Chapter 24

December 10, 2012

Somewhere between the Battle of Borodino and the battle of Waterloo the wind outside began to blow harder and soon it was hard to see anything through the mist of snowflakes. Kurt looked at the boy, who was mumbling something in his sleep and tried not to think of him roaming the streets during such weather. He calculated that it wouldn't take more than three weeks for the boy to get back on his feet entirely. If his cough grew into something worse, then maybe a month. In any case scenario, Blaine would be healthy enough by the beginning or the middle of January. It was way too soon for his liking.

For a moment the teenager contemplated prolonging Blaine's illness, like not giving him enough medicine. It made him feel ashamed of himself even to think of such thing. The other way was harder but it was what a good person would do – making sure the slave boy felt like home and wanted to stay.

Putting the history textbook aside Kurt grabbed some draft paper and a pen and made a list.

How to Make Blaine Want to Stay:

1. Treat him as equal (obviously)

2. Set up a guest room for him (decorate it to his liking)

3. Try to find out about his hobbies, etc. (Noah may know something; Blaine is unlikely to open up)

4. Make sure dad doesn't make stupid jokes (same goes to yourself)

5. Keep hinting how much it sucks living on the streets (he knows it already, just remind him from time to time)

6. Tell him you want him to stay (every day) (also, tell dad to do the same)

7. Don't make decisions for him (always ask for his opinion, ALWAYS)

8. Don't judge him before imagining yourself in his shoes (what would you think/do/say if you were him?)

9. Make his Christmas unforgettable (some holiday cheer may help and if not, at least it will be a nice memory for him) (also, buy a present that could be useful both if he stays and if he leaves)

10. You have a month, make it count! (it seems like a long time but it isn't)

P.s. If he still wants to leave lock him in the basement, wrap him in warm blankets, hug him as tight as you can, and never let go. Like, NEVER! No bathroom breaks for either of you.

Kurt finished the list, leaving some space in case he came up with something new later on and put it in-between the pages of his scrapbook since he knew nobody would ever find it there. He knew the list contained obvious things but putting them onto paper made him feel like he was actually doing something already.

After this was done, the boy checked the time and decided that Blaine had slept for long enough. The sick boy needed to take medicine and he could easily go back to sleep after taking the pills.

Kurt silently made his way out of his room and into the kitchen to get a glass of water and came back a minute later. He set the glass next to the pills on the nightstand and gently shook Blaine, trying to wake him up.

"Blaine, wake up, it's time to take medicine," he said softly.

The boy rubbed his face into the pillow. "Five more minutes," he uttered groggily and settled his head onto the pillow again.

"I'm sorry but you need to take some pills," Kurt explained softly to a waking boy, cursing himself for already doing the exact opposite of what was said in the list – making a decision for Blaine. "When you are done you can go back to sleep if you want to."

Blaine's unfocused eyes found Kurt and he sat up in bed. "If that pleases you," he said nonchalantly.

"It's up to you," the teen responded and handed the slave boy the pills and the glass of water. "Take them, please, they will make you feel better."

Blaine swallowed the pills with a wince when the water hit his aching throat. "What can I do for you?" he asked when Kurt took the glass from him.

"What do you want to do?"

"Anything you want me to do."

"I want you to tell me what you want to do," Kurt said, feeling like there was no victory in this battle.

Blaine just shrugged, not looking at Kurt. "I can't do what I want to do."

"And what is that?" the boy asked trying not to sound pushy.

"I want to leave," Blaine whispered.

"Blaine, come on, can't you see that there is a snow storm starting outside? How can you want to leave when you have a nice place to stay?"

The boy remained silent for a moment as if he hadn't heard a word Kurt said. "May I sleep, Mr Kurt?"

Now that's a new one...

"It's just Kurt, Blaine," he said with a sigh. "If you want, you can sleep now."

The next time Blaine woke up was a few hours later when the doorbell rang and Kurt jumped at the sound. He checked the time to see it was half past three.

"It's okay, it's just a doorbell," he explained to the startled boy and rushed out of his room to see who was at the door.

"Hey, princess, missed me?" Puck asked the moment the door opened and went in uninvited. "I brought your shit," he threw his bag on the floor and took off his jacket.

"Thanks," Kurt muttered and closed the door. "You are early. I thought you were coming at four."

"Decided to come over and check on Blainers first. Your text got me worried," he said and went upstairs with Kurt in tow.

"Still went to school though?"

"I may be a delinquent but it doesn't mean that I want to be stupid," he explained and opened the door. "Hey Blainers, how is my favourite homo doing?"

Kurt saw Blaine jump a little in surprise but he quickly sat up and lowered his head respectfully. "Good afternoon, Sir."

Puck looked back at Kurt with a questioning look on his face but only got a shrug in return. "I'm Puck, remember? Your sort of friend? Stole newspapers for you?"

"I remember you, Sir," Blaine said and started coughing.

"So you should remember that I'm not some 'sir' to you."

"I'm sorry, Si– Sorry..."

Puck sat down on the edge of the bed. "Could you leave us alone for a bit?" he asked Kurt.

"I'll go start dinner," the boy mumbled and left.

If there was anyone who could make Blaine get out of his slave stupor, it was Puck. They knew each for quite a long time and Kurt was actually jealous of their friendship. He only hoped that soon he would have something like that with Blaine.

Halfway through cutting carrots for a vegetable stew the doorbell rang again and after washing his hands Kurt went to see who was there, guessing it would be Puck's friends.

He was right as the opened door revealed a bunch of teenagers standing in the cold. There were four girls and one guy, who was the one to speak.

"Hi, I'm Mike. Our friend Puck told us to come here?" he said.

"You must be Kurt," a girl next to the guy said and Kurt recognised her as Tina from his history class. "I hope Puck told you we were coming."

"He did, hi," the boy said and stepped to the side to let everyone in. "Come in. You can hang your coats here. The living room is that way. Make yourself comfortable and I'll go get Noah."

"You must be really brave to call Puck Noah," a blonde girl said. "He gets angry when somebody does that. I don't like angry Puck."

"We have a deal," Kurt smiled and left the group alone.

He made his way upstairs wondering why Puck hadn't come down when he had heard his friends arrive. The answer to that was given to him when he approached the door and heard the boy still talking to Blaine.

"...they are good people and it's coming from me," he heard Puck finish the sentence.

"I just can't..." Blaine said in a low voice.

"You don't really have to trust them. I get it that you don't... Just give them a chance, okay? Papa Hummel is the coolest adult I've ever met and princess... well, he is hot, right?"

"Stop that," Blaine whined.

"Ha! You want into his pants, don't you? You horny motherfucker," Puck laughed and Kurt heard a slap. "Ouch, you got violent!"

"Only towards people who suck," Blaine let out a chuckle and Kurt felt tears swelling up in his eyes. It was unfair that Puck got the slave boy laughing in a matter of minutes when he couldn't even get him talk to him properly.

"Fair enough... So, will you try for me?"

"I don't know how to do that..."

"Try to be yourself for starters. Lose that 'sir' crap."

"What if they don't like me when I'm not acting like a slave? What if they hurt me for that?" Blaine's voice became so silent that Kurt had to try really hard to hear anything.

"Then you tell me and you will be out of here in a second," Puck said with determination in his voice. "I doubt it will happen though. Hummels are good. Let them help you."

"Will you come over sometimes?"

"Of course I will. Even if I'm not invited or whatever. And if you want to talk to me you can always get Kurt to call me. I'll talk to him about that, okay?"

"Puck! Get your ass here!" Kurt heard some girl yell from downstairs and it was his cue to announce of his presence.

He knocked on the door and opened it. "Hey, as you might have heard your friends are here, Noah," he said.

"Good, we just finished talking," Puck said. "See you later, Blainers."

With that he left and Kurt tried to think of any activity that could occupy the slave for a little bit. When his eyes landed on the boy's face he came up with something.

"Would you like to take a bath maybe?" he asked and saw excitement in Blaine's face.

"Can I? Please?"

"Sure, that's why I suggested it," Kurt said and led the boy to his bathroom. "Here is your sponge. Use any shower gel, shampoo and conditioner you want. I have a few of different smells. And you can shave with this razor... What else? Oh right, I'll find you a towel."

He turned on the water to fill in the bath and went to find a big towel. When he came back he found Blaine standing in nothing but his underwear with his pyjamas neatly folded on the toilet seat. Once again the boy was shocked to see how thin and bony the slave was.

Trying not to stare at Blaine's body, Kurt gave him the towel. "Here you go. I have to go downstairs now. Make sure the temperature of the water is nice, okay? If you need, turn up hot or cold water. "Oh," he suddenly remembered something and found some balm. "This is an aftershave balm, it has this cooling effect so it's great. At least that's what my dad says because I don't need to shave yet... So, anyway, stay as long as you want and just enjoy your bath."

"Thank you," Blaine said and Kurt left him be, hoping everything would be alright.

When the boy left his room, he was surprised to see Puck waiting for him by the stairs. "Why aren't you with your friends?" he asked.

"Just wanted to talk to you first. I talked to Blaine and the bottom line is he is scared. He is scared of you and of papa Hummel even though he wants to trust you both... He's scared of staying but also scared of leaving. Basically he is a ball of conflicted feelings."

"What about him being like a slave?" Kurt pretended not to have heard their conversation.

"If a slaves acts out, he is punished. I'm sure you know that," Puck grimaced. "He isn't sure what's going to happen if he isn't slave-like with you and he doesn't want to risk it."

"I won't punish him for being himself! I won't punish him for anything! Fuck, how do I get him to believe me?" Kurt felt himself getting more and more desperate.

"Fear not, Mike will help you. Now, we have an important meeting to attend," Puck said and they went downstairs.

When the two of them entered the living room Kurt saw the noisy group of teenagers comfortably sitting all around the room. The blonde girl was sitting in the dark-haired girl's lap on an armchair. The Asian couple – Mike and Tina – were snuggling on the couch. And the big girl with large glasses was sitting on a simple wooden chair with her arms crossed over her chest.

Puck went straight to that girl and leaned in for a kiss, which surprised Kurt but not as much as the girl's response.

"You know the rules, Puckerman," she said, pushing Puck away with her hand, "no PDA. I can't be publicly seen with someone like you; it ruins my reputation."

"Sorry," Puck smiled at her and Kurt raised one eyebrow at the exchange but it was unnoticed by the boy. "So, you are probably wondering why I gathered you all here today."

"Not really," the dark-haired girl retorted.

Kurt sat down next to Mike, who made some space for him. Puck stayed standing.

"Whatever, satan. You are here because we all have a mutual enemy."

"Which is...?" Mike questioned him.

"The one and only Finn Hudson."

The blonde girl frowned at him. "Is this about the hairless yeti that outed Santana? Are we sending it back where it came from?"

"I wish we could," the girl – Satan? – rolled her eyes.

Kurt wondered what the others had against Finn but before he could ask, Puck spoke again. "Let me introduce all of you to princess since he is new here. Next to you is Mike 'happy feet' Chang. He is very smart so he is here to be the brain of our mission. Next to him is his girlfriend Tina 'no nickname yet' Cohen-Chang. She is very quiet, which means she hears and knows everything. The blonde one is Brittany 'Einstein' Pierce. Don't let her fool you with her crazy remarks. She just pretends to be like that because then people aren't careful of what they say when she is near them. Then, crushed by Brittany is Santana 'satan' Lopez. Real bitch and takes it as a compliment. She can get anyone do what she wants. Last but not least, is my girlfriend Lauren 'give me a nickname and I will castrate you' Zizes. Mad photoshop skills. And she might have the whole school bugged but it hasn't been confirmed yet."

"And what's so special about princess here?" Santana asked.

"Kurt 'princess' Hummel has perfect connections," Puck smirked. "Papa Hummel is dating Mrs Hudson."

"She's a good match," Mike whispered to Kurt. "I've met her on many occasions and she is always very nice."

"I met her only once but I liked her as well," Kurt smiled. "I don't like her son though."

"Join the party," Tina scoffed. "He's always making fun of my stutter in front of everyone."

Kurt looked at her confused. "But you aren't stuttering..."

The girl shrugged. "I used to. After I got over it I started faking it at school."

Since she didn't elaborate about the reasons why, Kurt decided not to ask. He already knew that Finn was a bully but he couldn't understand why he chose to pick on Tina, who always seemed so sweet in class. On the other hand, he couldn't see why someone could want to hurt Blaine either.

"What has Hudson done to you, Puckerman?" Santana asked the boy when he sat down on the ground.

"His mere existence annoys me," he responded vaguely and while everyone must have understood that there was a better reason, they decided to accept his explanation. "Now, we need to decide what to do..."

By the end of their plotting Kurt concluded that Puck had invited the best people for the job. They were full of ideas and the excitement in their eyes showed that they couldn't wait to get back at the jock for whatever reasons that they had. When they finalised their plan, Kurt felt happier than he had in the last few days.

"Hey, Kurt, could I get a glass of water?" Mike asked when everyone started chatting about some random stuff.

"Sure, I'll get it for you," Kurt smiled and went to the kitchen. He didn't notice Mike following him. "Oh, you didn't need to come here; I would have brought it to the living room."

"It's fine. I wanted to talk to you anyway," the boy said and sat down on the kitchen chair. "Or should I say, you wanted to talk to me?"

"Puck told you?" Kurt gave him water and sat down in front of him.

"He said you had some slave problems?" he offered. "Though I'm not sure how I can help with that... I'm not fond of slavery."

"It's not what you think!" Kurt defended himself. "I kind of got a slave and he acts like a slave but I don't want him to... I'm lost here."

"Well, I guess I could help you with that," Mike said after a moment. "Has Puck told you anything about me?"

Kurt shook his head and Mike pulled up the sleeve of his sweater from his right arm. An angry black tattoo surrounded Mike's wrist.

"You are a slave," Kurt managed staring at the sign of slavery.

"I am," Mike nodded. "It happened a few years ago. The Asian community in Lima is very small so of course Tina's family and mine were close. We basically grew up together. When I was thirteen my parents died in a car accident and since I didn't have any close family I was marked as a slave no matter how hard Tina's parents fought for the custody. In the end, they bought me and gave me to Tina. She is my owner now."

Kurt sat there stunned by the story. Mike and Tina seemed like a normal couple. At the first sight he thought they were simply dating.

"Wow, I'm sorry it happened to you... It must have been really hard."

"It was but thankfully Tina and her parents were there for me," Mike smiled and covered his slave tattoo. "Most of the time I don't feel like a slave, you know. It's as if I've moved in with my girlfriend. I'm the lucky one."

"At least you can see a bright side in that. Most people wouldn't," Kurt smiled as well. "Though, I'm not sure how you can help me if you haven't really been a slave. I mean, Tina's family doesn't treat you like one, do they?"

Mike shook his head. "They don't but it doesn't mean I haven't been treated like one. How do you think I know Mrs Hudson? She is my vet. And I've been a slave inside so I can give you some advice. For example, you could try giving your slave rules. They helped me."

Kurt frowned. "What do you mean? I thought Tina's parents bought you right away."

"They are my first owners, yes, but I was still sent to the training centre before the auction. I didn't spend much time there but they fuck with your head so much that by the end of it you go into this slave-mode and believe whatever shit they tell you. You know, if you spend a few weeks being treated like nothing, you begin to feel like nothing. Tina set me rules like when to wake up, what to do with my day. You know, watch TV, read books, dance... Something I used to like doing as a free person. Little by little I became myself again.

"If you get to know what this person that lives with you likes to do, you can order him to do that. He will enjoy himself and having the same routine that he used to have before slavery may help to get him out of his shell. Unless he was born in slavery or taken very young. Then I'm not sure... But still try the rules."

Kurt sat silently for a moment. "It sounds smart and all but it doesn't feel right to order him, you know? He is the one who is supposed to make his own decisions. Aren't I taking away his freedom by telling him what to do? I keep telling him he is a free person here so if I suddenly give him a list of things he must do, won't it ruin the whole freedom thing?"

"Maybe in the beginning it will but in the long-run it's for the best. He must be lost right now, he has no idea what you expect from him. There are some crazy slave owners out there. Some tell their slaves to do all kind of sick stuff like licking their shoes or wiping their asses. Right now your friend has no idea what kind of owner you are. But if you give him rules like 'sleep as long as you want in the morning' or 'read a chapter of a book', or 'eat at least one fruit a day' he will see that you aren't as scary as you may seem right now. And also let him know of the punishments. Make a short list of those as well."

"No way! I'm not punishing him!" Kurt shouted angrily.

"Calm down' Kurt," Mike downed the rest of the water. "For example, if he doesn't read his daily chapter, his punishment would be to read two the next day. It wouldn't really be a punishment if he likes reading, right? But for his slave-persona it is a punishment. If you play it smart, you can treat him like a slave without treating him like a slave."

Kurt nodded slowly. "I think I understand what you are saying... Sorry for the outburst. It's just a really sensitive topic for me."

"I get it. You are against slavery, aren't you?" he asked and Kurt nodded. "I am as well but don't feel bad for having a slave. Sometimes owning a person is the only way to help them."

"I haven't thought about it that way," Kurt's eyes got bigger.

"I'm a living example of that," Mike smiled. "Now, Tina and I should get going. If you want I could give you my number? If you ever need an advice or something, you could always find me. And if you want, I could talk to your friend."

"Yeah, I'd love that," Kurt took out his phone. "I'm not sure about the meeting just yet, though. He doesn't do well with strangers."

"Completely understandable," Mike nodded and typed in his number into Kurt's phone. "Just know that the offer still stands."

"Thanks," Kurt smiled.

Everyone left after exchanging phone numbers with Kurt except for Lauren, who already knew his number. Kurt suspected Puck but from what he had heard about the girl, he wouldn't have been surprised if she had stolen it from the school records.

Before going upstairs the boy put the vegetables to boil and checked the recipe to make sure he did everything correctly. It was the first time he made this dish so he had to follow the instructions closely.

When he was sure that all was done correctly he went to his bedroom to find Blaine coming out of the bathroom the same moment as he entered. They looked up at each other and Kurt's jaw dropped in surprise.

The dirty hairy slave was gone. Instead there was a gorgeous young boy standing in front of him with only a towel on his waist. His face was clean and Kurt had to resist an urge to touch the skin that looked so soft. His hazel eyes stood out even more now that his long wet curls were styled back. He looked younger and much more handsome.

"I wasn't sure what you wanted me to wear," he said and lowered his eyes.

Kurt swallowed audibly and went to his closet. "I'll find you a pair of clean pyjamas and underwear. You can't wear the old ones anymore."

"Thank you," Blaine said and touched his soft cheek absentmindedly. Judging by the look that he was sporting lately, it must have been a while since the last time he had shaved.

Kurt found some nice warm pyjamas and a pair of clean boxers and gave them to Blaine. "Put them on, please. Then I'll cut your hair a little, okay? It can't be comfortable."

"Thank you," the slave said and started putting on the clothes after Kurt turned away to give him privacy.

Soon Blaine was done and Kurt turned around to face him again. "After the haircut I'll put some ointment on your bruises and then we will need to talk about the rules and punishments," he said and saw Blaine freezing on the spot.

"Of course," he whispered defeated.