Chapter 4

After taking a shower separately, because Kurt insisted that he wouldn’t be able to focus on anything physical while the upcoming conversation with his dad was the only thing he could think about, the boys took their notes for the meeting and headed to the cafeteria for breakfast. On the way they noticed a few weird stares but they assumed that it was because of their new clothes. It was obvious that people weren’t over the fact that a new squad was formed.

“Also the fact that you look super hot in black draws attention,” Kurt said after he caught two girls looking at them and quickly turning around after getting caught. “I don’t like it.”

“Why?” Blaine asked not sure what his boyfriend was talking about.

“Because I may get really jealous. Everybody is eyefucking you right now,” he pouted playfully.

Blaine looked around the hall they were passing and laughed. “I think that guy was undressing you with his eyes a few moments ago. I’m tempted to lock you in our apartment and never let you go.”

They laughed and didn’t say anything until reaching the cafeteria. The glares continued the whole way and to Blaine’s surprise nobody said ‘hi’ to him. Not that he was full of himself but people actually liked him and usually he couldn’t get from point A to point B without at least one person acknowledging him. The ex-‘purple’ tried to ignore that but it was still unnerving. The whole new squad thing must have affected people more than he had thought it would.

Once they entered the cafeteria, they both looked at their usual table to see who was there. “Why are those ‘purples’ at our table? By this time someone from our group is usually here, reserving the whole table for us,” Kurt frowned.

Blaine didn’t answer, his eyes scanning the place. “Look, it’s Mike over there,” he motioned to their left.

“Why is he sitting alone with those ‘purples’? Where is Tina?”

With a shrug Blaine put his hand on Kurt’s back and led him to get food. “Maybe she is still mad at him or something.”

“Maybe…” Kurt uttered grabbing two glasses of lemon juice. “Yuck, I used to like them at first but I’m so fed up with them now.”

Blaine giggled putting a plate on his tray. “I wonder what you are going to say in a few years.”

When they were both ready to go join Mike, Blaine stopped making Kurt to look back at him.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s just that Sugar is sitting over there, two tables away from Mike. And Noah is here as well but not with any of them.”

Kurt took a better look around and saw that Blaine was right – their squad mates, no matter how weird it was to call them that now, were sitting one by one. He also noticed that Noah was wearing his old clothes.

“Are they all mad at each other? I mean, I thought that both Noah and Mike were okay with Sugar,” Kurt said and bit his bottom lip. “Shit, where are we going to sit? It will look like we are choosing sides or something.”

The other boy thought for a moment. “We don’t need to join any of them… We don’t want more arguments amongst ourselves especially while we are still a so called ‘experiment’.”

“What do you mean?”

Blaine sighed. “Sarah told us yesterday that if the whole Black Squad stuff doesn’t work out, the ‘whites’ will be sorted accordingly while the supervisors will go back to their squads.”

“And Jeff?”

“He will be treated as a ‘white’. You know, I really want it to work out. I think we would be a pretty good team,” he smiled.

“We will see what happens today. It will either make us bond even more or it will be the end, don’t you think?”

Blaine nodded. “That’s exactly what I thought. Come on, we need to get going before all good seats are taken.”

“Oh yes, right, food,” Kurt smiled a little. “Hey, look, it’s Jeff. I’m sure nobody is going be surprised if we sit with him.”

“You are right,” Blaine said trying to suppress a yawn.

They walked towards their friend easily because everyone gave them the way. Normally it used to take longer because there were a lot of people and they got in a way from time to time.

“Morning, Jeffy,” Blaine greeted the blonde boy and sat down in front of him.

“God morning,” Kurt said with a bright smile. “How did you sleep?”

Their words were met with a silence and a focused glare on half eaten food.

“Earth to Jeff,” Blaine waved his hand in front of the boy’s face. “Jeff? Are you alright?”

The boy in question looked around suspiciously and lowered his eyes again. The other two looked at him with worry in their eyes.

“The assignment,” Jeff whispered so silently that it was almost lost in the bustle of the cafeteria.

Kurt looked at him confused while Blaine sniggered. “I’m sure Sarah meant that we couldn’t talk while preparing for the assignment so it would be truthful. You are done, right?”

“Um, yeah,” Jeff answered frowning a little in confusion. “But everyone is taking it so seriously that I thought I should follow the suit.”

“What suit?” Kurt asked starting eating his food.

“I came here and saw Noah and Mike sitting separately so I assumed that since they are experienced agents, I should do the same.”

Blaine looked at him with disbelief. “You do realise that they are angry at each other since yesterday, right?”

“Are they?”

“Yes,” Blaine laughed. “You are unbelievable. That’s why I like keeping you around.”

“Good to be useful,” Jeff answered with a smile and there was a slight hint of hurt in his voice but his friends didn’t notice anything.

Kurt giggled. “Most useful on gloomy days like this. It seems like the weather is reflecting my mood.”

“Yeah, and you would expect a sunny day given it’s summer,” Jeff nodded solemnly.

“It’s the first day of summer,” Blaine pointed out.

Jeff rolled his eyes. “I know that,” he said and stuffed some pancakes in his mouth. “Gross, they are cold already.”

“Go get some new ones. Santana is coming,” Kurt said waving at her with a fork but she didn’t notice them and sat down alone. “This is stupid.”

Jeff giggled. “But it will do good for us.”

“What do you mean?” Blaine asked sipping the juice.

“Oh nothing,” Jeff answered with a mischievous smirk.

“Jeff…”

Jeff cleared his throat but only because it felt appropriate, not because he needed to. “I may have asked my girlfriend to spread some rumours about our squad and us being apart will contribute I think.”

The boys’ jaws dropped and they blinked rapidly.

“You know, you should stop spending so much time together because you are beginning to act in the exact same way.”

“Girlfriend? Rumours?” Kurt and Blaine asked in unison.

Jeff snorted. “Told you. So I think I’ll be going and–”

“Wait a moment, explain what’s happening here,” Blaine asked angrily. “Since when do you have a girlfriend? And what is this bullshit about rumours? What rumours?”

“Blaine–” Kurt whispered softly but Blaine wasn’t having any of that.

“No, Kurt, I want answers. So?”

Jeff frowned and stood up. “I don’t think I want to talk to you when you are angry. I’ll see you later. Good luck with your dad, Kurt.”

With those words he left. Kurt didn’t even bother to ask him how he knew that Kurt was meeting his dad later.

“Speaking of which, I should get going,” Kurt said after glancing at his watch. “Will you walk with me?”

Blaine stood up without another word and took his tray. “I can’t believe it. I had no I idea he had a girlfriend. How did he hide it from me? Why did he hide it from me? I’m his best friend…”

“Blaine, breathe,” Kurt said and put his tray on the counter. “He must have had a reason. You can ask him the moment you see him again. Just calm down.”

“You are right. You are always right.”

Kurt nodded with a small smile. “Of course I am. I’m more worried about those rumours he mentioned. If it has Jeff involved, it can’t be good.”

“Do you think it has something to do with those strange stares?” Blaine asked as they exited.

“I’m positive. Well, we will just have one more thing to discuss today in that meeting.”

“Two things.”

“Two, yes… We should go a little faster; I don’t want to be late.”

<~*~>

The boys ended up reaching the room just in time. Blaine gave Kurt a small peck on a cheek and some encouraging words and Kurt went in leaving the other boy alone. Finn was sitting on his right; Burt in front of the boy. Kurt chose to sit next to his brother knowing that it would be easier to talk facing his dad rather than sitting next to him.

“Dad, Finn,” he said nodding a little as a greeting.

“Hi, Kurt,” they said and Kurt sat down.

“You wanted to see me, sir?” Kurt asked, his anger that had subsided since the previous day, coming back.

Burt sighed, having noticed his son’s demeanour. It wasn’t unexpected. “Kurt, please, don’t do that.”

“You are the new head; I must be respectful,” he responded coldly.

“Just let me explain,” his dad pleaded and Kurt had to look away.

Just as Kurt thought that at least he had an ally in Finn, the other boy spoke to him. “Come on, Kurt, the longer we stay like this, the longer it will take to get an explanation. Let’s be professionals here.”

“Aren’t you at least a bit angry? He lied to us!”

“I know. That’s why I need some answers and I want them now,” he finished looking at Burt.

The man nodded and shifted in his seat. “First of all, I owe you an apology. I know it was wrong not to tell you, especially when you became agents yourselves. I just didn’t want to add more pressure on you. Knowing that your parents used to be agents doesn’t really help.”

“Parents? You mean my mom–” Kurt started but Burt cut in.

“No, I mean Carole.”

“Mom was an agent?!” Finn shouted. “You were both agents, our whole family were or still are agents and you kept that from us?!”

“As I told you–”

“Yeah, pressure,” Kurt rolled his eyes. “It’s not a valid excuse.”

“True. I guess we just didn’t want you to see us differently. You know, mom and dad, mechanic and nurse. And telling the truth would have changed things,” Burt said and ran his hand through his non-existent hair. “We just wanted to be a normal family.”

“We are a normal family. Only one thing changed – we all have something more in common now,” Kurt said, feeling a little better.

Finn, however, didn’t look convinced. “So you are just going to forgive them that easily for lying to us for years?”

“Oh no, I’m going to keep a grudge for a very long time. But I’m trying to understand and see the bright side of this situation we are in. I think it could benefit the family now that we know.”

“Of course, now we can go kill people together on vacations,” Finn grimaced.

“Hypocrite,” Kurt whispered.

“What?” his brother frowned.

“Let’s be professionals here,” Kurt mocked Finn’s low voice.

“Boys,” Burt cut it, “I know it’s not perfect and I understand why you are the way you are but I really want you on my side here. I don’t want our family members to stay mad at each other.”

Finally Finn relaxed in his seat and a tense silence followed. All three of them looked anywhere but at each other.

Kurt wanted to be angry, he really did and he knew he had a right to be. But for some reason he couldn’t. He simply tried to imagine himself in his dad’s shoes. Telling your kids about such past would be difficult. But if your kids were agents too it would make sense to tell them – to share stories, give advice. On the other hand, now that Burt reasoned their decision not to tell them, Kurt couldn’t help but ask himself – Am I good enough? Is he going to be proud of me or disappointed? What is he going to think of me if I fail my first or any mission?

Judging Finn’s uncomfortable shift Kurt guessed that he had similar thoughts. He wasn’t fuming anymore so it was a good sign. “Is mom here?” he broke the silence after a few minutes.

“No. She will be staying in Ohio for a while but she is planning to come visit you. We didn’t get a chance to spend much time together back in December.”

“Oh, by the way, Blaine told me about his parents,” Kurt smiled softly at the thought of the boy he loved.

Finn looked at him confused while Burt smiled gently. They still weren’t okay but they knew it was the matter of time. It would probably take Carole to mend their family as she always did but for now the boys decided to be adults. After all, Burt had a lot on his plate right now and he needed their support.

The three of them continued chatting, all of them feeling lighter each minute. But they were soon interrupted by the knock on the door.

Burt checked his watch. “Let the fun begin,” he said silently and added loudly, “come in.”