Morning and Night

Mornings were Blaine's favorite.

Every morning either Brittany or her mother would come let Blaine out of the little room with the newspapers on the floor and take him for a walk and give him breakfast. His absolute most favorite mornings were the ones when Brittany took him out, because it meant that he got to see Kurt right away, and Kurt would come with them on their walk, darting about and chewing on leaves and leaping flawlessly onto fence posts and looking away primly when Blaine stopped to pee on things.

When Brittany's mother took Blaine out he had to wait to see Kurt, because on those mornings Brittany's bedroom door stayed closed until after Blaine had his breakfast and Brittany always took Kurt to bed with her. On those mornings, Blaine would go up to Brittany's room and wait for Kurt in front of the door, but it was never as bad as nighttime because he knew he would be able to see Kurt soon. Sometimes Kurt would even hear him and go talk to him through the door, slipping a slender leg under the gap in the bottom of the door so that they could press their paws together.

But at night there was no Kurt at all. At night he couldn't even hear Kurt, could barely even smell Kurt in that dark little room.

And that was why nights were the worst.

Blaine hated nighttime. Because nighttime was long and nighttime was lonely, and Blaine had no one to cuddle or play with in the little room with the newspapers on the floor. When Blaine had first come to live in the house he had spent every night crying, but he had given up on that a long time ago. Now nighttime was just something to get through. Blaine tried to sleep as much as he could; there was even a soft little bed in there for him. There were some toys too, but Blaine got bored with them fast. Mostly he just lay in his bed and sulked and stayed awake because it was hard to sleep without Kurt's warm, purring body pressed close against his own.

On one particular evening that seemed no different from any other, Blaine and Kurt were in the living room playing; Kurt kept taking Blaine's little stuffed bear and putting it on surfaces that were higher and higher from the ground, seeing how high Blaine could jump now that he was starting to get bigger. Blaine leapt up as high as he could, his ears flopping about and Kurt purring and chirruping with delight. Blaine was enjoying the game so much that he didn't even notice when Brittany walked into the living room in her pink sleeping furs.

Kurt looked past Blaine and cocked his head to the side, blinking affectionately. Blaine turned to see Brittany standing in the doorway and watching them with an enormous smile.

Blaine's heart sunk. because he knew it was time for Kurt to go with her and for Blaine to get put in the little room with the newspapers on the floor. Their playtime was over and it would be a million years of darkness until he would get to see Kurt again.

Blaine hung his head, trying to suppress a whimper. He didn't want to make Kurt feel bad; it always made Kurt sad when Blaine cried, but he knew Kurt enjoyed sleeping in Brittany's bed at night.

Blaine waited for Brittany to scoop Kurt up and then lead Blaine to his little room, and his eyes went wide with surprise when Brittany picked him up instead.

Blaine had no idea what to make of what was happening, especially when Brittany didn't even carry him to the little room where she always put Blaine at night. In fact, Brittany was carrying Blaine up the stairs.

Kurt danced about her legs happily. "I knew it, Blaine! I heard the humans talking about it and I knew it, but I wanted it to be a surprise!"

Blaine was too stunned to respond.

Brittany carried Blaine into her room and set him down on her bed. Kurt leapt up on the bed and instantly pressed himself against Blaine's side.

"I don't know if Kurt already told you, Blaine," Brittany began, petting him gently as she sat down beside him. "Mom said you can come sleep with us now because you haven't had any accidents in the house for over a week."

Blaine just sat and stared for a moment. He looked at Brittany, at Kurt, at the floor far below the unbelievably soft surface Brittany had set him on. And suddenly it hit him.

Brittany was not going to put him in the little room with the newspapers on the floor. Blaine was going to sleep in Brittany's room, and he was going to sleep with Kurt.

Unable to contain the joy that hit him with this realization, Blaine begain barking happily and running in clumsy circles all over Brittany's bed.

Brittany laughed softly and turned on a lamp beside her bed, walking across the room to turn off the overhead light and shut the door.

"Blaine," Kurt laughed, "calm down. Brittany won't let you stay if you're running around the bed all night."

Blaine came to an abrupt halt at that, and then bounded over to Kurt, actually managing to catch him by surprise and knocking him onto his side.

They landed in a heap, and Blaine instantly began licking Kurt's face.

"Kurt," he murmured excitedly between licks, "Kurt, I'm just so happy. I always want to sleep with you, Kurt. I hate that room where they always put me. I miss you so much at night, Kurt."

"I miss you too," Kurt said, allowing Blaine to lick him a fair bit longer than he usually did. "And now we'll be together every night. Brittany said so."

Brittany climbed into the bed, settling herself under the blankets and turning onto her side. "Come here, Blaine," she murmured, holding out a hand. Blaine walked over unsteadily; he was getting bigger but he was still fairly small, and he lacked Kurt's grace when walking on soft surfaces like this one that dipped with every step. Brittany pulled Blaine to her when he got close enough, and wrapped an arm around him, Blaine's back against her chest. Blaine twisted his head back gave her an affectionate lick on the chin.

"Now, no ghost stories," Brittany warned them as Kurt crawled up the bed and settled himself against Blaine's belly. "And no drinking. I know you want to have fun on your first night together, but you guys aren't old enough for that stuff yet, okay?"

Blaine sighed with bliss. He was sandwiched between Brittany and Kurt, and the mattress was so soft beneath him, and Kurt was purring, and he couldn't imagine anywhere else he would ever want to be.

"Kurt?" Blaine whispered.

"Yes, Blaine?"

"Do you really think Brittany will let me stay here always?"

"Always, Blaine, as long as you don't have any accidents in the house."

"Never," Blaine swore. And he knew it was true. In fact, if he had known that this would be his reward, he would have stopped peeing in the house weeks ago.

"Kurt?"

"Yes, Blaine?"

"If we get to sleep together every night and play together every day, it means we never have to say goodbye anymore."

Kurt murmured sweetly and his purring grew louder. He snuggled even closer to Blaine. "Oh Blaine," he sighed. "Of course not. I'm never saying goodbye to you."

Brittany flicked off the bedside lamp, and for the first time in Blaine's life the complete darkness that enveloped him did not signal long hours of loneliness and misery. For the first time in his life, he felt happy and safe in the dark.