Comfort

“Britney?”

Britt looks up from the book she’s reading, Herb the Vegetarian Dragon, to answer San. “Yeah.”

“Come to the mall with me?” Santana asks, shyly. As if they haven’t been friends their whole lives, and even best friends at that.

“Yepperz!” She says excitedly. “Can we acquire some stuff?” Britney asks with a knowing smile, and wagging eyebrows. Santana laughs at the look on Britt’s face, and their inside joke, releasing some of the tension that’s been in her body since they’ve kissed. This thing, the inside jokes and that look Britney’s giving her even now, let’s Santana know that even though everything’s changed, nothing’s really different. They’re still Santana and Britney.

“Isn’t that the only reason we go?” San winks, as she walks away to get changed.

The girls get dressed and put on their rain coats. It’s raining again, which is good for them, but not so good for humans. Yay!

The two walk to the bus, not in any hurry, stealing glances at each other, then looking away bashfully. One time when Britt turns her head away, she sees a bus waiting for people to get on a few blocks down, so they speed up their pace a bit.

The two girls rush to a picture of a person stepping on a bus. When it pulls up next to them, they pay their fares to someone who looks suspiciously like a Fae and move to the back to sit. After they’ve sat down, they talk about random things like their new favorite movie, or what they want to get at the mall. Santana reaches for Britney’s hand, and she gets a hold of it, but the other girl looks like she’s going to have a panic attack at the contact. Santana tries to pull her hand back, respecting Britney’s space, but the blonde won’t let go of it either.

“What’s wrong?” Santana ducks her head to get the younger girl to look at her.

“I just don’t want to get hurt.” Britney whispers so low that San isn’t sure she heard her right, though it would make sense if she’s scared. Before the flock had moved (the last time),  these two guys in red jackets saw her making out with some chick in front of her house, and came over to rough her up. It was nothing serious, but Britney hadn’t done much PDA since, and she doesn’t really even leave the house unless necessary.  

“It’s ok.” Santana catches the girl’s eye. “If anyone tries to come near you, I swear I’ll hurt them so bad they’ll be whimpering for their fucking moms.” She says with a sadistic smile, almost as if she wants someone to try.

“Umm…thanks?” Britney says, more a question than a real statement of gratitude.

“Sorry.” Santana lowers her head and looks at Britney through her eyelashes. “You know I have that thing where I get all ‘don’t touch my shit or I’ll kill you.’”

“Yeah, I know.” Britney smiles, big and goofy, and giggles at Santana’s confused look. The other girl doesn’t know it, but she just unintentionally called Britt hers. It shouldn’t be a big deal, but it is. It means Britney can relax now because Santana always protects what’s hers. Santana claiming Britt means safety. So, now, they can keep talking about more unimportant, but definitely need-to-know, stuff.

The two of them get off the bus with a bunch of other people when it announces its arrival at the mall. Santana and Britney immediately notice something horrifying. The two girls have to, grudgingly, admit that they look grimy. They’re both wearing tattered jeans and t-shirts. Even if their shirts are amazing, Santana’s being a Grateful Dead shirt, and Britt’s being a Happy Bunny shirt that reads ‘cute but psyco, things even out’, they, the great Santana Lopez and Britney Pears, look grimy.

It’s not that some people can’t pull of that look, the whole ‘I’m dirty and it makes me look aloof and tough’. More that it’s really not the flock’s. All of them are generally immaculately dressed, especially Kurt. But Britney and Santana DO NOT like to look like this, so they go into this little boutique that has cute stuff in the window.

Once they’re in the store, they grab a bunch of cute clothes. The two go to “try stuff on”, and hide a few things in between the others, so they look like they each go in with five items (but really have closer to ten each), and then actually come out with five. Santana buys a bracelet as a decoy, so they don’t look too suspicious, and flirts with the cashier as she pays (for good measure). They leave as soon as the receipt is in San’s hands, and head for the bathroom on the other side of the mall. When they get there, they change into their favorite outfits that they’ve just acquired, and shove the rest into Britt’s dancing bear backpack.

Santana puts on a black dress, and a nice pair of silver sparkly heels (Britney’s not even sure how she managed to grab those!). Britt grabbed a simple, well, simple for her, cocktail dress. It’s red, fitted at the top, and fluffy on the bottom, and has a black, shiny bow cascading down the front. Then she slips her black flats back on.

The girls wash their arms and faces with wipes they stole, sorry, acquired, before coming here. Once the two finish, Britt notices that they almost step out without putting their coats back on, and pulls them back immediately.

“Santana! Where’s our coats?” The tan girl looks at the blonde as if she’s insane. She clearly doesn’t understand what the girl is asking for, and her face shows it. After a full thirty seconds of being completely lost, Santana adopts this ‘oh, you don’t know’ smug kind of look.

“Do you know the reason I come to this mall?” San asks, in a tone a mother would use to explain something complicated to her child. Britney shakes her head. “It’s owned by a large group of Others. This is an open place, for queer humans, Others, queer Others. There isn’t any violence here. You mustn’t have looked around when we got here because almost everyone here is an Other, or queer in some way.” Santana says, as she pulls the girl out of the bathroom. “Look.”

So, Britt does as she’s told, not expecting much, but when she actually looks, she sees exactly what Santana said. She sees Daemons, Vampires, Lupines, more Shifters. And not just Others, but queer people too. She sees a young effeminate lupine boy holding a human boy’s hand. And not far from them, two Fae girls kissing fiercely. Britt’s eyes almost pop out of her head. She never thought there would be a place she could go outside of the flock that would accept who she is. But here it is. She’s standing in a mall, surrounded by non-flock people, who also happen to be an ass-load of Others and LGBTQ people. The young girl feels tears spring to her eyes.

Santana grabs her face, gently cupping Britt’s cheeks in her hands. “Hey, what’s wrong?” The older girl comforts her, pulling her in to hug her. Whispering cute things that make no sense, but still seem to help. Britt pulls back to look at her-her…um, her girl. She feels a small, sad smile showing up on her face without permission.

“I’m ok. I just never- I doesn’t know—ugh. I’m sorry.” Britney steadies her breathing, and tries again. “This is gonna sound dumb, but I just didn’t realize there is a place for us to be us.”

“There’s always a place. That’s why we have hope. Because no matter what, there are people like the group that owns the mall.” Santana says, somewhat distractedly, looking into the girl’s eyes.

They’re so green! How can Santana have ever noticed that they’re this green?! But it isn’t a bright green, it’s subdued, like a gray-green. They’re so hypnotic. Britt opens her mouth to say something, and San leans in and kisses her, she can’t help it! Britt almost pulls back, but she decides that she’s eventually going to have to kiss people in public. Person! She meant kiss a…a person. She really only likes kissing one…person.

So, they kiss for a very long minute, holding on to each other tightly, only stopping to catch their breath. Then go back to their ‘shopping’. They both get a few dresses each, two pairs of jeans, and a few cute blouses, which will all, undoubtedly, be ruined within the next three weeks.

After about three hours of…borrowing, Santana is tired of walking, and Britt’s stomach is being taken over by a family of bears. The girl’s decide it’s time for lunch, and go to the food court. They get out all the money they brought. Each of them only have twenty bucks, which would NOT have paid for the clothes they…obtained, but it will pay for their meals.

Santana says they should go to this Chinese place she knows. ‘It looks like this little run down, old place in the mall, but it has the best food ever!’ Santana informs Britney. Plus, she knows the woman who owns it. Mostly because of how often she comes here, and how much she eats when she does.

They walk into the place, and Britney instantly feels like she’s walked into someone’s home. The place, decorated warmly, with tones of orange and red all over, looks awe inspiring, and humbling all at once. Britt likes the place already. A waiter takes them to their table, and asks for their drink orders. Before he leaves, Santana asks him a favor. “Oh!” She says as if she almost forgot. “Can you tell Hui Zhong that Santana Lopez is here?” He promises he will, and walks off to get their drinks.

“Why do you have to tell them?” Britney asks, cocking her head to one side.

“I don’t have to, but they always make double the food when I’m here because it’s an all you can eat buffet, and you know how much we have to eat, and I want to see Abuela.”

“But we don’t have one.” Britney decides to point out.

“I call the owner Abuela. Meet her. I know she’s not our blood grandma, but she’s really nice. She is the first person I really told about being Bi, other than you, of course.” Santana says with a warm smile. Britt opens her mouth to say something, but gets cut-off by a loud voice with a heavy accent.

“Santana! Oh, you came back!” An older looking, Asian woman walks to the table. She looks to be about seventy five, or so, and has a curved back. She moves slowly and carefully. Her face is full of wrinkles, and has a kind roundness to it. But her eyes are anything but old looking! They’re sharp, and clear, and she’s wearing a blue and black kimono that only makes them pop even more.

“Abuela!” Santana stands, giving the woman a hug. “How are you?”

“Oh, you know, I’m fine. I’ve been yelling at Mei for the last hour. She has a girlfriend and refuses to bring her home! I just want to meet her!” The owner says, smiling and chuckling the whole time. At that moment, she seems to notice Britney’s presence. “And who is this young woman, honey?”

Santana looks a bit nervous, as if she wants her ‘Abuela’ to approve of Britt. “This is my, um…” San trails off, not actually sure how to finish that sentence. Childhood friend? Roommate? Girlfriend?

Britney stands up and interferes, holding her hand out for the woman to shake. “I’m her girlfriend. My name is Britney, Britney Pears.” Britt hopes that Santana is ok with what she just said because it kind of looks like the other girl wants to cry, or pass out.

“Well, I think you just took your girl by shock my dear. She looks like she’s going to fall over!” The woman says with a laugh. “You can call me Hui, or Abuela. I’d prefer Abuela to be honest. It has such a lovely tone to it.” Hui says with a smile.

“Thank you ma’am. I think I’d better try to get Santana back to earth. Thanks for coming out here to speak with us.”

“No problem deary! I’ll say goodbye before you leave. It is so nice meeting you!”

“You too.” Britney says with a smile and waves as the woman walks away. Then she slowly turns to San with a worried look on her face. She doesn’t know what Santana is thinking about how Britt introduced herself. Britney didn’t really even think about it before the words are already out of her mouth. “Say something, Santana, just say something.”

That’s when Santana’s word vomit starts. “I love you. I love you so much right now, and I am so proud of you, and if there wasn’t a table in between us I’d kiss you. I doidn’t know if you would want to be my girlfriend, and I didn’t want to say it without your permission and then you just stood up and said it and oh my god, I love you, and I really need to shut up. I’m sorry just, wow!--”

Britt cuts her off with a kiss. “You said you’d kiss me if there wasn’t a table, but I don’t see what the table has to do with anything.” She says with a smile. Santana laughs lightly, and lets out a sigh. “And yes, I want to be your girlfriend. You should know that by now.”

“I was hoping, but I didn’t know for sure, and I didn’t just want to assume.” Santana says to her girlfriend.

“Well, I do. I also want some food.” Britt says as her stomach growls, yet again. Santana laughs, and pulls the other girl out of her seat.

“Ok, let’s feed you”

“Oh, and San?”

“Yeah?”

“Te amo por siempre.”

Once again, the older girl looks at Britt, unsure what to say, with her jaw hanging open, still. However, Santana regains control of her body much quicker this time, her mouth closing, and her lips spreading into a huge smile.

“Te amo.” San says, kissing Britney’s cheek.

--

The four kids left at the house have been doing all of the last minute work before they leave, while the girls are on their shopping spree. They’ve been cleaning for hours. They tried to make it a bit more fun by putting on music, and dancing while cleaning, and the twins have been chatting away the whole time. Blaine hasn’t said a word the entire time they’ve been working, though, he’s looking nervous and frayed. Kurt’s been watching him as he moves a bit too fast, and bit too clumsily. Kurt has also noticed something else. Blaine won’t look him in the face. He’s avoiding Kurt for some reason, Kurt just doesn’t know why.

Just as Kurt is about to pull the other boy off to the side to ask him what’s going on, said boy decides it would be a good time for a lunch break, and the twins agree adamantly. Blaine stalks off to the kitchen, leaving behind an even more worried Kurt. The pale boy eventually follows the other kids, making himself a tofu sandwich. The flock goes into the living room to watch the news. Kurt guesses it’s somewhat good that they did this because as soon as the TV turns on, he hears the news reporter talking about his family, who just so happens to be on video.

“Yesterday evening there was a disturbance at Central Park. A group of humans, who seem to be calling themselves the Humans of America, were protesting the Others Amendment. As things were getting particularly heated, a group of Others arrived at the scene to disrupt the humans’ activities. We have footage from the scene where we were shooting. Here it is…” The blonde woman, the one that sounds like she’s had a bad nose job, fades out as the footage comes onto the TV in full screen.

The kids sit in front of the screen, entranced by the footage of them at the riot. Kurt listens to what is happening, hearing Madeline curse again, Britney singing, all of it. He wishes he would’ve listened to his instincts when he had wanted to help the French person. They could’ve grabbed the daemon and left, but no. He had to ignore her. Anyways, Kurt listens intently. They did sound great, though it is a bit eerie to hear Britney, mostly because she doesn’t actually sound like herself.

The kids are telling him how great they all look, as he turns his head to the doorway. Kurt hears a new set of feet pad into the room. He can only assume it’s Madi, but he doesn’t say anything and just listens. It’s the first time she’s awake, since she slept almost an entire day.

Madeline looks around at the group of kids gathered in front of her. She noticed that the palest boy, and oldest too probably, had turned his head when she walked in. She doesn’t know this boy, or the other one for that matter, but the little one, Victoria if she remembers correctly, must be one of the girls sitting next to one another. Madeline scans the two girls, and notices that they are exactly alike, save for the wings.

Hello Madeline. Victoria thinks in the best French she can manage. I’m the one with white and tan wings. Mercedes is my twin.

So the child can read minds, and project her thoughts into other people’s head. This lets Madeline know how the girl had gotten into her dreams. It’s a common enough power, though the fact that she has it mastered by twelve (?) is a little scary.

Madi notices the footage on the TV screen. It’s the kids at the riot. She remembers them flying around like a bunch of morons right before someone hit her with something cold and hard. Nothing much is in her memory after that, not until she woke up just moments ago. They’re good singers. She doesn’t really understand the lyrics all that much, although she knows a little English, but what she does know is that the song sounds angry. But there are more pressing matters than ‘what is this song about?’ There are questions like ‘why are these kids at a riot?’ or ‘why did their parents let them go?’  It was dangerous and stupid of them to be there.

We don’t have any. Parents, I mean. We were adopted, well, sort of. Anyways, we were adopted by a man named Burt, but he died five years ago. Since then it’s just been Kurt raising us. He’s the pale one you noticed first.

Well that explains a hell of a lot.  Madeline feels a sudden wave of pity come over her for the boy, who’s had to act as a father even though he’s only a child himself.

I wouldn’t let Kurt know you pity him. He doesn’t take pity kindly, and he’d probably tell you to fuck off.

Oh, ok. Thank you, little one.

The woman comes back on the screen saying something that Madi decides is not important, so she clears her throat. Immediately, the kids all turn around; the two that already know she is there are a little slower and don’t look so shocked. Those who don’t know that she has been standing here look like cartoons. Their eyes are huge, and their jaws are hanging slack. Madi can’t help but laugh at how dumb they look, her body shaking with laughter. When the fox daemon sobers up, she tries to think of something to say, or do. So, she looks to the eldest child.

“Kurt.” She says, in a very heavy accent. The name feels odd rolling off her tongue. It isn’t as smooth as the French names, and even some of the daemon ones she knows.

“Hello Madame Madeline! It’s great to finally speak with you!! How is your head feeling?” Kurt said swiftly, with an accent only a few nonnative speakers can manage. The kids have no idea what Kurt is saying. They hardly understand French at all.

“It’s alright. Thank you for tending to my wounds.”

“It was no problem! I’m sorry you were struck at all. We should’ve figured out what the humans are doing earlier; then it wouldn’t have needed to be tended to.”

“Either way, I’m grateful” Kurt dips his head, and then talks to the kids for a minute. When he is finished, Kurt turns to the little ones.

“I’m going to have-” Kurt stops. There is a loud bang at the door, and then another. “Fuck my life!” He groans under his breath, while rubbing his eyes. “KIDS! GET OUT NOW! THEY’RE HERE! OUT! LET’S GET A MOVE ON IT! NOW! Fuck!” The WhiteCoats are here. He had wanted to leave two days ago, but the kids had out voted him, and now look what’s happening! Awesome job as a leader, Kurt! Way to put your foot down!

Kurt doesn’t think about the daemon as he walks away, instead thinking towards Victoria, asking if the fox can fly. It is a common power among many daemons. Victoria told him Madeline nodded. Then he asks if the fox can grab one of the other girls’ bags. They aren’t at home, and they need their bags. Again, Victoria said the daemon nodded.

Get one of the bags for her, and then put the other one with mine, so that I can  get it.

That’s one less thing Kurt needs to worry about.

Kurt turns to his room, where his bag is. He taught the kids that they should always have a bag packed in case something like this is to happen. He gets to his room before he hears the front door bust open. Well now the party is kicking up! At least he gets to whoop some ass. Kurt’s wanted to punch people recently. Like, a lot. It’s been a minor obsession, actually.

“GRAB YOUR BAGS!” He yells when he realizes some of them might forget. Kurt feels a hand grab his shoulder. Automatically, he grabs the muscular arm at the wrist, and easily hauls the asshole over his shoulder; the man hits Kurt’s doorframe with a grunt on the way over. One Kurt, zero WhiteCoats.

He shoulders his pack, clipping the two straps, and walks into the living room, hitting one of the WhiteCoats with a roundhouse to the jaw when they approach him. The person drops like a ton of bricks. Two, zero now. Kurt feels, yet another, hand latch onto him, and grabs the arm at the elbow, locking it up. Then does this nifty little trick he heard the kids talk about in some movie, and has the man screaming.

Kurt had instantly recognizes Blaine’s voice, and lets him go. “What the hell Kurt?!” Blaine screams, as he rubs his wrist.

“Sorry.” Kurt says sheepishly, and, although it was an accident, he feels a little happier than he should at the fact that he can take Blaine that easily. Then he hears a whine escape from Madi’s throat as she gets kicked in the side. Blaine and Kurt are back in attack mode.

Before Kurt can actually join the action again, though, something stops him dead in his tracks.

“What are you doing?! You said you wouldn’t hurt them!” Kurt hears that voice, and snaps his head up. He longs to hear that voice every day of his existence. But he can’t really be here. He’s gone. He isn’t coming back. But still, the WC’s are holding back, Kurt knows. He’s been here before, and it was way more brutal the last time. So why aren’t they busting in, guns a blaze?

“Kurt Hummel, you are under arrest.” One of the WhiteCoats informs him in a very serious voice. Kurt focusses again, and flies towards this one, expecting them to hesitate because he’s a kid, but she hits him right in the gut. Kurt instinctually bends forward and she grabs a handful of his hair. She pulls back and knees Kurt right in the face with a grunt. Kurt stands up quickly, shaking his head, and kicks right where he heard the growl come from. Kurt punches her right in her throat, and walks away while she sits on the floor choking.

“Kurt! Two o-clock!” Kurt spins and kicks, hard, but absently. There is the voice again.

“Shut your mouth!” Kurt hears an unfamiliar voice say. There is a sickening smacking sound, followed by a groan.

It stops talking, the voice, but where is the beautiful creature that the voice belongs to? Why is it stopping? Kurt needs to find it!

Kurt bows his head in concentration, and listens for whistles, the voice, instructions, really anything on where he should go from here. Kurt can tell a lot of the kids have already left, and a lot of the WC’s are down, but there are a few scuffles still going on. But wait! There! Mercedes whistles a code that tells him where the closest window is. Kurt takes one more second to listen for the voice, and, when he doesn’t hear it, he runs to his left and towards where the whistle told him a window should be.

Kurt is almost on target. He does get out through the window, but he clips his shoulder on something in the process, and his arm is hanging lifelessly in the air below him. He unfurls his wings as soon as he brakes the glass, and starts beating them rapidly.

Kurt stays aloft outside the window for a hot minute after escaping and pops his shoulder back into socket while the rest of the kids jump out the window. Madeline is last to leave, and comes to the window growling at (Kurt is assuming) one of the WhiteCoats. She jumps into the air effortlessly and simply starts to walk on it. Most daemons don’t fly in the same way that other most Others do. Well, some daemons do, but they’re usually Whitelings. Creepy little buggers, they are.

Victoria, do a head count for me! Is everyone here?

Yeah, but we’re a little banged up. We should get somewhere fast.

Tell everyone we’re going back home. To the hatchery.

Ok!

The kids start flying south-ish, towards Burt’s home. One of the things that the flock has as a part of the whole ‘I have bird in me’ thing is homing. They can be almost anywhere and know how to get to a place that was once their home. For tonight they will go to Burt’s old place, which they won’t sell. They keep it for times like these.

The flock makes sure to fly high enough that no one will be able to see them, and low enough so they can still breath easily enough, though if they need to they can fly as high as any plane could. It’s only a twenty minute flight from where they live now, so they should be there soon.

“How is everyone?” Kurt shouts over the wind.

“We’re good!” They answer, but it isn’t very convincing.

“We’ll be there soon!” He yells back. Trying to be reassuring.

When the flock is only five minutes away, Kurt smells an overwhelming amount of smoke. Well, overwhelming to him. Since he was born blind, he trained his other senses to be amazing, closer to a lupine’s senses, rather than a human’s. He doesn’t just automatically have better senses. He hates when people think that. Anyways, he knows that the smoke he smells isn’t a bar-b-q. There is too much of it, and it doesn’t smell like food. Actually, it kind of smells like…Oh no. No no no no no no no no no no. They wouldn’t. Kurt takes off, not even thinking about the rest of the kids, and they try to follow as best they can, but Kurt is flying really fast.

When they get closer, they can see why. Kurt’s already on the ground. Just standing there. The flock lands behind Kurt, and looks at the shell that used to be their childhood home. All that is left is the framing of the house; everything else that used to be there is burned to the ground. Kurt sinks to his knees, and buries his face in his hands, his body racking with the sobs escaping from his mouth, unwarranted.

Blaine runs to him, and gathers the boy in his arms. He sits on the sidewalk with Kurt, tears streaming down their faces. The lot of them are all crying now.

Burt is gone, his things are gone, and now the kids have nowhere to go because this was their home. It was the one place they could go back to every once in a while, and feel like they still had a father. They could remember the times when they weren’t running for their lives. It was their sanctuary, you know? And now it’s gone.

Earlier, when they left the old apartment, Victoria sent a thought to the girls and told them to come. Britney and Santana are just getting here now. As soon as their feet hit the ground, they run to the house, to their home, to their family.

Santana looks at it desperately. “No.” She starts backing away. “No, they can’t do this to us! They- they- I- just NO!” She screams as her body erupts with flames she didn’t want to come. She falls to the ground sobbing. Britt looks at her. San needs someone to hold her, tell her it would be ok, but Britney can’t get her feet to move, and even if she could manage to get over there, she wouldn’t be able to hold her. She would just have to watch her cry closer up. Everyone looks around at each other. No one will say those comfort words now, no one would dare. Because, honestly, how do you comfort someone when they just had the only thing that mattered to them taken away?

The answer: You don’t.