Oct. 4, 2014, 7 p.m.
Left Behind: Chapter 3
M - Words: 2,118 - Last Updated: Oct 04, 2014 Story: Closed - Chapters: 7/? - Created: Sep 08, 2014 - Updated: Sep 08, 2014 226 0 0 0 0
The trio walk down the street and when Kurt opens the door for his dad and Blaine, the dog hybrid can't believe he is actually allowed to go in. He recognizes the shop as a place where Sebastian would go with his friends always leaving him outside to wait. He would look through the window to see them laughing and eating something but he never even gotten to smell it. Now, however, he is following the human inside in tentative steps while Kurt walks behind him. The more time Blaine spends with this family, the more it feels like a dream. He misses Sebastian but not the way he was treated.
The air inside smells like happiness, it's the best way for Blaine to describe it since he doesn't know many smart words. The colours inside are so bright that it almost hurts his eyes but at the same time it's very pretty. Sebastian's house was the exact opposite.
They stand behind some people and Kurt encourages him to look at the glassy… thing? Behind it there are many boxes with different fillings in them. There are many colours and they have pictures of fruits or other stuff stuck inside them but it doesn't help Blaine to understand what he is supposed to do. He looks at people in front of them. They speak and are handed some of those fillings. The hybrid gets nervous. Are they expecting him to speak? He can't. He bites his bottom lip sadly, realising that after all he won't be getting to eat the happiness food. Well, at least he got to see what it looks like inside.
Blaine stops looking at the food and instead focuses on his surroundings. It helps him to distract himself. Next to him Kurt starts speaking.
“Hi, Mercedes,” he says to the human girl behind the counter.
“Hey Kurt, Mr. H,” the girl says and finally Blaine learns the human's name, “how are you?”
“Good, good,” Kurt responds. “What have you been up to this summer?”
“I don't know, nothing special really, just keeping myself busy, that's it,” she shrugs. “So, what can I get for you?”
“I'll have two scoops of blueberry ice-cream in a cone, then a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of tiramisu for my dad, also in a cone, and for Blaine,” Kurt says and looks at the hybrid, “um, Blaine, what do you want?” he asks motioning at the selection.
Blaine stares at him, trying to portray with his eyes that no matter how much he wants to taste the happiness he cannot speak. He feels useless.
“Point,” Kurt encourages him with a smile, showing what he wants Blaine to do. Blaine points at a general direction. “Ah, ‘Cedes, what would to recommend to someone who has never had ice-cream before?”
The girl gapes at him in disbelief. “Never? Like ever?” she looks at Blaine with wide eyes. “Boy, you've been missing out your whole life.”
“Maybe chocolate or vanilla would be the best choice? Most people like it,” Mr. H suggests but the girl isn't listening.
“Hey, blonde, cover for me,” she says to her colleague and steps away from the register. She grabs several small plastic spoons and scoops a bit of the filling from one of the boxes. “Chocolate mint,” she says giving Kurt the spoon.
The hybrid takes it carefully and places it in front of Blaine's face. “Open your mouth,” he says and Blaine remembers what the doctor wanted him to do when he said that earlier.
The dog hybrid opens his mouth and soon there is something cold and sweet in his mouth. It melts quickly and Blaine tries to chew it before it's all gone. There are some hard pieces that release another flavour when he bites them and he tries to get most of it out to beat the cooling taste of the green stuff. He isn't sure if he likes it.
“Mango,” Mercedes announces and another spoon is offered to Blaine.
He takes it in his mouth and frowns. It tastes like medicine he was once forced to take.
“Try coconut,” the girl says after looking at the selection in front of her. “It's quite popular here.”
Blaine tries it. It's sweet. So sweet that he thinks his all brains have turned into sugar. He can also feel some hard things inside but when he bites them nothing happens. He doesn't like this coconut stuff.
“I myself love lemon or lime ice-cream but it's not for amateurs,” the girl says tapping her fingers on the counter. “Alright, I'll go with Mr. H's suggestion. He doesn't look like a chocolate person so here is vanilla.”
Soon Blaine's mouth fills with a sweet taste but this time it's not so intense. It's soft and pleasurable. The hybrid savours it in his mouth until he can no longer do it and swallows it. A smile appears on his face. He likes this vanilla.
“Vanilla it is,” Mr. H says excitedly but Mercedes' calculating stare makes him question his statement. “What is it?”
“I think he can smile wider…” she says and scoops some pink ‘ice-cream' as they have been calling it. Blaine still prefers ‘happiness food'. “Last try – strawberry.”
He tries it and he loves it. It tastes like summer and since he loves summer, he loves strawberries apparently. It's sweet but also has a hint of sourness and the colour is so beautiful that he never wants to eat anything else again.
“I think we have a winner,” Mercedes says upon seeing his eyes lighting up. “Two scoops of strawberry ice-cream in a cone? Sprinkles on the house.”
It takes several minutes and finally they are walking again with their big cones of ice-cream in hands. There are little colourful candies on Blaine's and the hybrid wonders why neither Kurt nor Mr. H has them. Maybe it's something only dogs can eat, he thinks and doesn't linger on these thoughts for much longer. He follows his companions to the table and before he knows it someone shoves him and moments later he is lying on the floor. His ice-cream ends up on the floor as well, right in front of him.
Someone is saying something and there is a light commotion but Blaine isn't listening. All he cares about is his happiness food that is not-so-happily melting on the dirty floor. Suddenly reminded of his place in this world Blaine drags his aching body forward until he can reach his cone and takes a bite of the cold goodness.
“Ew, no, Blaine, don't do that,” he hears Kurt's voice and blushes at the sound of disgust in the other hybrid's voice. “Come on, stand up.”
Blaine follows this simple command and stands up, sadly eyeing the food on the ground. He can still taste those tiny candies that he managed to get into his mouth before Kurt stopped him.
“I'm really sorry, are you okay?” an elderly man says to him. “I didn't see you, please, accept my apologies and a replacement of your ice-cream,” he says and quickly walks to the counter.
A girl with an apron rushes towards them with a bucket and a cloth. “Please, go take a seat and I'll take care of the mess,” she says and Mr. H walks away. Blaine only moves when Kurt takes his hand and pulls him towards the table. Before he goes away, the dog hybrid takes the last long look at his happiness food that is now in a dirty bucket.
Kurt offers him a bite of his ice-cream and it's nice but it's not the pretty pink stuff he has chosen for himself. He doesn't taste Mr. H's because it doesn't look pretty. He just sits there trying hard not to look at either of his companions enjoying their food and he definitely doesn't look at the girl who has the strawberry filling. His tail wraps itself around his waist as it always does when he is upset and Blaine pets it to make himself feel better.
“Here you go, boy,” the elderly man comes back and before Blaine comprehends that he is speaking to him there is a huge ice-cream cone in front of him that is holding three scoops of the delicious pink heaven. They are also topped with tiny candies. Careful not to drop it Blaine takes a hold of the cone. “An extra scoop to thank you for not getting angry at me. Teenagers these days tend to get offended over such silly situations.”
“I don't think Blaine is capable of getting angry,” Kurt laughs.
“Thanks for buying the ice-cream for him, he was getting rather upset,” Mr. H speaks then. “I would have bought him another cone myself anyway. He kinda has those eyes that you can't say no to.”
The man nods laughing. “Some kids really do. Okay, gentlemen, it's time for me to go back to my beautiful wife. Have a lovely day,” and with that he walks away.
Blaine looks at his ice-cream in awe. He doesn't know what to do, there is so much of it, it probably won't fit all inside of him. But he is truly ready to test the capacity of his stomach. First he offers a bite for Kurt and Mr. H but when they both decline the hybrid closes his eyes and takes a huge bite, probably half the scoop. It's a mistake, he realises when his teeth start freezing and his tongue slowly loses the feeling. He starts chewing quickly so he can finally swallow and take a breath. In the meantime, the others laugh watching him. Blaine doesn't find it funny.
It takes a while but somehow Blaine manages to swallow the pink stuff and exhales in relief. He brings the cone closer to his mouth and this time takes the smallest piece possible, barely scratching the surface. That brings him another problem – he can't feel the taste at all.
“Blaine, look at me,” Kurt says and the dog hybrid looks up at him.
He watches as Kurt slowly takes a bite of his ice-cream and shows him what he has in his mouth. He then proceeds eating it with a smile and Blaine realises that such size must be perfect. He copies Kurt and indeed ends up with an amount of the happiness food that actually makes him happy. He doesn't even realise that his tail starts wiggling in excitement.
“He catches up with everything very quickly,” he hears Mr. H say but doesn't listen to him, his ice-cream is much more important. “If he hadn't been neglected he would probably be doing pretty well at school right now.”
“That's why we can't give him back even if someone is looking for him. He would be much happier with us, don't you think?” Kurt argues.
“I agree but we are still going to look for his owners,” Mr. H says sternly. “Even if only to let them know that Blaine is safe and not wandering the streets.”
“There is still a possibility that they are not looking him,” Kurt says. “But, if in the end we will have to send him away, at least we gave him some nice memories.”
The two of them keep chatting but Blaine is too focused on how full he is. Two and a half of scoops later he feels his stomach protesting but he doesn't mind it. He has no idea if he will ever get to eat such delicious food so he doesn't intend on throwing anything away. And even if he is full it is all forgotten when he takes a bite of the crunchy cone. He didn't know it was edible but when he saw Kurt eating his, he had to try it too. He doesn't regret doing so. The crunchy cone plus the strawberry ice-cream with the small candies make a perfect mix. He feels sorry for everyone who has never experienced such pleasure.
When they are done eating they stand up and walk towards the entrance. Blaine notices the elderly man smiling at him. Without another thought the hybrid walks up to him and bends down to hug him. The man laughs and pats his back. Blaine gives him a smile and follows his friends outside. They go back to the metal cage and get in.
“Alright, finally going home,” Kurt says when his dad makes the monster roar.
Last time Kurt said that they ended up going to the doctor. Blaine wonders where they are going to end up next. Hopefully somewhere nice, he thinks rubbing his belly.