For awhile, Kurt was fine with letting Blaine sulk under the blanket, busying himself with reading Blaine's books and redrawing his family house, but eventually he began to feel some nagging guilt and worry.

“Hey.  Blaine?  I'm sorry.  Want to come out and play?”  He asked, poking the side of the blanketed human pile in the chair.

“No.” Was the muffled reply.

“I'll read some more to you….”  Kurt offered, again prodding Blaine just to make sure he wasn't suffocating himself under there.

This time he got only a grunt in response.  With a sigh he went over to the book he had set down earlier, picked it up, and continued reading where he had left off, every now and then peeking to see if there was any progress on the blanket front.

Slowly the blanket dropped, inch by inch, until Blaine's eyes were once again revealed and Kurt could see that him staring off into space as he imagined the world Kurt was reading aloud to him about.  God he looked young.  He might have only been a year younger than Kurt but given how he acted and reacted… the age difference seemed that much bigger.  Maybe it was because Kurt had been forced to grow up a bit faster, or maybe it because Blaine was sheltered, but whatever the reason, Kurt certainly didn't feel like they were that close in age.

“Why does he do that?”

Kurt stopped, looking over at Blaine who was looking at him quizzically.  “Do what?”

“Hide the books?  Why?”

Kurt looked back at the book.  He had been more focused on reading the book and less focused on comprehending the story so he needed to think for a moment before responding.  

“Because they're not supposed to read books in their world.”

“Why not?”

“Because it'll give them new ideas and the government wants to control them.”

“Why?”

“Because then they'll do whatever the government wants them to do.”

“Oh.”

Kurt waited for a second and then came the inevitable.

“Why?”

“Because if they control them, then they can make the do and think what they want and no one will argue against it because they don't know any better.”

“That why you're a Dent?”

Kurt pressed his lips together tightly, looking at Blaine, who actually seemed to be sincerely interested in the answer rather than just using the term to insult him.

“My mom got sick and my dad spent a lot of money trying to make her better…. then she died… and he had no money… and we got taken to service.”

That only seemed to confuse Blaine more, “But… if your mom was sick, why did your dad have to pay?”

Kurt shrugged, “Just the way it is…”

“Well that's stupid.  Why did you dad borrow money?  Why didn't he just use the money he had?”

“He didn't have enough of his own to pay for it so he had to borrow money.”

“Why didn't he just get a better job to get more money?”

“Doesn't work that way Blaine…”  Kurt said with a soft sigh.  “If everyone had good paying jobs then no one would do all the other stuff…. my dad fixed cars.  Someone needs to do stuff like that.”

“Well why didn't he charge more then?”

“Because then people wouldn't go to him… they'd see someone else who didn't charge as much so they wouldn't have to pay as much money.  Don't they teach you this stuff at school?”

Blaine shook his head slowly, “No… we only learn that Dents are ‘round ‘cause they were irresponsible and didn't take care of their money properly - probably because they're stupid or don't care about things.”

Kurt frowned, his lower lip jutting out in pout, “I don't think I'm stupid or don't care… I knew what obnoxious meant and you didn't….”

Blaine shrugged, “Maybe you're just a different kind of Dent.”

Was he?  Kurt shook his head.  “No.  I know lots of the other kids are good and smart too… they just ended up in homes where they didn't have enough money or their mom or dad made some bad choices.”

“Your dad should've just let your mom be… she died anyhow… what was the point on spending money on her and you ending up as a Dent?”

Kurt looked down, the words in the book on his lap blurring together as he thought of his mother as he had last seen her - so fragile looking in that big hospital bed that seemed to be swallowing her up.  

“I would stay in service forever if it meant she couldn't lived another day that I could have hugged her and kissed her and told her I loved her just a bit more….”  

Both boys were quiet for a moment after that.  Kurt was just trying to reign in his emotions while Blaine seemed to be registering the information.  

“I miss my mom…” Blaine said quietly.  “But I'm glad she's not dead.”

“How long has she been away?”  Kurt asked, looking up at the smaller boy.

“Since February… getting things ready for some new factory… I don't know… I wish she would have stayed….”

Kurt nodded, “Yeah… not having a mom around kinda sucks….”

“Yeah…”

“But your dad seems okay.”  Kurt offered, trying to lift up the mood that seemed to be quickly spiraling downwards.

Blaine shrugged up his shoulders, “I guess… he only ever cares about the company though.  When we get home he just goes to his office there and makes calls n' stuff…”

“Least you have him.”

“Do you know where your dad is?”

Kurt shook his head.  “No… I wish I did… they don't even let us write letters or anything…”

“Did your dad play with you when he was around?”

Kurt nodded, “Yeah.  All the time…. even when I wanted to do stuff other kids made fun of me for like tea parties.  He's the best dad….”

“Tea parties?  Really?”  Blaine giggled.

“Yeah! Don't laugh!” Kurt huffed, though inwardly he was happy.  He was actually having a decent conversation with Blaine, even if it was a depressing one.  

“Only girls do tea parties though!”  Blaine snorted as he kept on giggling, cupping his hands over his mouth.

“No they don't ‘cause I'm a boy and I had them!”

“My dad says boys don't do that.  Boys play sports and play with truck n' stuff.”

“I didn't.”  Kurt asserted, smirking a little at the grin that was now plastered on Blaine's face, even though it was at his own expense.

“What else did you play before you got taken away?”

Kurt looked upward as he thought, memories being given permission to flood into him and casting images over his eyes as he spoke.  “I liked to ride my bike… I would play with people dolls and pretend to make them do stuff…. I always like colouring and drawing….”

“Dolls are for girls too.”

Kurt shook his head, looking back towards Blaine, “Nuh-uh.  They just call ‘em action figures for boys.”

“Oh…. right.”

The door knocked then, and a moment later a woman came in with a platter.  “Lunch.”

Blaine let the blanket fall off of him as he scooted closer to the table and grabbed his plate.  “C'mon Kurt.  Sooner we eat, sooner we can play more!”

That was all there was to it.  Kurt tried to shake the disbelief from his bones.  It seemed way too easy to win over Blaine.  He was supposed to be a hardened, spoiled brat - but now Kurt realized he was just a kid that really didn't know any better.  In fact, had it not been for the manager reporting Blaine's problematic behaviour to Boss Anderson, Blaine's dad probably wouldn't have even been cognizant of what his son was doing to pass the time during the day at the factory.  Kurt didn't have parents because they were pulled away from him in one way or another, Blaine didn't have any just because they were too busy for him.

Kurt didn't know which was worse.

Lunch was delicious.  Not the plain, mass produced foods that were portioned out conservatively downstairs, but a veritable blend of flavours and delights that Kurt knew he couldn't talk about to his friends later.  He was sure, for example, that Santana would throw him under the bus for the chance to take his place if she knew he was eating roast, and loaded potatoes followed with cupcakes.  No, that definitely had to stay a secret.

When they finished up, they did play again - Blaine pulling out a set of army action figures and Kurt leading their pretend play in a recreation of one of the disney movies they both knew.  After that was leapfrog, then building a better fort and pretending they were camping, and then they played a small game of soccer in the room which had one of the secretaries coming in and asking them to stop banging the ball against the wall which made them both crack up for a good few minutes after she left.

“She said balls on the walls!”  Blaine giggled.

“Stop slamming your balls on the walls boys!”  Kurt quoted from her in his best impersonation of the voice, making them both hold their bellies as they laughed.

“Do you have a coat?”  Blaine asked when they had managed to calm down.

Kurt shook his head.

“We should get you one and then we could play outside.”

That lit Kurt up.  “Really?  I haven't been out in so long!”

“Oh.  Well it's been real rainy around here.  Lots of mud.  The park is all squishy when you walk on the sand.”

“There's a park?”

Blaine nodded, “Yeah.  Right across the street.  I'll ask my dad if you can have one and he'll say okay because he always says okay when I want stuff and then we can go.”

Must be nice to just ask for something and get it, Kurt thought to himself.  Maybe he'd ask if Blaine could ask his dad for Kurt to have his own dad back.  

The rest of the day was a blur of more play, reading, and snacks in the form of cookies - which Kurt savoured piece by piece much to Blaine's disgruntlement.   Blaine always packed the food into his mouth and was ready to play again.  Kurt wanted to enjoy his food though since he didn't know how long he'd get the privilege of eating like this.

The afternoon went much more quickly than the morning that way, and before Kurt knew it, he was being ushered out and led back down the stairs as Boss Anderson had come to alert Blaine they would be going home in fifteen minutes.  Back to monotony, back to routine, back to being a responsible person in the body of a kid.

Kurt whipped through his schoolwork, ignoring his friends when they poked and prodded at him, trying to get him to tell them how his day was and answer them as to who was the closest in the bet about how many times he'd been kicked that day.  He didn't know how to tell them all that maybe they were wrong.  Or, maybe, Blaine was the one who was wrong and now realizing the way to be right.  Or, maybe, Kurt was just getting into the mindset to be able to handle spending his days with Blaine.  Whatever the case, Kurt didn't have as hard a time getting to sleep that night.