"Not much of a talker are you?" Blaine asked.

He wasn't expecting a reply, he hadn't been able to get the boy to make a sound.

The boy twiddled his thumbs and bit his lip from where he was sitting in Blaine's mom's leather couch.

They had been sitting around for a half hour or so, Blaine asking questions while the stranger looked anxious.

Blaine asked if he had an owner and got shake of the head shake no. He asked if he wanted to be taken to the police, another shake no. Blaine asked for a name and he got silence. After he asked some more questions he started rambling about possible things he could do with the boy. The Ave looked like he was listening, but it was basically talking to a wall. Blaine found it hard to talk while the boy stared at him, looking breathtakingly beautiful.

"Do you- uh. . . Do you want to stay here? With me?"

He wasn't sure what he wanted as an answer. He hardly knew the boy, but part of him wanted to keep him for himself and never let him go. The other part wanted him to go and find a nice new home that took care of him. He just wanted the boy to be happy.

The Ave bit his lip hard, causing a scab to break. Blood pooled to the surface of his skin and slowly dripped down to his chin. Blaine gasped when he saw, getting up frantically to get a paper towel while the boy looked around frightened.

He brought a damp towel to the Ave's shaking face and blotted his lip. The Ave's eyes searched Blaine's with panic as he shrunk into the couch cushions.

The boy's feathers were ruffled, his chest rising and falling dramatically. His wings fanned out to full span in a defensive position and tensed his whole body. He flinched when Blaine touched the cool towel to his face.

"Shh. . . I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Blaine cooed, trying to calm him. The boy shivered under him in fear."You need to stop biting your lip, you're hurting yourself." He said in a hushed tone.

Blaine held the towel to his lip until it stopped bleeding and didn't move, didn't even breathe. He waited for the boy to calm down, watching as his breathing slowed and wings relaxed. They stared at each other.

He maintained eye contact as he brought the towel down to his side and smiled.

"All better."

He didn't ask any more questions.