FIC: Forever Home - Chapter 76 of 100
Title: Forever Home - Chapter 76 of 100
Author: Shadowc44
Fandom: Glee
Pairing: Kadam (Kurt Hummel/Adam Crawford)
Rating: R
Spoilers: AU. If you’ve seen Kurt and Adam interact, you’re good.
Summary: Adam is bored, and realizes he needs a companion. He decides to adopt a hybrid human/cat.
Warning: Mention of past abuse (non-sexual) from other canon Glee characters. This fic is not particularly kind to most canon Glee characters.
Length: About 4,500 words this chapter. About 328,000 words so far.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Glee characters in this story; they're owned by Fox. Any non-Glee characters are my own invention
Chapter 75
CHAPTER 76
Adam finished with the checks, glad that some of these expenses would be one-time only, or very rare. He’d already spent so much on just buying Kurt… That still bothered him, the concept of buying a person. And damn it, yes, Kurt was a person. He was a human and animal, sort of two for the price of one, but he shouldn’t be bought and sold. But how the hell would he manage to survive on his own? Obviously the problem of hybrids being bought and sold as pets couldn’t be resolved quickly, or by one person. Maybe they could be reached one at a time, however, with the book. A TV show might be better; the weekly adventures of Hybrid Kurt and Adam…no, the Adam and Kurt Variety Hour, with lots of singing, guest stars, and comedy sketches, that would work. In some other universe, perhaps. He sighed, wishing life were simpler.
Kurt came back to sit with him, but he didn’t seem terribly happy.
“What’s the matter, love?”
“I dunno,” Kurt sighed. “I just feel really restless. But I don’t know if I want to change, or have sex.”
Adam blinked a few times, taking that in. “Erm…those are interesting choices. Are they the only ones?”
“Probably.” Kurt slumped down further on the sofa.
“Do you want my opinion, or should I just let you decide?” he asked, thinking this wasn’t something he’d thought to include on his list for Dr. Hanover.
Kurt threw himself at him and hugged him. “Dunno,” he thought he heard against his chest.
“Ah, that’s helpful,” he sighed. “Look, it’s completely up to you. If you need some cat time, that’s fine. Or if you want to have sex, that’s fine too. Just please don’t change your mind part-way through either one.”
“Ick,” Kurt commented, his voice still muffled.
“Exactly.”
Kurt lifted his head, and shifted around until he was snuggled up against Adam, but could see his face. “Can we talk about what I want - what we want, from sex, I mean?”
“Of course.” Adam stroked Kurt’s hair, and tried not to tense up. There was no problem here, talking…he was good at talking. And so was Kurt. So there was no reason for either of them to be nervous. And yet he could feel Kurt’s body trembling, and his own heart was beating a bit too fast.
“Go on, darling. I don’t want you to ever have a question about sex and not ask it. I may not know everything, and I certainly haven’t experienced everything, but I’ll do my best to answer.”
“Okay. It’s just…I love what we’ve been doing, but I want more.”
Adam nodded. “So do I. I’ve been trying to go slowly so you don’t get too overwhelmed with new things. I want you to have time to get used to things before we go on to more.”
“Huh, I hadn’t thought of it that way.” Kurt was quiet a moment, probably gathering his thoughts. “I wanted to know when we’re going to do everything, you know?”
Adam’s eyes widened, though he tried to stay calm. “Everything? That’s encompasses quite a lot, you know? I mean, there are a lot of things, a lot of kinks, that I’m not sure -“
Kurt interrupted him, amusement flashing in his eyes. “I don’t mean all the sex things.”
“Ah, that’s good.” Adam was still puzzled.
“I’m talking about, you know, going all the way. You inside me. I want that.”
Oh. Much easier than I thought. “I do, too. I also want you inside me.”
Kurt looked shocked.
“Not at the same time, obviously…” He realized that wasn’t what Kurt meant. “Can you tell me what’s upsetting you?”
Kurt shook his head. “I’m not upset, it’s just…I’ve never heard of an owner wanting that. I mean, maybe a female owner with a male pet, but…” He trailed off, frustrated.
“It’s not that unusual, darling, some couples do switch things up. And I don’t care what most people do or don’t do with their pets, we’re not them.” He tried another explanation. “Some people get a bit hung up over who tops and who bottoms, but I’ve found I enjoy it both ways. It’s frustrating if your partner only wants things to be one way…” He pushed the thought away. “It’s not a problem for me. Unless you really don’t want to,” he concluded, trying to conceal his frustration.
“No, I do, I mean, it’s not something I really thought about. It might be normal with people, but most people who have hybrids want their pet to be subservient, you know? They don’t want to give them that kind of control over them, I guess, even for a little while.”
“It can be an issue, with some partners, if you don’t trust them not to hurt you,” Adam said, scratching his head. “But then, I’ve always made it a point to not have sex with someone I don’t trust. I mean, regardless of the amount of experience, if the other person at least wants to make it good for you, and isn’t going to take advantage of you being vulnerable like that. I know you don’t have any experience like that, and I don’t want to push you into anything you’re not ready for. But I’ve been hoping that eventually you’ll be comfortable enough with me, that you can top me if you want to.”
“Really? That’s…wow. I’m gonna have to think about that,” Kurt mused. “I do think I want to, that’s not what I mean,” he hastily added, “but I’ve never really thought about it any way other than what we were led to expect.”
Adam let out a long sigh. “Well, I’m glad we’ve talked that out a bit. As far as when, it’s up to you. I would like to make sure we’re both relaxed, not too stressed, and don’t have a lot to do that could distract us. At least, in the beginning. Life has a way of interfering in your sex life, I’ve found, but it’s nice when you’re trying to get used to each other, to be able to be relaxed and thoroughly enjoy it.”
“That sounds great,” Kurt sighed. “You know, one reason I’ve been so interested in weddings is I always wanted to have a great honeymoon afterwards.”
Adam sat up straighter. “Well, you know we can’t legally get married. At least not yet. But there’s no reason we can’t take a vacation, and call it a honeymoon, and treat it as such.”
“Really?” Kurt’s eyes widened. “That would be so awesome…I’d love to go to Hawaii or somewhere tropical, where we can just lie on the beach, go swimming when we want, sunbathe naked… Could we do that?”
“You are quite the surprise today, love,” Adam commented with a chuckle. “We can do all that, if you like.”
Kurt looked directly into his eyes. “Some day, I’d like to do that, married or not. But I think for now, we should get used to each other here, in your - in our home. We might enjoy the honeymoon more if we’ve already had some practice, or you know, are more used to each other.”
Adam hugged him tighter. “Yes, it should make it easier to relax and just enjoy ourselves and each other, without worrying about this or that being the first time.” Adam was glad Kurt wanted to wait. He had a feeling travelling with a pet, and staying at a resort or hotel or something, might be more complicated than they thought.
“How much do you know about sex?” Adam asked carefully, looking at Kurt’s face to see if he was getting upset. “You said they didn’t train you at the store. Did they at least educate you about the basics?”
“Um, no, they didn’t, not exactly. That’s part of the training. But before they did any, er, one-on-one training - and it wasn’t like, they didn’t go all that far, just wanted us to know what to expect once we were adopted. First they wanted to determine for sure who was straight, or gay, or bisexual. Of course, it’s probably easiest on the bisexual pets, because they have a better chance of being okay with either a male or female owner. But the trainers they had - Miss Holly and Mr. David - they would kind of demonstrate certain things, and they’d measure our response to them individually, and together, and try to figure out how to classify us.”
“Couldn’t they just ask you?” Adam had a hard time believing all this training nonsense was really necessary.
“Well, you know, sometimes it’s hard to admit things to yourself, or you don’t know until you’re really confronted with someone. But once they established that I really, really liked Mr. David, and Miss Holly didn’t do anything for me, that was that. Mr. David seemed to think they should train me, along with the others, but Mr. Will was insistent that they’d never get a customer who wanted me that way.”
“What an idiot. One of these days I think I’m going to go to that store and have a little chat with Mr. Will,” Adam threatened.
“I’d kind of like to see that. But I’m also not sure I’d want to be there.”
Perfectly understandable. But Adam wanted to know more.
“Did it upset you that you weren’t getting the same training as everyone else? I’m not trying to embarrass you,” Adam added, “I’m just trying to figure out how to make everything really good for you.”
Kurt was blushing. “Well, not really. I didn’t like the idea of having no connection to anybody, though. That is, sure, Mr. David was really hot - I’m sorry, but he was.”
Adam shook his head. “That’s fine, I’m not jealous.”
“But I didn’t know him,” Kurt explained. “To me, sex should be something special, between the pet and their owner, and not with strangers.”
Adam bit his tongue to keep from saying anything, and let Kurt continue.
“So in a way I didn’t mind, but I also believed what they were saying, that nobody would want me, except maybe the scary guys that came in that sometimes wanted to talk to me, that I told you about.”
“I’m so glad you discouraged them.”
“Me, too. That guy who was in the pet store we were at the other day? I never saw him before, but I still got that creepy feeling. He seemed a lot like the guys I tried to avoid.”
“Well, he skeeved me out as well, so I completely understand.” Adam realized he actually didn’t understand; he was a human being, free to choose whoever he wanted, who was willing, to be his lover. He had no idea what it was like to be a hybrid pet, and expected to just go off to live with someone, and have sex with them, even if he didn’t want them to adopt him. But he had to push that thought aside.
Kurt continued his story. “I didn’t get any training, but I listened to the others talk about it, and they did talk about it a lot. Most of them thought it was fun. I heard all kinds of stuff, but I don’t know how much of it was true.”
“Hm, and some of it might possibly have been said for your benefit, to see how you’d react. It could have been true or not. I don’t know if the others were that mean, but -“
“Yes, I think it’s safe to say they were mean enough to do it. The only other one they didn’t bother training was Artie, ‘cause he was in a wheelchair, and couldn’t - he said the equipment didn’t work. I think he was kind of relieved, like it was one less thing to worry about. But I used to worry that he might not get adopted at all, and they might eventually put him to sleep.”
“Well, let’s hope that’s not the case.” Adam didn’t know if Dr. Hanover had followed up on his broad hints about Artie, but he didn’t think he should get Kurt’s hopes up.
“I’d rather you just teach me whatever you want me to know, or whatever you want me to do,” Kurt added, looking guilelessly at Adam. “That way, I’ll just get used to what you want, and not maybe want something you don’t, that someone else taught me to expect.” He frowned. “If that makes sense outside my head.”
Adam sighed. “It does, though I wish you had more freedom of choice. You do, with me - have some choice, I mean. If there’s anything we try that you don’t like, or you want to try another position or whatever, just let me know, please. I don’t want you to do things you don’t want to do just to please me.”
He saw a faraway look in Kurt’s eyes, and thought he might know what he was thinking. “I guess your whole life has been leading you to think like that. I just want you to know, I’m not like the others. I hope. I don’t intend to be.”
Kurt shook his head, and smiled. “No, I know you’re not, and I really like that about you. And I’m so glad you adopted me. But I know by now you’re not going to force me or hurt me, on purpose anyway, I know it’s going to hurt, that can’t be helped.”
“Not necessarily,” Adam pointed out. “It doesn’t have to hurt, not if you’re really well-prepared. Like I said, I want everything to be as good and positive for you as possible.”
Kurt closed his eyes and sighed deeply, then looked up at Adam again. “That’s good.”
“Do you feel a little bit better now, getting some of this out in the open?”
“Yep. And in conclusion…cat time now, sexy times later?” Kurt asked hopefully.
“Of course.” Adam squeezed his hand. “Maybe you can include a nap in there somewhere so you don’t fall asleep on me later.”
Kurt pouted a bit, but the light in his eyes belied it.
Without any warning, Adam was suddenly sitting next to a cat, who wrapped his tail around his wrist, then let go and jumped down, running out of the room.
“Well, so much for that,” Adam muttered to himself. He leaned back against the sofa, closing his eyes for a moment as he contemplated his life. Never a dull moment, that was for sure. He heard Kurt’s bell, but before he could get his eyes fully opened, Kurt was pressing against his knees. He looked down, and saw the bright orange ball held in Kurt’s jaws. His tail was whipping back and forth.
“Do you want to play?” he asked, at the same time thinking, “Stupid question.” Of course he did.
Adam carefully removed the ball from Kurt’s mouth, and stood up. “Let’s go play in your room. Fewer things to trip over in there,” he explained.
Kurt happily ran ahead of him, and was waiting for him by the time he got there. They played another game of fetch. Adam played a bit longer than he really wanted to, not wanting to hurt Kurt’s feelings. As amusing as it was to watch his feline friend, Kurt was obviously having more fun than he was.
“Tell you what, let’s switch this up a bit.” Adam grabbed the ball, and walked over to Buckingham Palace. Kurt jumped up onto the lowest level, anticipating this new game.
“Close your eyes. I’m going to hide it. If you find it soon enough and bring it back to me, I’ll hide it again. Otherwise I’m going to get bored and go play the piano or write or something.”
Kurt growled, but quietly. He blinked a couple of times, then kept his eyes closed while Adam searched for a good hiding spot. He chose one of the many little bedrooms, since the ball wouldn’t show up as easily there.
He reached out to tap Kurt’s nearer leg, and stepped back. “Tag. You’re it.”
Kurt looked around excitedly, using the ladder to get to the next level. Adam decided to be fair and give him a couple of minutes to find the ball. He was surprised how little time it took for Kurt to find it; he was pretty sure he’d actually kept his eyes closed.
Kurt brought the ball back to him, and dropped it into his waiting hand.
“Very good.” Adam petted Kurt a moment, then scratched behind his ears. “Let’s try again.”
He decided to reward Kurt with affection every time he found the ball. He also called out helpful things like, “You’re getting cold…warm now, warmer, no, cold again,” to help him out.
When he’d finally had enough, he glanced at his watch, and was surprised to realize they’d been playing for maybe half an hour.
“Okay, I’m going to hide it one more time, then I’m going to go relax.”
Kurt’s ears drooped just slightly, then came back up again when Adam told him to close his eyes.
Adam reached up and tossed the ball into the highest bedroom, on the right-hand side. At least Kurt would get some exercise getting it.
He tapped the top of Kurt’s head. “Tag. You’re it.”
He watched for a minute or so while Kurt raced around, then quietly left the room. He had no idea why he was tired, when Kurt was the one actually expending all that energy.
Instead of writing, he sat at the piano and played for a bit. He realized it had been a while since he’d done this, just played for the fun of it. Probably before he adopted Kurt. He sang along to a couple of songs he hadn’t played in a long time. When he started to go through the sheet music for another song, he realized he had an audience. A small, furry audience of one, who was paying close attention.
“Hello there, Fuzzy Face. Sorry, I don’t want you up here on the bench with me. I need to be able to move my arms.”
Kurt settled down onto the floor, looking like he was content to stay for a while.
Adam found the song he was looking for, and occasionally glanced down to the cat as he sang. Kurt’s ears twitched and he tilted his head, listening carefully. He sang, slowly and passionately.
“If I could save time in a bottle
The first thing that I’d like to do
Is to save every day till eternity passes away
Just to spend them with you
If I could make days last forever
If words could make wishes come true
I’d save every day like a treasure and then
Again, I would spend them with you
But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do, once you find them
I’ve looked around enough to know
That you’re the one I want to go through time with" *
When he finished the song, he turned to look again at Kurt. He was sitting up, looking a bit distressed. Adam slid to the end of the piano bench and picked him up, settling him on his lap.
“There, there, Kurt, I didn’t mean to upset you.”
Kurt snuggled as close as he could, burrowing his face into Adam’s shirt.
“It’s true, you know, every word of it,” Adam assured him. “I hope you remember this when you’re human again. But if not, I’ll sing it for you again.”
Kurt moved his head up and down slightly, which Adam took for a nod.
“I’m going to keep singing it to you, every now and then, until you believe it,” he promised.
He hoisted Kurt a little higher in his arms, holding him against his chest, and moved to the dining room table. He’d left his laptop there, anticipating writing after he wrote the checks.
“You can sit on my lap, if you want, while I write. If that doesn’t work, if you want, you can sit here on this chair next to me.” He bent his head down and rubbed his chin against Kurt’s head, listening to him purr. He lifted his feet so he could rest them on the crossbar of the chair, creating a little cradle in his lap for Kurt. He’d be less likely to fall off his legs now that his knees were higher than his hips. “Mm, not bad,” he murmured to himself.
He opened the laptop and started writing. Kurt’s purrs soon turned to gentle snores. Rather than disturbing his concentration, it made it easier to focus, knowing exactly where Kurt was, and that he was happy.
<><><><><><><><><><>
Adam shut off the laptop and stretched his arms above his head. He hadn’t meant to disturb Kurt, but he lifted his head with a sleepy grumble.
“Sorry, Fuzzy Face, but I’ve got to get up. I’ve been sitting here too long.”
He scooped Kurt up in his arms, holding him against his chest, and kissed the top of his head. The grumbling sounds changed to a purr.
“Down you go.” He bent to deposit Kurt as lightly as he could onto the floor. Kurt headed off towards the kitchen, probably in search of a snack.
“Just a second,” he called out, and got up to explore the kitchen as well. He wasn’t all that hungry, but Kurt obviously was. It was too early for dinner, for either of them.
He got a foil bag down from a high shelf. Kurt stood up on his hind legs, dancing around.
“Yes, yes, here, have some treats.” He tossed a few of the fish-shaped treats onto the floor in front of Kurt, and they were gone before he could turn to put the bag away. “Oink, oink,” he teased. Kurt just glared at him, tail twitching.
“I suppose you’re still hungry?” he asked.
Kurt’s tail started thumping against the floor, even as he increased the intensity of his glare.
He supposed he deserved it. “I’m sorry, you’re not really a pig. You just eat sometimes like someone’s going to take it away from you if you don’t hurry up. Oh.” He’d suddenly recalled Kurt telling him how sometimes the other hybrids would take his food away or in some way ruin it…and he really didn’t want to think about what that meant. “Sorry,” he repeated. “I’m sure it’s habit, but really, you can eat slowly if you’d prefer. If I’m ever stupid enough to try to take your plate away before you’re done eating, just let me know.”
Kurt came closer and rubbed up against his legs, purring quietly.
“Thank you for forgiving me. I don’t mean to hurt your feelings. Sometimes I try to be funny before I realize I shouldn’t.”
He bent down to pet Kurt a few times along his back, then straightened up.
“Let’s get you some fresh water.”
There were still some crunchies left in the bowl if Kurt was really hungry. He remembered, though, that as a cat, Kurt had no way of telling the time.
“It won’t be time for dinner for a couple of hours yet, so it’s up to you whether you want something now, or want to wait.”
Kurt sat down and looked at the bowl. He walked over and had a few bites, maybe just to prove to himself that it was his choice, then came back to sit at Adam’s feet.
“Okay. I’ll fix dinner later. If you’re human, you can help me, and if not, you can watch, if you’d find that entertaining.”
Kurt sneezed. He wasn’t quite sure how to interpret that.
“God bless.”
He rubbed his neck, which was sore from looking down at the laptop so much. He thought it might be a good idea to loosen up his muscles.
“I’m going to stretch and exercise for a bit,” he told the cat. “Would you like to join me? If you don’t feel like exercising, you can always just observe and judge me.”
Kurt perked up, though he wasn’t sure which part of that he liked. Adam started to lead the way into his bedroom, where there seemed to be more open floor space, but naturally Kurt got there ahead of him.
Kurt couldn’t do all the same types of exercises Adam was trying, but he did do some impressive stretches, leaps, and perhaps yoga moves of his own. Adam was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to duplicate them.
After going through his own exercise routine, Adam cleaned up a bit. Kurt was annoyed when Adam shut the bathroom door, and scratched to come in.
“No! I need some privacy, Kurt! Go play for a while or something.”
When he looked for the cat later, he found him lounging in Buckingham Palace.
“Shall I brush or massage you now, or are you going to change again later?”
Kurt jumped down and ran to the bathroom. He couldn’t reach the drawer his cat-grooming things were in, so he jumped up on the counter, and tried getting a paw inside the handle of the drawer.
Adam watched him, wondering if he should help him or -- No, he’d gotten it open. He wondered if that was really a good idea, for kitty Kurt to learn to open drawers…well, too late now.
Kurt reached down and patted the little blue massager, so Adam slid his hand under the strap and used that. He tried to get the rubber bristles as deep into the fur as he could, without pressing too hard on his skin. Kurt rolled around a bit on the countertop, so Adam could reach him everywhere. Adam stood as close to the edge as he could get, to keep Kurt from falling off. Kurt purred the entire time, while Adam hummed and sang to him. When he was done, Adam set the aside and petted Kurt, from head to tail.
“Feeling better now?”
Kurt meowed in response, then went back to purring. He butted his head against Adam’s stomach.
“Alright, it’s been a few hours. It’s up to you, but if you want to change back -“ He didn’t get a chance to finish the sentence before Kurt ducked around his arm, to leap down from the open side of the counter, and changed.
Adam blinked, trying to adjust to the rapid change. “Well, then. What next?”
Kurt was combing his hair with his fingers. He glanced at his watch. “Do you want to go over the book for a while before we start dinner?”
“Sure.”
“I’ll be out in a few minutes.”
*“Time In A Bottle” by Jim Croce
Next - Chapter 77