Chapter 35

January 2, 2013

The school break ended before Kurt even noticed. Probably because for the first time since he and his dad moved back to the States he felt truly happy. Although, not immediately after the holidays.

Right after Christmas Blaine seemed to become upset quite often and clutch to his locket with a thoughtful look on his face. He even brought Mr Honey to his room and slept with it. Kurt didn't comment on any of that, instead, he made sure to be there for him whenever the other boy needed comfort. Soon those sad moments became more and more rare.

Afterwards Blaine was becoming more at ease with each passing day. He would joke around with Kurt, sometimes tease him. Inappropriate remarks became somewhat normal between the boys. It finally began to feel like they were really just roommates.

Burt felt the change as well. The slave boy was still a bit wary around him but when Blaine asked him if he would like to watch a game together, the man felt like their relationship was going towards the right direction.

Another person who noticed the changes was Puck, who was more often at the Hummels' house than not. One evening before leaving he apologised to Kurt for ever doubting him. It was the biggest compliment the teen had ever received.

Kurt argued with Blaine a lot. The reason for that was redecorating the guest room. The slave was fine with the way it looked and didn't want Hummels to spend another dollar on him but Kurt was adamant – he wanted the room to reflect Blaine's personality. Hence, the arguing. A lot of it. In the end Kurt stopped showing Blaine colour schemes or furniture online. He could make all the decisions on his own.

Now that Blaine had his own phone he always carried it with himself wherever he went and kept praising Santa for being so amazing and thoughtful. And he was texting all the time. When Kurt asked who he was texting to Blaine told him it was Mike and from then onwards all he heard was 'Mike this' and 'Mike that'. It made Kurt a little bit jealous but seeing that conversing with another slave was helping Blaine a lot, he didn't mind it.

Not that Kurt wasn't kept busy on his phone. Every day he could expect calls and texts from one and only Rachel Berry, who decided to make Kurt her new best friend. As well as the 'slave mentor' as she called him one day. The teenager would have been annoyed with such a clingy friend if it wasn't for her efforts to become a better person.

On the bright side, he finally found a person he could freely talk about his feelings for Blaine to. He got permission from his dad to share some of the story with his best friend back in Paris and so he spent one afternoon talking things out. He only left out the part where they were illegally keeping Blaine even though he trusted Gérard with his life.

From the talk with his friend Kurt hoped to hear 'go for it' but unfortunately for him, his friend had the same opinion as his dad – wait until Blaine makes a move. The teenager wanted to argue that Blaine was leaning towards him as if to kiss on Christmas Eve but later he dismissed it as a result of Christmas cheer and his wild imagination. He also laughed hard when Blaine jokingly suggested being each other's New Year's kiss. In the end he was back to square one.

But Kurt didn't let the small things bring him down. He cherished every moment with Blaine and seeing him getting better was making him the happiest person in the world.

The boy was grinning widely when he texted Blaine upon arriving at school the first day after the break. Not even the idea of having to sit boring classes could dampen his mood, not when the slave boy texted him sweet encouraging messages from time to time.

The first half of classes went by pretty quickly. Mercedes was in a strange mood and didn't pay much attention to him, which wasn't a bad thing. Later on Rachel was much worse, acting like they were best friends, earning Kurt a glare from the other girl. By the end of English he was surprised he was still alive. Luckily Mercedes didn't have the ability to kill with her stare.

When the lunch time came Kurt stood in the cafeteria feeling a bit lost. He saw Rachel sitting at a table with Mercedes and waving at him. On the other side Tina was sitting by herself, not paying attention at anything but her food. After a moment Kurt shrugged at Rachel and went to the Asian girl, whom he had been sitting with for the whole week before the break. Just because he and Rachel were fine now didn't mean he would leave Tina alone.

When he approached the girl she looked up and smiled at him. "Hey, Kurt, how was Christmas?"

Kurt sat down in front of the girl. "It was great, thanks for asking. How was yours?"

"Well, we celebrate Christmas only for presents and since I got some neat stuff it was great too," she said.

"It was good to be away from school," the boy continued the conversation. "I wasn't looking forward to coming back."

"Agreed," the girl nodded. "Especially not when we are having that History test after lunch. Did you memorise all dates?"

"I did," Kurt exclaimed proudly. "I had a friend helping me out so it wasn't too bad."

"It always helps me to study with Mike too," Tina nodded. "Talking about your friend... He's been talking to Mike quite a lot lately."

"We got a phone for him for Christmas. Um, is it bothering you? Because I can ask him to stop," Kurt offered reluctantly. He knew that Blaine would be devastated if he was no longer allowed to talk to Mike.

"Oh no, god, no..." the girl protested. "I'm totally okay with them talking. But seeing how close they got I was thinking maybe we could all hang out sometimes? You know, not necessarily go out. Maybe you two could come over to my place this weekend. Mike and I would love to meet him."

"Oh, that's... that sounds good," the boy stuttered, "but, you see, he isn't well enough... to go anywhere. He still has a cold and all. Winter stuff..."

"Really?" Tina's eyebrows rose in surprise. "He told Mike he was healthy now..."

"Oh, well, it's... typical him," Kurt rolled his eyes playfully. "He never wants others to worry about him so he says he is fine and then sneezes into a tissue."

"I get it. Mike is exactly the same! This one time he hurt his arm but kept saying it was alright until he couldn't stand the pain anymore."

"That's why they became such good friends in such a short time – they are very alike," Kurt smiled, glad that his excuse worked.

"True. Just let me know when he is better and we can arrange something, alright?" Tina insisted and Kurt had a feeling she wouldn't give up easily.

"Of course," he assured her, already trying to come up with future excuses.

"Good. Do you have everything you need for the class?" the girl asked when she finished eating.

"No, I was planning to go to my locker after I'm done eating," Kurt responded.

"I'll wait for you then."

The last class he had was Kurt's favourite – Home Economics. Since it was the first time they met after the break their teacher decided to check if they still remembered everything so she gave a small test to cook anything they had done already. Kurt skimmed the list they were allowed to choose from for that day and smiled widely when he saw that chocolate chip cookies were on the list. Blaine had told him he liked them the first time Kurt baked them in class so he was sure he would enjoy them again.

After the class was over Kurt texted the slave boy saying he had a surprise for him and put a box of hot cookies into his bag. He was about to walk out of school when someone grabbed his arm. The boy turned back to see Finn.

"Can we talk?" the jock asked and released Kurt's arm.

"What do you want to talk about?" Kurt asked faking confidence. Now that Puck wasn't anywhere near it was intimidating to be standing next to the tall teen.

"It's kind of private," Finn said looking around. "Look, I know you have leverage over me so I won't do anything to you. I just want to talk. You have my word."

"Your word doesn't mean anything to me," Kurt snorted. "But you got my curiosity. We can talk."

"Thanks," Finn said and entered the locker room with Kurt in tow. He quickly looked around to see that nobody was there. "It's about our parents."

"What about them?" Kurt asked surprised that Finn even knew about Carole and his dad.

"Burt is your dad, right? He also came from France not long ago."

"Yes, he is. And Carole is your mother as far as I know."

Finn nodded. "Do you know they have been dating?" he asked and Kurt nodded. "And then they stopped. Do you have anything to do with that?"

Kurt looked at the jock confused. "Why would I?"

"Because it sort of happened around the time you started coming after me. So I thought that maybe you talked your dad into ditching my mom."

"Why–"

"Look, man, I don't like you, you don't like me, but let's leave our parents out of it, okay? I haven't seen my mom as happy as she was when she came back from the date with your dad for a long time. I just want her happy and I don't want to be the reason why she is depressed again."

"Believe me or not but the world isn't spinning around you," Kurt said. "My dad made that decision by himself. I'm sure your mom is a nice lady. I actually met her once at her work and she seemed nice. But I can't talk my dad into dating her if he doesn't want to anymore. I actually tried to talk to him because he seemed to enjoy her company but he has always been stubborn."

"So this has nothing to do with me, right?"

"Right."

"Oh good," Finn immediately perked up. "I'll get going now."

Kurt watched him go away with a judgemental look. This guy was the most selfish person he had ever met.

The boy was about to leave when he heard steps coming from the showers. He looked that way to see another jock coming out of the shadows. He was tall and bulky, wearing the letterman jacket as always. He remembered Tina telling him this one was called Karofsky.

"Hey there, French fry," the boy smirked and Kurt felt like fleeing from there.

"Is that the best you've got?" he snorted.

"Say, how is Blaine doing?" Karofsky asked innocently.

Kurt's eyes widened and he felt like his heart was about to stop. This wasn't happening. It couldn't be happening.

"I'm sorry, what?" he tried to look disinterested.

"Don't play with me," Karofsky threatened him. "I heard that Berry chick talking to Jones. Dark curly hair? Light brown eyes? Short? Sounds like someone we both know."

"You got something wrong," Kurt shrugged nonchalantly even though his heart was beating like crazy now. He'd rather be getting beaten up by Finn in that moment.

"Cut the bullshit, I know you have him," the jock growled. "One anonymous call to police and I will know for sure. Or... you could cooperate."

Kurt swallowed audibly, weighing his options. He could continue pretending and Karofsky would call the police. Maybe he would be able to warn Blaine and he could run away and hide in time. He would probably never see him again. On the other hand, if police came to their house and found Blaine there, his dad would go to jail and the slave boy would have to leave anyway. Maybe, if he listened to what Karofsky wanted to say to him, there was a chance they could avoid all that. After all, even if Karofsky knew for sure that they had Blaine, Kurt would be able to warn the boy in time. The truth was the best call.

"What do you want?" he asked after a few moments.

"Now that's what I'm talking about," the jock grinned and came closer, successfully crowding Kurt's personal space.

"What do you want?" Kurt repeated, this time with a bit more force.

"I want... you," the boy smiled, his eyes going straight to Kurt's lips.

"I– What... what do you mean?" the boy took a step back but was stopped by strong hand on his hips. "Let me go!"

"Shhh... You don't want anyone to hear us, do you? I'm sure Blaine wouldn't want that..."

Kurt stood still after the warning. "What... what do you mean you want me?" he asked, his voice a little shaky.

Karofsky's hand found his check and caressed it gently. "You are really pretty," he purred in a low voice. "I bet your lips are as soft as they look. I bet they are delicious."

"I didn't know you were gay," Kurt blurted out.

"I'm not," Karofsky's eyes darkened. "I just have a certain... interest in you. And you will help me to take care of it. If you don't, you will say goodbye to your daddy. So what do you say?" he asked and his face was incredibly close now.

"Please, don't–"

"Begging won't get you anywhere," Karofsky said softly. "Now, tell me, do we have a deal?"

Kurt looked at him but didn't see the boy that was in front of him. He saw his dad shouting together with Blaine when their favourite team won. He saw Blaine sleeping soundly in his arms. He saw his dad making breakfast for both of them that morning.

And then he saw his dad being taken by police and Blaine being kicked out of their house. He could prevent it all from happening.

"Yes," he whispered. "We do."

Karofsky's smile was the last thing he saw. Kurt closed his eyes right before their lips touched.