Chapter 25

December 10, 2012

Cutting Blaine's hair proved to be harder than Kurt had anticipated since the slave boy's curls made it difficult to cut at an even length especially for someone as inexperienced as the teenager was. In the end the boy's hair was shorter than he would have liked them to be but it still made Blaine look much better.

"Thank you," the slave muttered when Kurt finished his work and ran his fingers through his short curls.

"You are very welcome," the boy smiled proudly at him. "Stay here until I finish cleaning up."

He quickly took care of the hairs that were on the ground making sure not to leave any as they would get scattered all over the house and it wasn't something he wanted to happen.

When he finished he found the ointment that his dad had bought for Blaine's bruises. "Blaine, could you, please, take your pyjamas off and lie on the bed? I need to take care of your injuries."

"Of course... Kurt," he uttered and took off his clothes. "How do you want me to–"

"On your stomach first, please," the boy asked and sat down next to Blaine when he lied down. "I'll be gentle, don't worry."

He wasn't sure why but the slave was tense the whole time he worked on his body. It might have been because of the touch that he didn't willingly consent to or maybe because of the pain. He was finishing with a dark bruise on Blaine's shin when another idea hit him – the boy might have been scared waiting for their conversation.

"I hope it didn't hurt much," Kurt said lightly when he finished. "Please, turn around."

With no hesitation Blaine rolled over onto his back and closed his eyes waiting for Kurt's careful fingers to touch him again.

"I'll start with your face," the boy explained. "It says this may be used around eyes but if you feel any irritation let me know, okay? I don't want you hurting more than you already are..."

Blaine gave him a small nod and Kurt started to work again. The front of the slave's body was more bruised especially his chest and stomach. Seeing it from so close as well as noticing the smallest frowns of discomfort on Blaine's face made Kurt boil with anger. Only the idea of getting back at the person who caused all this kept him going.

"All done," Kurt announced after a while and put the ointment aside. "Now, if that's okay with you, put on your pyjamas and get under the blanket, okay?"

Blaine opened his eyes and after another nod went to put the clothes on. By the time he got back into the bed, Kurt was already sitting on it with his laptop on his knees.

"So, I need to give you some rules and then tell you what will happen if you don't follow them," he began and saw Blaine hugging his knees to his chest protectively. "Don't be scared, I'll be easy on you. Anyway, I have my laptop ready so I can type out your rules. That way you'll be able to keep a printed copy of it where it's comfortable for you and then you won't forget anything. I will even make a table where you could put small crosses to make sure you remember what you have done. Does that sound okay for you?"

"Yes, thank you," Blaine muttered and put his chin on his knees, making him look like a lost puppy whenever he looked up.

"Great! I thought of several things already but you can tell me if you don't like any of the rules or if you find the punishments unfair. And when I finish I'll let you add anything you want," Kurt voiced his plan. "Let's start with rule number one – I want you to choose a book from my collection and read at least one chapter a day. When you finish the first book, you will get to choose another one. And if you fail to read one chapter I will ask you to read two the following day. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Blaine answered, his face unreadable.

Kurt finished typing it out. "Okay. Next rule is to watch at least two episodes of Friends every day. I will give you my box set and show you how to use the TV so you can watch it without my help. It's an amazing comedy series so I hope you enjoy it. If you don't, just let me know and I'll give you something else to watch."

"Thank you," Blaine said when Kurt stopped talking. "And the punishment?"

"Watching four episodes the next day. Basically you will have to add up the amount. It's the same with books – if you don't read for two days, on the third day you will have three chapters to read, and if you don't watch Friends for two days, on the third day you will have six episodes. Is that clear?"

Blaine nodded and Kurt tried to remember another rule.

"Um, I'll add 'keeping your room tidy' as a rule though it's an obvious one," Kurt said with a smile and started typing. "The punishment would be living in an untidy room."

The slave raised his head a little and Kurt saw him frowning. "My room?" he asked looking straight at Kurt for once.

"Yes, I'm not sure if I've mentioned it already but when my dad comes back from work we will set our guest room for you. For as long as you are here it will be your bedroom," he explained. "I'll let you choose the colour of the curtains, the bedding, and all. It will be your little sanctuary and everyone will have to knock before coming in. In return my dad and I will ask you to keep it clean."

"Of course," Blaine spoke and lowered his head on his knees again, going back to staring into the distance.

"Thanks. Since we are talking about cleaning, you will have to wash your own dishes after you eat. If you don't, next time you will have to wash everyone's dishes. It's kind of been our family rule for a while unless someone volunteers to do the washing up.

"Then laundry... I'm the one doing laundry, it's a strict rule. I will only ask you to put your used clothes in the laundry basket. If you don't, you will end up wearing dirty clothes so it will be an incentive for you to follow this rule.

"I also want you to get a decent amount of sleep. At least seven hours... I think that's a healthy amount. It's up to you when to go to bed and when to get up, just make sure you sleep enough, if you don't you will have to take a nap the next day. Is it all alright with you?"

Blaine nodded, taking in the information, which was obviously confusing to him.

"Okay. Later on I will need you to give me a list of things and foods that you are allergic to so we can avoid any accidents. After that I will make sure not to use any bad products when I cook so you can eat everything I make. I will also tell my dad because he cooks sometimes as well. It's not really a rule so I won't put it in the list but it would be great if you ate with us unless you were still sleeping during our breakfast time.

"I will have one food related rule though. I want you to eat at least one fruit a day because they are really healthy, right? And if you don't, the next morning you will get a fruit salad for breakfast. Of course, you can always have fruit salad but it would be compulsory on that day.

"Are you still following me?"

"Yes," Blaine said somewhat strained.

"Let's move on then..." he said and stayed silent for a few moments. "Aha! Newspapers! My dad already subscribed to one of American newspapers so when we start getting them, I will ask you to read them. If you don't, the next day you will have to read the old news and the new ones. Maybe by the end of each day you could come to me and give me a short summary of what you have read. Oh, and same with books, okay?"

Blaine nodded and Kurt typed the information about the newspapers into his laptop.

"Now, on a bit of a more personal side... When we met what surprised me the most was how you viewed the world. You once told me that I was too focused on the bad things and I kind of miss that guy. I'd like to see him more often so maybe every day you could tell me one thing you are happy about? Something you like about your life or world in general?"

"Okay," the slave boy muttered, his lips set in a straight line.

"You know, you can tell me if you don't like any of the rules, right? Let's make it a rule – you are to speak freely. You can voice your opinions, suggestions, anything without being afraid of punishments. I won't even put a punishment for this. If you don't feel like speaking openly, then don't, but it's kind of a rule so maybe do that?" Kurt suggested, stopping himself in time before he started confusing the other boy even more. "Or, you know, scratch that, I want you to talk to us. If I see you holding out I will ask you to sing a verse of any song. Yeah, so, please, talk to us about whatever you want."

Blaine's eyes widened at his words but Kurt's eyes were locked on the screen so he didn't see it.

"Other than that... My dad and I will want you to join our family activities. Like watching football or a movie? Those are usual fun. There is no punishment for that since it's more like an invitation than a rule," he said with a smile, happy with how the list shaped out to be. "I think I'm done... You may do anything you want with your free time. If you want something like video games, just ask."

"That's it?" Blaine asked timidly, looking up at Kurt with his big hazel eyes.

"For now it's all I can think of," the teen said and read the list again. "I will leave some space so I can add more later on if I think of something. Or if my dad wants to add anything. Before I ask you to do that, I want to know, are you okay with all the rules and punishments?"

Blaine hesitated for a moment but not wanting to break one of the rules so early on, spoke up. "Are these serious?"

Kurt tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

"These rules are... weird," Blaine uttered, tensing even more as if waiting for a blow.

"They might be weird, but those are my rules," Kurt smiled at him and extended his laptop to Blaine. "Look through the list again and if you want you can add or change anything."

The slave boy lowered his knees and Kurt put the laptop on them. Kurt was about to ask him if he knew how to use it when he saw Blaine scrolling down the list.

Rule: 1 chapter of a book

Punishment: 2 chapters of a book the next day

Rule: 2 episodes of Friends

Punishment: 4 episodes of Friends the next day

Rule: Keep your room tidy

Punishment: Living in an untidy room

Rule: Wash your dishes

Punishment: Wash everyone's dishes the next time

Rule: Put dirty clothes into the laundry basket

Punishment: Wearing dirty clothes until the next laundry day

Rule: Get at least 7 hours of sleep a night

Punishment: Take a nap the next day

Rule: Eat at least 1 fruit a day

Punishment: Fruit salad for breakfast the next morning

Rule: Read newspapers

Punishment: Read both new and old newspapers

Rule: 1 thing you are happy about

Punishment: 2 things you are happy about the next day

Rule: Talk freely

Punishment: Sing a verse of any song

Rule: Join us for family activities

Punishment: –

Rule: Do whatever you want with your free time

Punishment: –

Kurt saw the moment Blaine stopped reading and the boy was obviously contemplating something.

"You can change or add anything you like. Just put it in a different colour or something," Kurt encouraged him and smiled when the boy started typing something.

When he finished Blaine gave him his laptop back and he saw a few more lines added at the bottom.

Rule: Don't break anything

Punishment: 5 spanks with a belt buckle

Rule: Clean the house

Punishment: No food for 2 days

Rule: Sort out the mail

Punishment: Kneeling in the corner for an hour

Rule: Don't talk back

Punishment: 3 slaps on the face

Rule: Follow all direct orders immediately

Punishment: Sleeping in the backyard