’s jacket.

Blaine rested his cheek against the top of Kurt’s head and wrapped an arm around him. “Yeah, you said you guys were cool now,” he pointed out “And besides we could introduce her to Mike, he has been kind of lonely lately.”

Kurt looked up, eyeing Blaine suspiciously. “Please tell me you didn’t think of Mike just because he’s Asian. That would be pretty damn racist.”

“Of course not!” Blaine laughed. “It’s just that Sam already has a girlfriend and that only leaves Mike and Puck, and you really think I would introduce anyone to Puck? I wouldn’t do that to my worst enemy.”

“I guess I’ll invite her then.” Kurt nodded before Blaine kissed his forehead appreciatively.

“It will be a big party so it’ll be good to have a familiar face there,” Blaine said, proud of himself for having thought of that.

Kurt would feel much safer with Tina there, wouldn’t he?
Sure, feelings are subjective and feeling safe doesn’t necessarily equal actually being safe, but little did Blaine know at that time.

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

“Going to a game night at Sam’s place?” Walter frowned, turning off the television and placing his coke on the coffee table before turning around to meet his son’s eyes.
Blaine was staring at him with a blank expression on his face. “Yeah, a game night,” he said, supporting himself against the living room wall.

“And he invited Kurt as well?” Walter asked, a little taken back. Well, he would never have guessed that Kurt liked video games.

“Yeah, why?” Blaine raised his voice. “Are you insinuating that Kurt isn’t suited for a game night?”

“No, no…” Walter said defensively. “I-I just never pictured him as someone who was into video games.”
Blaine made a face, eyebrows furrowed and lips partially open, as if horrified by his father’s attitude, when the truth was that he was almost cackling at how easy it was to manipulate Walter. “That’s incredibly judgmental of you

Walter, just because he’s gay and dresses like a runaway model doesn’t mean he can’t be into video games!” He narrowed his eyes, trying his best to keep a straight face.

“I’m not saying that!” Walter stood up. He wasn’t trying to assume anything or be judgmental. “I just- Why are you defending him? A few weeks ago you guys could barely stand each other!” He retorted, clearly confused. Those two literally hated each other, until about a week ago.

“So that’s it, you’d much rather see us fighting?” Blaine crossed his arms above his chest. “Make up your damn mind Walter, you were the one that forced our coexistence, so don’t get all worked up because we’re sort of friends now.”

“I’m not saying I don’t want you guys do be friends I just-”

“You just think we can’t share interests!” Blaine cut in.

“Tell me Walter, what makes us so different that we can’t even enjoy some quality time with our buddies and play some classic games?”

“That was not what I meant!” Walter said exasperatedly, running his fingers through his hair. Apparently everything that came out of his mouth was somehow unbelievably offensive.

Parenting used to be so much easier before puberty hit Blaine and made him this confusing yet incredibly sharp teenager. How Walter missed the golden days, when the subject of their conversations consisted mostly of cartoons, and they only argued over why Blaine should eat his vegetables.

“But admit that it was what you thought!” Blaine accused, a skeptical expression on his face.

“No, it wasn’t!”

“So tell me what exactly you meant by saying that Kurt couldn’t play videogames?”

Walter gasped. “I-I didn’t say that!”

“Didn’t you?” Blaine crossed his arms above his chest.

“Are you really sure of that, Walter?”
Walter opened and closed his mouth several times. He wasn’t sure of anything anymore. He didn’t even know how this Sam guy had met Kurt. Walter sighed, burying his face between his palms “You know what? Go to this game thing. You guys have fun.” he gave up. He sucked so badly at this parenting thing.

“Alright then.” Blaine smiled with satisfaction. “Thanks Walt. I knew you could overcome your judgmental notions,” he mocked before turning around and hurrying to the hallway where Kurt stood wide eyed, with an impressed expression on his face.

“What was that about?” He asked.

Blaine smiled smugly, all teeth and pride, “The oldest tactic to get your parents to let you do something: confuse them and twist their words until they don’t even remember the initial subject of the conversation but are too afraid of hurting your feelings by denying you what you want.”

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

Typing enthusiastically on her keyboard, Tina had her speakers blasting Juli, a German band that used to be Gunter’s favorite, when her doorbell rang. Startled, she paused the music and looked up, but the doorbell continued to echo in her small apartment. She frowned. She wasn’t expecting anyone.

Grabbing the umbrella she kept at her doorstep, Tina gripped at the front door handle. She didn’t need the umbrella, and was surprised to see not only Kurt, but Blaine as well, in all his leather glory.

“Hey Tina,” Kurt greeted, giving her a dimpled smile.

“Hey Kurt.” She smiled as well, not really sure to what say next. “Do you want to come in? I still have some cookies left.”

“No thanks, I came to properly introduce Blaine.” Kurt pulled at Blaine’s jacket. “Blaine, Tina, Tina, Blaine.” He motioned between them.

“Hey there.” Blaine smiled and Tina’s heart melted just a little. When he slid out of his stern expression, the boy actually looked pretty cute. His big hazel eyes and delicate mouth… if wasn’t for the piercings, Tina wouldn’t be able to tell that he was the boy that the neighbors warned about in whispering voices.

Tina felt a tingle in her chest. Soon, it wouldn’t be a bitter fa�ade anymore. The stern lines in the corners of the boy’s mouth and the coldness in his eyes wouldn’t be a mask, but a reflection of his broken heart. No one deserved to lose their first love. It was the kind of longing that never really faded way. Years could pass but the pain would keep and torment, maintained for all the possible could have been’s and what if’s. And the fact she would be responsible for causing such a familiar loss in another person made Tina a little sick to her stomach, but she had to kept a smile on her lips.“It’s nice to meet you, Blaine,” She said, her voice a little hoarse.

“And there is another reason why we are here!” Kurt said excitedly “We are here to invite you to a party!”

Tina frowned. “A party?”

Blaine rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, a friend of my is throwing a party, so we thought maybe you would want to go.”

Tina bit her lower lip. Maybe that was exactly the opportunity she had been asked to report. “I don’t know…”

“It would be a great opportunity to meet new people,” Kurt added hopefully. “C’mon, you said yourself that I was basically your only friend in Lima and okay, Blaine’s friends may be a little too fond of piercings, but under all the leather they’re actually pretty cool,” he teased, bumping against Blaine’s shoulder.

“We’ve been through this.” Blaine pulled Kurt closer by his wrist. “And you love the leather,” he whispered, causing Kurt to giggle.

Tina cleaned her throat, bringing the boys back to reality. “That sounds pretty cool, but my boss completely overloaded me with work this weekend,” She lied, remembering she was suppose to stay out of this, play cool and just and pass on all the information she got. “But if you give me the address of where this party is going to happen maybe I can show up there later.”

“You know the complex where Avalon used to produce androids?” Blaine asked, and for a minute Tina forgot how to properly breathe. Of course she knew about the Angelus Complex. She knew every inch of that place.

“I-I may have an idea- yeah,” She said nervously.

“So one of my friends knows a guy that works for the security there and from time to time he lets us to use an abandoned warehouse to throw parties,” Blaine explained.

“We use some generators and stuff. It’s cool.”

“R-really?” Tina pulled a streak of hair behind her ear. She couldn’t believe it. It was too much of a coincidence.

“Yeah and we don’t have to worry about being too loud and having neighbors call the cops on us,” Blaine pointed out trying to coax her to go with them.

“It seems really nice, but I am not sure if I will be able to go,” she said, biting her lower lip. “But I promise I’ll try!”

Kurt pursed his lips on a pout. “I hope you can go!” He pressed on. “It’ll be great to have a familiar face there, and there’s this cutie I want you to meet.”

“So is this just an elaborate plan to set me up with some friends of yours?” Tina rose an eyebrow teasingly.

“Maybe…” Kurt trailed of, a smirk tugging the corners of his lips. “But I’m afraid we have to go now, I still have to find the perfect outfit, because unlike some people I can’t just throw a leather jacket on and look gorgeous,” he said, giving Blaine a pointed look.

Blaine snorted. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. You would look fucking hot with a leather jacket on.” He totally would, especially with Blaine’s jacket on and nothing else.

“Alright boys, hopefully I’ll see you guys later then” Tina smiled before closing her apartment door, and then her face fell almost instantly.

Quickly she took her phone out of her pocket. “Kurt is going to a party with Blaine,” she said as soon as her call was answered.

“Hmmm…That’s interesting. Where?”

“The Angelus Complex,” Tina breathed.

A loud gasp echoed from the other side of the line.

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No, it’s going to be in the abandoned warehouse,” Tina said.

“That’s just poetic, don’t you think it’s poetic Tina?” She didn’t. It was a sick, twisted, coincidence. “It’s all going to end where it started! It’s like the universe is conspiring in our favor!”

Tina closed her eyes. Of course the universe was conspiring in their favor, they had become the bad guys of the story and the bad guys always got what they wanted.

“What do you want me to do?”

“You already have done more than enough sweetie, so relax, let me handle this.”

Tina inhaled soundly. “Fine, call me when you’re done.” she hung up throwing her phone onto the couch.

“Calm down, it is almost over,” she repeated to herself, running her fingers through her thick hair. “Almost.”

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

“Eugene!!” Artie cried, trying to hold onto his desk as Eugene pulled at his wheelchair. “I need to work.”

“NO, YOU NEED A BREAK,” Eugene said, forcefully pulling Artie away from his computer. “YOU HAVE BEEN WORKING ON PROMETHEUS FOR HOURS, IT’S TIME TO REST A LITTLE.”

Artie groaned, rolling his eyes. “You don’t get it! I have to find a way of using the malware Penny installed on Prometheus to access the information we need without being caught by their security system.”

“I KNOW IT’S DIFFICULT ARTIE, BUT YOU’RE OVERWHELMING YOURSELF,” Eugene insisted. “AND YOU WILL NOT BE OF MUCH USE ASLEEP ON YOUR KEYBOARD.”

Artie crossed his arms over his chest, and didn’t budge as Eugene wheeled him out of his lab. “I hate it when you’re right,” he mumbled childishly.

“NO YOU DON’T, NOW LETS GO EAT SOME PANCAKES.”

“You made us pancakes?” Artie looked up brown eyes huge and shinning. “I take back what I said, I fucking love it when you’re right.”

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

Spread out on his ugly couch, Walter watched “Mystery Science Theater 3000.” The boys left a few hours ago to their game night, leaving him alone and quite miserable. And well, there was nothing that brought such self-depreciative feelings and dark thoughts back as watching a bad TV show about robots discussing bad movies all alone on a Saturday night. And if anyone had a lot of self-depreciative thoughts, that person was Walter Anderson. He was a divorced 45 year old man, had lost a son and could barely keep a conversation with his remaining one without saying something that offended his son in ways Walter couldn’t really understand, as he didn’t really Blaine.

He looked down. He fixed his hazel eyes on his feet placed on the coffee table and sighed. Not even his socks matched. At any other occasion that would’ve probably passed by unnoticed, but at that moment it just seemed like another way the universe was telling Walter that he was useless. So useless that he couldn’t even pick a up a matching pair of socks.

Staring down at his toes, (there were holes in his socks too!) the federal agent came to the conclusion that he was pretty much a failure in every aspect of his life. He was a loser who had ruined his marriage, his relationship with his son, and even though he promised he would help Kurt, he hadn’t done that much for him.

God, even Eugene had been more helpful.

To his despair, the doorbell rang. Walter sighed. What if it was Barbara? What if, once again, she wanted to throw at his face how he had screwed things up beyond repair?

“Well, bring it on,” Walter murmured to himself. He probably deserved whatever the universe wanted to throw at his face.

He was ready for practically everything, except for lavender smelling pillows to be shoved in his face, which was surprising to say the least.

“Hey Walt!” Penny greeted him. She looked utterly adorable
and there wasn’t really another way of putting it. Dressed in an oversized green flannel shirt and some worn out jeans, Penny carried a backpack lunched on her right shoulder, and had her red hair combed in a sided-braid.

“Penny?” Walter gasped and the girl walked passed him, entering his apartment. “W-what are you doing here? And what the hell are these?” He held out the pillows she had shoved at him.

“My lavender smelling pillows,” Penny said, sitting down on Walter’s couch. “I brought them so I could be comfortable for our movie night.” she smiled brightly and contagiously. The effect of her smile was almost immediate and suddenly Walter didn’t felt so miserable and he didn’t he care much for his socks.

He still made a face though, because well, he couldn’t just be condescending with Penny’s randomness as she would end up getting used to getting whatever she wanted.

“What’re you talking about?”

“A movie night! You texted me saying the boys were going out tonight and after all that happened with Barbara I couldn’t just leave you sulking alone,” Penny said a little distractedly as she pulled a jar of Nutella, some

Red Vines, and a huge bag of marshmallows from her backpack. “Do you have popcorn? I forgot the popcorn.”

“You can’t just show up at people’s houses,” Walter said, not willing to admit that he was feeling down and probably could use some of Penny’s enthusiasm. “I could be with someone!”

Penny looked at him skeptically. “Really? Who?”

For several pitifully seconds Walter tried to think of someone, anyone, but apparently even Mrs. Chang had a better shot at romance than him and she was dead. “Okay, that probably wouldn’t happen, but you’re missing the point here.”

Penny rolled her eyes. “I’m here because you’re important to me and you’re obviously depressed. Damn Walt, I could tell how miserable you are just by your texts and you don’t even use emoticons! So you either shut up and enjoy my company or I’ll walk out that door and leave you behind spending another miserable night alone watching-” she looked to the TV and frowned. “I honestly don’t even know what the hell you’re watching.”

“Mystery Theater 3000.”

“God, this sucks so bad, no wonder you look so depressed, look at this!” She threw her arms up. “It depressing me, Walter, me!”

Walter rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s not that bad.”
Penny snorted. “It’s horrible! Good thing I brought a classic to cheer us up,” she said, pulling out a DVD from her backpack.

“A classic huh?” Walter said sitting beside her. He wondered what she picked up, maybe some western movie. Walter always loved western movies.

“The special edition of Mean Girls!” Penny squealed excitedly.

Walter furrowed his eyebrows together. “That’s not a classic!” Clint Eastwood’s movies were classics. Lindsey Lohan’s? No so much.

“How dare you…” Penny murmured, narrowing her eyes as she clenched the DVD against her chest, as if trying to physically defend it from Walter’s words.

“Penny, a classic is a movie that makes history,” Walter tried to explain, but Penny kept glaring him as if gravely offended. “Are you implying that Mean Girls didn’t make history?”

“No, I’m not implying, I am affirming that Mean Girls didn’t make history,” Walter stated.

“Heresy!” Penny pointed a finger to Walter’s face. “Take back what you said!” She looked so angry that Walter had to bit the insides of his cheeks in order to stop himself from chuckling. It was too cute, like a puppy barking, displaying its small teeth in a hopeless attempt of looking threatening.

“And what are you going to do if I don’t take back what I said?” Walter teased, his face contorted in a mockingly grin.

Penny couldn’t believe Walter’s defiance. “Oh you wanna know what I’m going to do?” she opened the bad of marshmallows, eyes glistering devilishly - well as devilishly as Penny could pull off- before taking a handful of those extra fluffy marshmallows between her fingers and smearing it on Walter’s face and hair.

“Penelope!! Stop- oh my god my hair! No!” Walter cried, trying to protect himself from his partner’s attack as she threw marshmallows at him.

“That’s the worst you can do?” he teased, picking up the marshmallows Penny threw at him and throwing some at her as he tried to protect himself behind the couch.

“Oh Walter, you don’t want to see my worst,” She retorted before shoving her hand into the marshmallow bag and noticing it was empty.

“Oh no,” she whispered before Walter jumped at her, his hand full of the marshmallows she had thrown on him. He smeared the marshmallows on her face but the girl couldn’t help but laugh. “No, my hair! No!” she cried.

“But it’s good for your hair.” Walter laughed “And how about some red vines? Or even better, the Nutella. It must do some good to the skin, don’t you think?” He said, grabbing the Nutella from the coffee table.

“Nooo, not the Nutella!” Penny cried before having her face smeared with the hazelnut cream.

“Walter, you suck!” she huffed breathlessly when he finally let her go. “I can’t believe you wasted the Nutella,” she stuck her tongue out.

“Don’t worry, I have more in the refrigerator,” He said licking at his sticky fingers, “And I think I may have some ice-cream too.”

“Chocolate mint?” Penny squealed.

“You bet.” Walter winked. “Now start that classic of yours, I’ll make us some popcorn and get us more sugar.”

“Really?” Penny’s brown eyes were huge and sparkling.

“You’re going to watch Mean Girls with me??”

“Yeah, but if anyone asks, we watched ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’,” He said, removing a marshmallow that was stuck in one of his curls.

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


As expected, the abandoned industrial complex was silent. If wasn’t for the isolated warehouse now being colored by flashes of red and purple lights that stuck out its giant metallic doors, while bodies danced inside, the place would look a horror movie scenario. There were some people outside smoking and a few of them even waved towards Blaine who carried a few bottles of cheap alcohol in his arms. The older boy simply nodded but didn’t stop to properly greet the small group, making Kurt conclude that they probably weren’t important.

Inside of the warehouse, it was all noise, with more colored lights and tight hot bodies twirling around each other. The air smelled like a mix of alcohol, nicotine and sweat and it surprised Kurt how he didn’t felt necessarily repulsed by it. It was an interesting place, and it had a vibrant atmosphere. And everyone there, all seemingly fond of leather and fishnet pantyhose, was probably having the time of their life.

“Kurt! Blaine! Over here!” a feminine voice called to them over the music, causing both boys to turn around and watch as Quinn crossed the crowded place, a red cup in her hands and a smile on her red lips. Her eyes were wide and dark, and bits of her pink hair were already sticking to her forehead and neck from the warmth of the room. But even with her makeup slightly blurred, but Quinn still looked undeniably gorgeous.

“Hey Quinn! How-” Kurt tried to say before being crushed between her arms. She smelled as sweet as ever, but there was undertone of mint and alcohol lingering around her that made the cause of her enthusiasm pretty clear.

“I can’t believe Blaine actually convinced you to come.” She grinned, flashing them her perfect teeth and stepping back as if to try to get a good look at Kurt’s face.

“I can be very persuasive.” Blaine winked smugly. Kurt rolled his eyes, but Quinn giggled loudly, one arm lunched above Kurt’s shoulders. “Yeah, right.”

“Do you know where I put these?” Blaine asked, arms starting to ache from carrying all those bottles.
Quinn frowned. “I don’t know, but there’s Brit! Ask her!” she pointed out towards Brittany who was holding an incredibly fat cat in her arms. The cat didn’t seem impressed at all with the party thrown in his honor.

“That’s an unbelievably fat cat,” Blaine muttered, impressed. “Let’s go drop this off.” he smiled, and Kurt was about to follow him when Quinn held him back. “Hey wait, I want to have a little chat with you,” she said holding onto his arms.

Blaine shook his head. “No, no, you’re not embarrassing me,” he said.

“Oh shut up.” Quinn scoffed, pulling Kurt by his forearm.

“I just want to have a little chat with Kurtie,” She said batting her eyelashes dramatically.

Blaine gave her a skeptical glare. “No you don’t, you want to embarrass me.” He knew he shouldn’t have told her about Kurt.

“I won’t! I promise,” She whined with a pout.

“Go and get us something to drink,” Kurt said, curious about what Quinn had to say. “I can handle her.”

Quinn laughed “See? He can handle me!” She said, poking at Blaine’s shoulder. “Now go!” Still not convinced Quinn wouldn’t do anything but embarrass him, Blaine left, rolling his eyes and hoping to be wrong.

As soon as he disappeared into the crowd, Quinn unraveled her arms from Kurt’s and stepped back. She peered at him intently, head tilted to the side, eyes intense and focused, indiscernible. She opened her mouth, closed it, and then said, “Okay, I’m just going through this alright? Thank you, Kurt.”

And that definitely wasn’t what Kurt had been expecting.

“For what?”

For a moment, Quinn seemed embarrassed. She ran her fingers through her bangs. “For making Blaine’s life better. I know this sounds chaste as fuck, but it’s been a while since I saw him smile and actually mean it. And I guess I didn’t even know how much I missed that smile until I saw it again… and you were the one who brought it back, so thank you.”

“Quinn,” Kurt breathed. “I-I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything.” She shrugged and elbowed him lightly. “Actually I shouldn’t be saying anything because this thing between you two is still new and everything, but I am drunk as fuck, so I don’t care, I just want to make sure you will keep giving my Blainey reasons to smile. Can I count on you to do that Hummel?” she looked up, and Kurt felt his chest prickle. Quinn was being serious. She could be a little bit tipsy, but she was seriously putting herself there, asking, pleading for him to not hurt one of the most important people in her life.

“I-I will do my best,” He said, knowing his best wasn’t enough, not when he already had lied for so long. Kurt could practically feel the inevitability beneath his skin as his lies weighted on his chest.

“Great then.” she smiled, patting his shoulder. “I’m glad we had this talk, but if Blaine asks, I was just giving you sex tips, I have a reputation to maintain!” she teased and Kurt couldn’t help but smile at the expression on her face.

“Of course you do.” He nodded as Quinn squeezed his arm fondly.

“Now if you excuse me,” She held up her cup, looking thoughtful for a moment. “I may be drunk enough to try the lesbian thing Santana offered earlier.”


“Oh,” Kurt said; he also didn’t have an answer for that.

“Good luck I guess…”

“Thank you sweetie.” Quinn smiled, kissing him on the cheek and ruffling his hair affectionately before walking away, glancing over her shoulder a last time before disappearing into the sea of dancing bodies.

Kurt felt a strong hand touching his shoulder and didn’t hesitate to turn around with a smile on his lips. “What took you so-” Both his smile and his words died on his lips as he realized that standing there was a guy that definitely wasn’t Blaine. “You’re not Blaine,” he said, his voice high while his eyes widened almost comically.

Next to him, and by 'next to' him he meant that the guy was practically leaning into him, was a really tall, dirty blond-haired guy with piercing green eyes. Probably in his mid-twenties, the guy was smiling down like a predator looking at his prey - there was no other way to describe it. Kurt, who was never exactly an enthusiast of animals shows, but he couldn’t help but of feeling like a zebra from those discovery documentaries about the African savannah as that guy stared at him, smile sharp as if he had fangs.

“Actually my name is Jason, but with eyes like yours you can call me whatever you want,” He said, smirking. He was so close Kurt could practically smell his breath. “Can I buy you a drink?”

Kurt stepped back. “No thank you.”

Jason raised an eyebrow, obviously confused, but didn’t step back. “Are you straight?”

Kurt shook his head. “No, I just-”

“Do you have a boyfriend?” Jason cut in.

Kurt furrowed his eyebrows together. It was surreal, almost as if the guy didn’t believe he could be actually rejected. And it wasn’t as if he was THAT hot. Yes, he had some attributes; he had a broad shoulders and a good bone structure, but he just wasn’t Kurt’s type.

“Even if you have one, I’m not jealous,” Jason insisted, hovering closer. His breath was warm against Kurt’s face and it smelled overly sweet and made the android slightly sick to his stomach.

“Too bad his boyfriend is.” Blaine stepped in, nostrils flared and jaw clenched. He had two cups in his hands but his eyes were narrowed into hazel slits. “So I strongly suggest that you take your hands off my boyfriend, otherwise you may lose them.” He didn’t have any idea who that guy was, but Kurt looked utterly gorgeous and something in the way the green eyes were hovering over Kurt told Blaine that Jason did share that opinion, only he was probably imagining Kurt without all those fabulously fashionable clothes on.

Jason spared him an unimpressed look before focusing his attention back on Kurt. “If you ever get tired of hobbits with bad tempers, call me,” he said, practically purring it in a vain attempt of charming Kurt.

And that was about as much of shit Blaine could put up
with.

“You’re fucke-” Letting go of the cups, Blaine was about to teach that guy a lesson or two, when Kurt held him by his jacket. “Blaine!” he called, searching for the older
boy’s eyes. “Calm down!”

Blaine was seeing red. “He called me a hobbit! He was all over you and then called me a fucking hobbit! I’ll show that fucker who the hobbit is!”

“Blaine, look at me!”” Pools of sky blue looked at Blaine, interrupting his angry thoughts.

“What?!” He asked, holding to Kurt’s arms.

“You called me your boyfriend,” the android murmured breathlessly, blue eyes wide.

Blaine felt his cheeks burning and looked down at his shoes. “I did, didn’t I?” He asked and wished his voice didn’t sound as strained as it did. But like every Anderson man, when situations like these presented themselves, Blaine was always reduced to something similar to a fish out of water, gasping, as he tried and failed, to find the right words when he needed them the most.

“Yeah,” Kurt whispered and maybe it was the perceptible insecurity in his words that made Blaine to finally gain the courage to say it. “Well, who are we kidding?” He laughed, because seriously they weren’t fooling anybody with their no labels shit. “We’re boyfriends, Hummel!” he teased, a wide smile spread on his lips.

Saying Kurt was shocked by Blaine’s words was the understatement of the year. Blaine freaking Anderson just used the b-word, and he had used the b-word to address him. Kurt was actually Blaine Anderson’s boyfriend. How could Kurt have been expected to do anything but stare at Blaine with a goofy smile on his lips after being addressed like that?

“Really?” he murmured, still not sure if everything had been somehow a figment of his imagination.

“Yeah,” Blaine whispered, cupping Kurt’s face, but then he looked up and his features were suddenly taken over by a sullen expression. “That fucker is still staring at us,” he practically growled looking at Jason lounging in the distance, smug, sleek and watching them with serpentine eyes.

Something about the possessiveness in his voice made a shiver run down Kurt’s spine. “Show him then,” Kurt murmured, pulling Blaine’s closer by his shoulders, his warm breath against the boy’s lips. “Show him why I choose you and not him to be my boyfriend,” he said, his voice low and eyes glistering in a way Blaine had never seen before. Kurt framed Blaine’s face with both of his hands before joining their lips together.

The room suddenly felt like a thousand degrees but Kurt couldn’t bring himself to care. Not when Blaine was pulling him forward with such an unexpected force that caused him to stumble into Blaine’s chest, trapped by his strong arms.

Kurt parted his lips and Blaine groaned, pressing further into him, letting his tongue slip between Kurt’ lips, his calloused fingers sliding through the soft chestnut hair at the base of android’s skull. When Blaine pushed one of his thighs between Kurt’s, pushing him against a wall, Kurt felt weak in the knees. Having Blaine so close and each one of his whimpers were engulfed by hungry kisses was overwhelming. Blaine smelled and tasted amazing-- fresh and crisp, with an undertone similar to black licorice.

Blaine didn’t mean to, he really didn’t, but as soon as he tightened the grip of left hand around Kurt’s hip, his other hand moved slowly down Kurt’s neck, it was almost instinctual and automatic when he pushed his hips forward. And it wasn’t until Kurt sucked in a sharp breath and broke the kiss, bumping their noses and moving back just an inch that Blaine noticed what he did.

“I-I’m sorry.” Blaine was flustered, gripping at Kurt’s shoulder’s but the android didn’t hear him. He had seen someone, a somehow strange yet disturbingly familiar face in the crowd.


Abruptly, he tore himself from Blaine’s arms, and ignoring
the older boy’s questions, looked around. There was someone there, he could tell. There was someone watching them, and it wasn’t one of Blaine’s friends or Tina. It was someone else, Kurt couldn’t explain it, but he felt the person’s glare on him, and for a moment he could swear he had a glance of a pair of recognizable eyes on him. And that was when an excruciating pain suddenly reverberated through him and he feel on his knees, digging his fingernails on his scalp.

“Kurt! Kurt! What’s happening?” He could hear Blaine pleas and feel the boy’s strong hands gripping on his shoulders and he tried to focus on his boyfriend’s voice, but others voice echoed in Kurt’s mind— distant, confusing voices, voices he didn’t even recognize.

“I don’t think he can hear us.”

“Well, if someone had made Project Metempsychosis a functional stereocilia maybe he could!”
It was all too much, the present, the past… his system couldn’t process so much information.

“Kurt, are you listening to me?” Blaine cupped at his face, forcing him to look into his eyes and focus on something. “Please talk to me,” His voice cut through Kurt’s confused thoughts, jolting him out of his reverie.

“Blaine?” He murmured, dizzy.

Looking into Kurt, eyes filled with worry, Blaine grabbed the android’s phone. “Do you want me to call your doctor?”
Kurt shook his head. “N-no, there’s no need.”

“What’s going on with him?” Quinn asked. She was holding a red cup in her right hand and had a concerned expression on her face. “Did someone put something in his drink?”

Blaine shook his head, helping Kurt to stand up. “I think he’s having a hypoglycemic crisis.” He gripped the boy’s forearm. “Kurt, are you having a hypoglycemic crisis?”

“Yeah,” he murmured, pretty much back to his senses. His head still ached but he needed a good excuse to explain what just happened.

Even he couldn’t explain quite yet what was going on with him.

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

Tina had her laptop open, equilibrating it on her lap as she ate chicken noodles.
“I always thought Project Metempsychosis would turn out a prude. Good thing I was wrong.”
Tina rolled her eyes, not stressing over trying to hide her displeasure from the familiar eyes watching her through her web cam. “I assume that you got what you wanted then.” she said, eyes fixed on her food and obviously lacking the enthusiasm her collaborate expected from her.

“I surely did, the federal agent’s son was all over our little scientific project and you know what? Those two are photogenic as hell.” A loud noise caused Tina to look up. “Fuck!”

“What happened?” Tina asked, placing her cup-of-noodles away. What if there was someone there? Could Azrael have found them?

“Nothing, it’s just my printer got stuck AGAIN. I swear this piece of crap only gives me headaches.”

“Printer?” Tina frowned “Why do you need a printer, it wouldn’t be easier just send the pictures you took to Walter’s email?”

“And risk having one of the biggest hackers of the country after us? I don’t think so, I’s prefer to do it the old fashioned way.”

Tina nodded. Artie was in fact a great hacker, he even managed to fix the android Tina damaged to cover her tracks. They really couldn’t afford to have someone like him after them.

“But when is that going to happen?” She asked. Tina was tired of all the lies and pretending. It was becoming too much and if they didn’t act upon their plan soon, she would end up losing it.

“Soon, I still have to set up things so Adrian can’t find us once we’re done, but in a few weeks we will be ready to intercept and once and for all terminate Project Metempsychosis.”