Fic: To Be Something That You Don't Think You Are
Title: To Be Something That You Don't Think You Are
Rating: PG
Word Count: 7,359
Warnings: Vampire AU, kidfic!vampires, mentions of bullying, mentions of death (not main characters), slight angst, fluff, small Kurt/Jeff friendship
Summary: Kurt needs a friend, Blaine just wants somewhere to belong.
Author's Notes: I wrote this for a Glee summer challenge this last summer, and I finally remembered to post it here. This is a prequel to An Attempt to Tip the Scales. Beta'd by the always wonderful star55 and teaboytoaliens.
Kurt didn’t mean to be a trend setter. He didn’t mean to give the third grade boys any ideas.
Yesterday, there was a big pep assembly at the end of the school day, so to get all the students of Lima Elementary School even more hyped up, the lunch crew decided to hand out slushy drinks to the kids.
There were a lot of slushy spills made in the cafeteria, but Kurt Hummel just happened to be the first one.
With a red slushy in hand, Kurt started to make his way over to a lonely bench in the cafeteria, not noticing the boy in the grade above him that was standing a few feet away. Kurt's shoulder collided with the boy's arm and it sent the slushy flying upwards, right into Kurt's chest and face.
In the first instant, he felt a stinging cold sensation. A second later, the crushed red ice was running down his baby blue shirt and the stinging continued to his eyes where he rubbed at them frantically to stop the burning.
The boy and a crowd of others started to laugh at him, so Kurt picked up his wet lunch bag and ran to the bathroom without a second thought.
The worst part wasn't the kids that were laughing, what hurt the most to Kurt was that no one even bothered to run after him to see if he was alright.
After lunch recess ended, Kurt had managed to squeeze most of the slush out of his shirt, and with only two hours left in the school day, he just decided to wear the shirt with embarrassment under his little dark blazer.
After school, he had hurried to his house from the bus stop to get home before his dad did. Burt always tried to take an hour break from work as soon as Kurt got home so he could see how his son's day went and to make him an early dinner, but Kurt needed to change his shirt first. His dad couldn't hear about what had happened.
After his dad left for work again, Kurt decided to get some of his homework done. It's not fun now, so it definitely won't be fun in two hours.
He worked on his times tables. A lot of students in his class were seemingly perfect at their times tables, but Kurt was stuck on his sevens. How was he supposed to remember that eight times seven was fifty-six? It didn't make sense.
All multiplication just seemed like a memory game to Kurt. There was no real reason that a number times a number equaled some ridiculously higher number, but fine, be that way, Math. Kurt decided he would just have to get used to not wanting to understand things, like understanding why kids at school didn't like him.
He wasn't mean to anyone, he never answered a question wrong when he raised his hand... Why were they laughing and why was not one person willing to help him clean up?
Ignore them.
That's the best Kurt could think to do right now. He didn't want to acknowledge that he was sad for not having any friends to play with yet (they'd only just moved to Lima a year ago after Kurt's mom had passed away).
He'd work on his times tables and hope for time to pass by.
Time tells all, only time will tell...
Kurt just wanted time to give him a friend.
~*~
He knew it wouldn't stop at that one slushy incident. Many "accidents" were occurring on a daily basis now, and Kurt was finally smart enough to wear clothes he could easily change out of before he went home so his dad wouldn't notice and start asking questions.
Kurt didn't want to have to explain to his dad that other kids thought his son was a baby and cried after getting a slushy in the eyes, so Kurt would just hide that part of his life. For now.
A fifth grade girl offered to take him to the principal's office on one occasion, but Kurt didn't want to be that kid. Being a tattle tale in elementary school was the worst thing you could possibly be--a betrayer, a Benedict Arnold. He would go to junior high with the reputation of that one kid that told on the popular boys.
So, for recess today, Kurt finds himself on the far end of the playground, hanging behind a rather large pine tree that helps him hide from his bullies. He's telling himself it's not hiding unless they find him. He'll make sure they won't.
It's late April, gray clouds have been around all week, and Kurt's pretty sure it's supposed to rain today. Maybe it'll make recess end early.
As Kurt turns his head towards the rest of the playground to watch his other classmates swing and play with jump ropes, he hears footsteps coming towards him and immediately turns his head back to see who's there.
A boy about his age with thick, dark hair is staring at him hesitantly, a sad yet curious expression on his face. Kurt sees the boy's little jeans are tattered at the bottoms and his shirt looks dirty.
He looks cold.
Kurt automatically thinks he's strange and wants to get away now.
However, even if this kid is odd, Kurt's never seen him around recess before.
He looks sad.
Kurt Hummel is most certainly kindhearted before he is judgmental. ...Well, he tries to be.
He asks the boy what's wrong, but the boy doesn't answer and instead just continues biting his lip and looking a little lower than Kurt's eyes every couple moments.
"...Um, hi?" Kurt says carefully, scooting away from the tree a few inches in case he needs to run away.
The dark haired boy's little hand reaches out in front of him, and Kurt thinks he's asking him to shake it, but no. Kurt is not about to do that.
The boy puts his hand back down, but this time he just sighs and nods a little to himself and to Kurt it looks like the boy was heavily contemplating whether to speak to him or not. He probably knows my unwanted reputation.
He waits a few more moments, but then the boy says, "hi, I'm... Blaine".
Kurt smiles, relieved that this boy, this Blaine, is putting forth a tiny effort to talk to him after standing there for so long. "Hi, Blaine, I'm Kurt. Now, that wasn't so hard to say, was it?"
Blaine bites his lip and matches Kurt's small smile.
A few more moments pass before Kurt decides he's going to have to put more of an effort into this conversation than Blaine.
He stands up and moves a step forward to lessen the distance between them. "Are you a first grader or...? ...I haven't seen you at this recess before."
He watches Blaine's nervous smile fade back to a frown. "You have to go back inside."
"What?"
Right after he questions it, Kurt hears the recess monitors calling the kids to come inside since it's now raining.
How'd he know that?
Blaine starts walking away, back towards the far fence of the playground and Kurt asks why he's not going in with the rest of the kids.
"You need to, the teachers said we gotta."
Blaine turns around slightly only to catch Kurt's concerned glance. He doesn't seem to want to open his mouth very far, so he mumbles back his response, a reply Kurt can barely here over the now pouring rain.
"I'm not a kid anymore," is all Kurt hears before Blaine's crawling under the small opening in the fence and heading away from the school. He notes that Blaine's by far the fastest runner and crawler he's ever seen. Kurt wants to be that skilled.
Maybe he's a ninja.
Even though his mind is telling him to stay away from Blaine, something makes him wish that Blaine would have stayed or that he would have followed him under the fence. He at least wants to know the kid's last name so he can look him up in the school yearbook. Just to know who this boy is.
Instead, he does as he's told and goes inside with the rest of his classmates where they finish up recess in the classroom by being loud and obnoxious second graders.
Despite having a new fascination with this boy, Kurt's pretty annoyed by Blaine saying he isn't a kid. He most certainly looks like a kid, talks like a kid, and acts like a weird one.
Just because I'm lame, doesn't mean you can act all cool and crawl under a fence all ninja-like. You are so a kid. Ugh.
~*~
It's a few days later, and Kurt's walking home from school this time, afraid to take the bus.
The boys in the back of his bus have now learned that Kurt really hates his hair being touched, so as a way to mess with him, they've started throwing Cheerios cereal at his hair and ruffling it up when he isn't looking.
Kurt will just walk home the last two months of school. It isn't too far from his house anyway.
He's feeling pretty lazy as he's walking down the sidewalk in the warm spring afternoon, and he's almost managed to forget about his encounter with the boy, Blaine, on the playground. It wasn't a big moment for Kurt, but even though it's already a few days later, he kind of wishes he would have at least seen him around the playground again, but he hasn't.
However, while he's headed down his own street, he senses someone's walking behind him. Just one of those feelings.
He turns his head to look back, but then immediately turns around completely because whoa.
That Blaine kid is twenty feet from him.
What?
It's not like Kurt could stop thinking about the random cute kid that acted really weird at recess last week (even though he tried). Now, Blaine's walking over to him with a much more confident smile than last time. Interesting.
"Oh, hi," Kurt says quietly once Blaine's only a few paces away.
Blaine smiles back at him and Kurt can't help but feel a little fluttery feeling in his stomach. Must be the birds chirping that are making me feel anxious and nervous. Yeah, that's it.
"Hi, Kurt."
Blaine stuffs his hand in his pocket and stays a foot away to not invade Kurt's personal space, but he looks like he's really glad to see him.
Again with Kurt's obnoxious fluttery feelings that have weirdly taken over his entire body. Why, why, why?
"W-What's up, Blaine?" I haven't seen you around school...
The glint in Blaine's hazel eyes lets Kurt know that Blaine can probably tell he's nervous. Hopefully, he can also tell it's a good kind of nervous.
Though, Kurt's not sure why he should be asking him how he is or be nervous to be around this ninja-like kid in the first place. He totally didn't try to find him on the playground any of the other days last week. What a rude boy.
When Blaine just shrugs at Kurt's question, he's not sure why he says it, but "do you want to come over?" leaves his mouth before he can think he's wasting his time talking to this kid that never talks.
It's not like Kurt spends his time talking to a lot of other kids either, though. Maybe his first friend will be a shy, quiet boy that doesn't seem to like school very much. Kurt's possibly okay with this.
He doesn't give him an answer, but when Kurt continues walking towards his house, Blaine walks with him, and it astounds Kurt how nice it feels to be walking down the street with someone that isn't his dad.
It's a simple motion, walking--but with a new friend?
Kind of exciting.
----
Kurt gives him a small tour of the house, not that there's much of a tour to give other than "this is the kitchen, over there's the living room, and my room is upstairs".
They sit down on the living room couch, smiling awkwardly until Kurt turns A Pup Named Scooby-Doo on and they can both pretend to be absorbed in the mystery cartoon.
Burt told Kurt that he wouldn't be home until a little after six tonight since they're short on staff at the shop, so Kurt thinks he has at least two and a half more hours of getting to know Blaine before his dad intimidates his new friend.
Kurt's not sure if Blaine's even a friend, but he's a boy his age, he's over his house right now, he seems to be okay with Kurt in his presence, and they're watching an enjoyable cartoon. I'd call that progress.
Blaine's small hand wraps itself in the hem of his shirt and Kurt can't help but notice all the dirt that's stuck under Blaine's finger nails.
Gross, doesn't he wash his hands? Maybe his house doesn't have a sink...
A few questions to ask Blaine are coming to mind, but maybe the silence is good for them.
Burt's told Kurt before that having "a few good buddies that you can relax and kick back with and not have to say much while you're fishing is always a good thing. You'll find friends that just enjoy your company, kiddo".
Maybe this severe case of silence between Kurt and Blaine is actually them bonding? Yeah, alright, sounds okay.
However, Kurt knows that in order to get any information out of Blaine, he's going to have to ask for it.
Maybe he's been picked on, too...
He won't pressure Blaine to tell him about himself, but at least knowing where he's from would be a good start.
"So, where ya from?" Kurt shifts his legs on the couch to smile over at Blaine as warmly and friendly as he can.
Blaine keeps his eyes on the TV but Kurt can see how something Blaine looks, like he would rather just stare at a blank wall for an hour than have to talk to Kurt or anyone else ever again.
"Chicago." Blaine says suddenly, looking down at his knees and kicking his legs out that can barely touch the carpet.
"Oh, wow, really? That's amazing! How is it?" Jealous of you so hard right now.
"Big."
Even though it took Blaine a couple moments to just say those two words, Kurt's absolutely thrilled that he's managed to learn something new about Blaine.
Also, if Blaine says Chicago is big, then it must be. Complete with buildings, lots of people, a city that never sleeps, and stores...
Kurt wants to go so badly, more importantly, he wants to leave.
"Well, I'm from here, er, around. I moved here with my dad last year, because um, he didn't want to stay where we were, so now I'm here. Why'd you move? What grade are you in?"
Blaine sighs and just takes this opportunity to stare harder at the floor. Kurt's smile fades, and now he thinks he must have said something wrong, because Blaine looks like he's about to cry.
Before Kurt can think of a polite way to apologize for whatever he said, Blaine turns his head to look at Kurt and says "I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have come over I--I can go. I'm sorry".
Kurt frowns further and shakes his head, subconsciously moving closer to the boy to reassure him that he wants him here.
"No, no, it's okay. I've got nothing better to do--I mean, I like the company. You're welcome to stay as long as you'd like."
Blaine stares back at him looking very surprised, like the idea of somebody okay with him being around them is a foreign concept. Kurt can relate.
Kurt figures that finding out where Blaine's from is a big enough accomplishment, so he'll let them watch cartoons for another two hours in silence.
At six, however, Kurt knows Burt's going to be home soon, so he decides to warn Blaine first.
"My dad's going to be home soon, but you should meet him. He's nice once you get to know him; he won't be mad you're here, I don't think..."
Blaine immediately says he should go, but he makes no move to exit. He just tells Kurt he doesn't want to meet his dad, and even though Kurt tries again to insist that Burt's nice, he sees Blaine's hesitance and knows it won't work right now.
He doesn't want Blaine to leave, so instead he says "just go up to my room, and I'll come up there as soon as I'm done eating dinner".
Burt gets home a few minutes after Kurt hears Blaine go up the stairs, puts his dirty gloves and keys on the counter, and then smiles tiredly at Kurt.
"Hey, Kurt, what'd you do today?"
Kurt's thankful that Burt looks too exhausted to notice that Kurt's lying when he says "nothing, dad".
There's a boy in my room. Oh my.
----
When Kurt finally makes it up the stairs after possibly the shortest dinner he's ever had, he opens his bedroom door to find Blaine on his bed looking at Kurt's photo album of his mother.
Blaine looks up at him and smiles slowly, scooting over so Kurt can get on the bed, too. Kurt thinks it's strange that Blaine is actually motioning him to sit next to him after acting so weird about even talking to him, but Kurt's definitely not going to complain this time.
"That's my mom. She's dead now, though," he says flatly, coming over to sit on the bed.
Blaine nods without looking up from a picture of Kurt and his mother smiling. "Both of mine are."
Kurt turns his head quickly to stare at him and frown. "Both of them? Really?"
Blaine nods slowly and then doesn't speak for a minute, but Kurt has a feeling his new friend is on the verge of saying something. Then, he does:
"But I survived. Not really, though."
What?
A dark feeling creeps under Kurt's skin. Something about the word 'survived' and how Blaine's starting to act doesn't sit too well with him.
Kurt knew from the beginning that something was off with Blaine, but now he's realizing that something is the reason Blaine seems different. Not that Kurt will judge him or like him any less but, what happened?
Before Kurt can ask this, Blaine eyes start tearing up and he throws his hands on his lap in frustration. Kurt turns to him, also scooting away a few inches to stay away in case Blaine decides to go berserk. He closes his eyes and shifts himself away so Kurt can't see his face.
"I'm so hungry..."
It's barely above a whisper, but Kurt's heard it now, and he can't help but feel extremely embarrassed and guilty for not bringing Blaine something up to eat.
Kurt got to have dinner, Blaine had to wait in his humid room for twenty minutes. Kurt would have normally offered his new friend a snack, but he was too nervous about him leaving, so he forgot to ask.
"Ah, I'm so sorry! I'll get you something, what'd you want?"
The boy whimpers and shakes his head, "no, I should go."
Kurt toys with the idea of putting his hand on Blaine's shoulder to comfort him somehow, but he's not sure how Blaine will react.
"You can stay the night if you want... I-I have extra clothes..." And even if you don't spend the night, the clothes you're wearing seriously need to go.
Blaine just keeps mumbling to himself about how hungry he is, rubbing his forehead as a way to ease whatever pain he must be feeling. Kurt tells him that he makes a mean pb&j sandwich, so he hurries down to the kitchen to make one.
He grabs the grape jelly from the fridge. Why won't he talk? Is he a spoiled rich kid that wants a cooler friend but couldn't find one?
He pulls a knife from the silverware drawer and takes the peanut butter from the kitchen pantry. Why am I wasting my time? Am I this desperate for someone to talk to? Or to listen to me?
He brings the sandwich upstairs quietly but then sets it on his bed in frustration when he sees Blaine's gone and the window's open.
Kurt didn't expect him to stay, but he also didn't expect his sort-of-new-friend to climb out of a two story window.
I must be so repulsive. But this is a waste of a perfectly good sandwich too, you jerk.
~*~
Another week goes by without Kurt seeing Blaine on the playground at school. Luckily, Kurt has finally made a new friend at recess to keep his thoughts occupied, and the bullying has died down since the popular boys have started playing soccer at recess.
Kurt's gathering sticks with a cute little blond boy named Jeff who has pudgy cheeks. Jeff used to go to a private school in some place called Westerville, so he tells Kurt, but his parents had to move for his dad's job and then they decided to try public schooling for a while.
Kurt thinks this is a good thing, because a) Jeff is new and doesn't know Kurt's reputation and b) Jeff is new and doesn't know Kurt's reputation.
He can feel normal with a possible friend for once. Jeff actually talks back.
They're putting the sticks under Kurt's pine tree in order to make an outline for a house that they're going to use for specific storage of interesting looking rocks and other things they find on the playground.
"Hey, Kurt! Why don't we go play soccer? It looks fun."
Yeah, how about no.
"Um, you can. I might later..."
Jeff shrugs, "nah, it's okay. If you're not gonna, I won't."
Jeff's a nice kid and he's a skilled stick house builder and all, but Kurt feels like he's missing Something.
Something that Kurt had for a short period of time and it felt nice to have It around even if It was a little odd.
~*~
As he's heading down his street, Kurt believes it's not a day that he would normally expect to see Blaine sitting on his doorstep, but then again, Kurt never expects much. Kurt didn't expect to see this.
His heart rate is increasing as he gets to his house, and he feels so unreasonably happy to see Blaine. He wants to hug him, but he won't. Not yet. He doesn't deserve it, Kurt thinks. Why do I want to hug him anyway? That's weird.
Kurt's heart skips a beat when Blaine surprisingly holds out a handful of sticks to him when Kurt gets close enough. "Here, you can use these for your house."
All pre-existing thoughts about him not being good enough to hug? Yeah, well, they're kind of gone now.
Kurt's eyebrows furrow and he gives Blaine a look, despite being completely happy to see him. "Were you spying on me?"
Blaine nods and apologizes, his small smile quickly turning to a sad frown like it usually does. Kurt notices that Blaine has different clothes on from the last two times he's seen him, but these clothes are a bit long and baggy. They don't look like they're even his.
Kurt wonders where Blaine lives. He's wondering why his jeans go past his little tennis shoes, but most of all, he's wondering why he's still interested in talking to this kid.
Maybe, it's because for an eight year old, Blaine sure is deep and brooding. Kurt wants to know more. Maybe, it's because these sticks would seriously be awesome for his and Jeff's stick house, but man. Kurt hates that he wants to know this kid better. Like, why?
"You coulda come played with me and Jeff, Jeff's nice and weird like us."
Blaine shrugs, "I wasn't sure if you were still mad at me for leaving that one night."
Kurt shrugs and sits next to him on the step outside the door. "I was just kind of confused and sad. No biggie. I'm sure you didn't mean it."
Blaine stares at him, and his stare feels so heartfelt that it forces Kurt to look down at the cement and blush slightly.
"I made you sad?" Blaine asks softly.
Kurt nods a little as he stands up to awkwardly let Blaine in.
Their conversation ends outside, and now, they're watching afternoon cartoons on the couch like they had the first time Blaine came over.
To his surprise, Kurt slowly feels Blaine getting closer.
Like literally, on the couch, Blaine's legs seem closer to his own than they were a few moments ago.
He's not sure why he does it, but Kurt hesitantly presses his knees against Blaine's to see what he'll do, just because.
Both boys blush, and as Kurt's moving his knee away, Blaine starts saying he should go.
While Blaine's standing up, Kurt decides it's now or never to figure out if Blaine's his friend or not. Or if they're just going to hang out for five minutes every other week.
He just wants to know.
He wants Blaine to stay.
Kurt clears his throat and it makes Blaine turn to look at him after he's moved away from the couch. "I missed you. I don't know why, but I did." Crap.
Blaine's expression is unreadable. "No one's allowed to say that to me."
"Why not?"
"People go missing when I'm around. I-I don't get missed."
Kurt asks why.
"...People don't like me very much, except you."
Kurt tells him that people don't like him very much, either, but Blaine's the nicest kid his age that he knows and the most interesting. He likes when Blaine's around.
Kurt's not sure, but he swears he sees a small smirk playing on Blaine's face. "I know you think that. I can feel it."
"Excuse me? Huh?"
"Your scent gets stronger, i-it's just something I can sense, I guess. And your heart beats... louder around me, which I don't really get, but uh, it does. Or maybe I'm just crazy, I don't know. I'm crazy."
Holy crap, that's the longest thing I think he's ever said to me. Sweet. Success. But uh... heart beat? Double crap.
Blaine goes out of what Kurt thinks is his character and looks up at Kurt to glare at him. "How come you aren't questioning me? Why don't you tell me to get lost?"
Kurt just stares at him with a confused expression. "Um, I dunno... I'm sorry? I guess I'm just thinking you'll tell me when you wanna?"
Blaine's jaw clenches and he shoves his hand in his little pocket. "Well?"
"Are you like a werewolf?"
"No! What? I'm a vampire."
"...Oh. ...Ohhh... ...Wait, how?"
----
They're in Kurt's room, on the bed, sitting across from each other, and Kurt's now quizzing him on all things vampires, because he like needs to know everything.
Blaine's scooted up by the headboard, and he actually looks relieved now that Kurt hasn't freaked out over his big secret.
"Why can you go out in the sun? Are you allergic to garlic? Do sharp pencils scare you?"
Blaine shrugs and awkwardly takes one of Kurt's pillows to put on his lap. "I think... I think I'm like... I don't know. No one's been around to tell me really."
"Think you're like what?"
When Blaine stares at him, Kurt tries not to blush; he tries not to breathe or live or have his heart rate go up because apparently Blaine can hear it.
Instead, Blaine is the one to blush. "I-I don't know. I think I might be, um... part human?"
After he finishes revealing that to Kurt, he scrunches the pillow closer to his chest and looks down pitifully.
Kurt realizes this might be one of the things Blaine starts crying about. He doesn't want to pry any more information from him, but actually, yes. He does.
"How could that happen? I mean, not to make fun of you, but I don't get it. And you're growing, right? Aren't vampires supposed to stay the same age?"
Blaine shrugs, and Kurt realizes he's done talking about it for now. Fine.
"...So, what about werewolves? Any other monsters exist?"
He inwardly slaps himself for insinuating that Blaine's a monster. He doesn't feel like Blaine is, it's just the wrong word he didn't mean to use.
However, Blaine doesn't call him out on it, he just stares down at the pillow, probably hating himself for being reminded of what he already thinks of himself.
"...Do you have fangs?"
Blaine nods slowly and then Kurt sees him tuck his lips into his mouth.
"Can I see them?"
Blaine shakes his head, letting his lips go for a moment. "They're... gross."
Come on, let me see.
Kurt smiles and scoots over to him on the bed, "Blaine, it's okay. I won't be grossed out. I promise. I bet I've seen worse."
Blaine holds the pillow closer to himself but slowly opens his mouth all the way and tilts his chin up, exposing two identical sharp teeth that hang out a little farther and are longer than the rest of his little teeth. Kurt leans forward to look at them better and sees that they also seem a lot smoother than his other teeth. Probably easier to sink into skin... This is uh-mazing.
Without much thought, Kurt reaches to touch one of Blaine's fangs, watching it prick his finger and draw blood almost instantly.
Blaine yanks his head back and Kurt hears him growl.
"...Should I put a Band Aid on it then?"
Blaine nods quickly, his eyes looking darker than they were moments before, but Kurt thinks it could just be the lighting in his room.
He's a little scared, but he told Blaine he wouldn't be, so he has to act as calm as he can. "Do you want like... um. We don't have blood in the fridge, I don't think..."
Blaine moves to get off the bed. "I should go."
An interesting thought comes to Kurt's head. "...Do you say that when you're hungry?"
He nods, getting off the bed, looking a little more on edge. He talks quickly. "Yeah, sorry, I can't control it."
Kurt isn't as alarmed as he maybe should be. He lays down on his bed and looks over at the restless boy standing near him. "What happens when you're older? Can you like age? Or are you... stuck...?"
Blaine shrugs, looking over at the window like it'd be a good escape plan. "I was born this way." He bites his lip. "They, um, my aunt told me my mom died when she was having me, but she didn't tell me anything else. ...I-I don't know why I just told you that."
"Oh. Where's your dad?" At least I got to know mine...
He sighs. "I think he killed her, my mom. I've never met him, and my aunt always talked bad about him." He looks down at the floor and rubs his arm. "She always looked mad at me when she talked about him. I think she thinks I killed my mom. I ran away on Christmas, she's probably happy."
Kurt frowns and gets off the bed to come over to him. "Blaine, no..."
Blaine shakes his head. "No, she is. I did some bad things. It just keeps getting worse... I--" he turns to Kurt with watery eyes, "I'm sorry. I really have to go, I don't want to hurt you, Kurt."
Why does my name sound so cool when he says it? Hmmm.
"Uh-um. Sure thing. So like, wait, are you going to go kill someone now?"
Blaine glares at him, but Kurt can't help but feel insensitive about the situation.
He bites his lip and tries not to smile. "I'm sorry, Blaine. It's just that in vampire movies, the vampires are usually evil and you're like... wait, you're eight, right?"
The glare stays in place. "Right."
"You're not evil, right?"
"...Well, vampires are all evil. My aunt said so. I don't know if she knew I was one, but..."
"Wow, what a--excuse my French--jerk. You're not evil, Blaine. I know you're not."
Blaine's eyes change their look for a moment from devastated to confused. "You don't know what you're saying."
Time for Kurt Hummel to speak his mind.
"I speak English pretty well, so yeah, I think I do. You woulda killed me by now if you were bad. We're friends. You won't hurt me."
Blaine sighs and looks out the window. He mumbles the next thing he says, but Kurt's already used to having to strain his ears to hear Blaine speak. "Why aren't you afraid of me? I've hurt people."
Kurt tries to think about who this short eight year old boy could have hurt, but he can't seem to care. He just sees this boy who is, sadly, probably his new best friend in the whole world.
"Have you killed anyone before?" Kurt asks softly, keeping a little distance between the two.
Blaine shakes his head and walks over to the window. "But I almost did this one time. Most of the time, um... Most of the time I get too full before they go missing, so it's okay, though."
"Go missing? You mean before you kill them?"
Blaine frowns and opens the window. "No. I don't call it that."
"But that's what it is."
He sticks his leg out and looks back at Kurt. "I don't want to hurt people, but I have to. It starts hurting if I don't. I'm really sorry, Kurt."
Kurt can't help but ignore the conversation about killing people, because oh my, he just said my name so perfectly...
"It's okay, as long as you don't kill anybody."
Blaine nods and says he'll probably go a few towns away and pick an adult.
Kurt gasps and walks over to the window, putting his hand on Blaine's shoulder. "Just don't go after an old guy, okay? They have germs. You might get sick and die."
Blaine looks at Kurt's hand on his shoulder and smiles slightly. "...You're so concerned for the human, Kurt."
Kurt steps back and puts his hand on his hip. "Excuse me if I don't want my best friend to die."
Blaine giggles and hops through the window, standing out on the ledge of Kurt's bedroom. "Best friend?"
"Ugh, no. Go kill someone. Leave me alone."
The last thing Kurt sees is Blaine glare at him playfully and stick his tongue out before jumping off the house. Kurt races back to the window to see if he can see Blaine run off, but the ninja/vampire is already gone.
My best friend's a vampire.
Five minutes later, Burt has to tell Kurt to stop jumping around his room because he's being too loud.
~*~
The next day at recess, Kurt and Jeff are under the pine tree completing their stick house (Kurt delightfully used the sticks Blaine gave him). They plop down on the grass and stare at their creation, both boys not sure what to do now.
A few minutes later, Kurt sees Blaine crawl under the fence and start to walk the fifty feet over to the pine tree they're under.
It'd be an understatement to say that Kurt gleefully jumps off the ground to run over to his friend an excitement. Yes, an understatement.
He hugs Blaine when he reaches him and is thrilled to feel him hug back. When he pulls back, he sees that the other boy is blushing slightly but also smiling. "Hi..." Blaine says.
Kurt smiles and backs away a little as they start walking over to the pine tree where Jeff sits confused.
"So! How was last night? Who'd you go after?"
Blaine can't help but think how strange it is that Kurt seems interested in the details. He thought he'd never be able to tell anybody about his once-every-two-ish-weeks routine.
"Soccer mom getting groceries. Who goes grocery shopping at ten anyway? ...I felt bad though, because I made her drop all her groceries, so I put them to the side of her car in case she still wanted them after she woke up."
"...You made her pass out?"
"Um, yeah... that's usually what happens. But she kind of did it quicker than most people do, so I think I just freaked her out."
Whoa. Blaine totally sucks people's blood. That's messed up. But so cool.
"Nah, she's probably just a wimp, but that's cool. Did she die?"
Blaine shakes his head and looks proud of himself. "Nope. Someone called 911. I think she's good."
Kurt smiles and nods back at him. We finally have something to talk about!
Kurt is delighted to introduce Jeff to Blaine, because yes, Kurt Hummel indeed has two friends to his name now.
He looks around to see if any other kids notice his two shiny new friends, but no one seems to care as the intense soccer game is going on across the field. Figures. Those morons.
Blaine helps them start on a second stick house, because there really is nothing else to do. They get pretty far on this one with Blaine's help until it starts raining and Kurt and Jeff need to go inside. Stupid April weather.
Kurt tells Blaine that he can go to Kurt's house and wait for him to get home from school in two hours. Blaine just smiles and hugs him quickly goodbye.
Kurt's left with nothing but fluttery feelings of hope and acceptance for the rest of the day.
Things are finally working out.
~*~
The last two hours of the day drag on, because Kurt knows he has Blaine waiting for him at home. He still hopes, anyway.
What he doesn't expect to see is Blaine sitting on his doorstep with his head down, faced with the pouring rain that hasn't stopped since Kurt's recess.
Blaine's face is wet from the rain, but once Kurt gets close enough to him, he sees Blaine's eyes are watery and then when he sniffles, he knows for sure that Blaine's been crying.
Kurt props his backpack up against the house so it hopefully won't get any more wet and sits next to Blaine on the step despite the pouring rain. Without even knowing what he's crying about, Kurt just hugs him and tells him that everything is going to be okay. Kurt's grown to realize that things generally tend to feel a bit better after crying. At least for a little while.
He means to let go soon after the hug, but Blaine grips onto Kurt's arm and holds it as he keeps crying. Kurt frowns and instinctively kisses the side of Blaine's head, feeling the boy's wet curls on his face.
Blaine leans his head into Kurt but keeps his eyes to the ground. "I can't even get sick, did you know that? I never got sick as a baby."
Kurt wants to pull back to give Blaine a confused look as to why he's thinking about that, but the crying boy still holds on tightly. "I've been sitting here for hours in the rain. I won't even get sick. Not a cold--nothin'."
"Really? That's so neat."
"No. It's not normal."
"Not many things are."
Blaine sighs and pulls back to look at him now that he's calmed down a little. "I want to be normal again."
Kurt frowns and stares back at him sympathetically. "Were you ever? You're too nice to be normal."
"...That lady coulda died last night 'cause of me. That's not nice."
"Well, don't eat so much next time then."
"You mean drink blood."
"Right, ew. But right."
Blaine's eyebrows furrow and he looks at Kurt confusedly. "Why aren't you afraid of me?"
Kurt laughs a little and blushes softly. "I get to hug you, why would I be afraid?"
"People get hurt because of me. They almost die."
"Yeah, so? A lot of people get hurt or almost die because of other people. You have a reason to do what you do, and you can't help it."
"...I guess, but it's still... I hate it. I want to be like you."
"You want to be naturally fantastic at knowing what clothes look good together? Trust me, they all do. Sorry, you're stuck with your stupid baggy clothes."
"They aren't mine. I stole them."
Kurt slaps Blaine's arm and glares at him. "Bad! Why'd you do that?"
Blaine glares at him and slaps him back, concentrating on not slapping him as hard as he potentially could with his vampire strength. "Says the kid that's okay with me putting people in the hospital. ...I needed clothes! You saw the ones I ran away with. It was some third graders' I stole."
Kurt sighs and nods. "Okay, well, will you pretend to not want to get sick and come inside with me? I'm done getting rained on."
"Your dad's home. It wasn't busy at the shop."
"How do you know?"
"Are you really asking me that?"
"...Fine. Whatever, Mr. Good Ears. ...Want to meet him then?"
Blaine bites his lip, but this time he looks like he's almost willing to say yes. "I can't. He'll ask questions. I--I'll have to go away again."
Kurt frowns. "...You need someone else to talk to that isn't me, Blaine."
"Why? You're the only person I want to talk to. You don't think I'm a monster. You actually like me... You don't think I'm wrong."
Kurt stops to consider how difficult having a best friend that's a vampire will be. Really though, Blaine can go out in sunlight, he doesn't seem to have a desire to kill Kurt any time soon, and he's growing at a regular human rate. How weird.
This might actually be okay.
"Are you really a vampire? You're breaking like all the rules. You're going to get in trouble, I think, with like... the vampire principal."
Blaine sits up straight and stares at Kurt with large, concerned eyes. "I don't know! It's not my fault!"
Kurt's grinning at him now and leaning into him to tease him further. "Maybe you're like Wesley Snipes in Blade. My uncle loves that movie. Blade's part human and stuff, too. I looked it all up online."
"What?! Don't pop culture reference! I'm freaking out, Kurt! What if I get in trouble?!"
While Blaine's now afraid of getting caught by a vampire principal, Kurt's thinking about how fun it will be to have a best friend that knows exactly how he's felt since he moved to Lima--like an outcast, someone that doesn't belong.
With Kurt as Blaine's friend, maybe Kurt can help him work on his blood cravings and make him realize that he's actually more human than he realizes.
He's something that he doesn't think he is--a good person.
Kurt's needed a friend like Blaine. Kurt thinks maybe Blaine needs him now, too.
He bites his lip and looks Blaine straight in the eyes. He watches Blaine's concerned look soften as soon as he's stared back at Kurt long enough.
Kurt puts a hand on Blaine's shoulder and speaks as confidently as he can.
"Everything. Is going. To be. Okay."
As Blaine stares back at him hard, both boys jump as the front door starts to open.
Blaine freaks out, but Kurt quickly grabs his arm before Blaine can make a run for it.
Above them, Burt looks from boy to boy, a worried expression on his face for why there's a random boy on his doorstep and why they're both sopping wet in the rain.
Kurt smiles over at a cowering Blaine and then turns to his dad who is giving Blaine the saddest look Kurt has ever seen. Kurt knows this is definitely a good thing.
"Dad, this is Blaine. He's a vampire. Can he live with us? ...Oh, and can he stay for dinner, too?"
THE END.
---
I apologize for any horribleness this might have been since it was written over five months ago (which to me in internet/writing time = at least two years ago), but I was looking back in my journal and realized I never posted this to anywhere but the challenge journal, so yes. There is a sequel to this where Kurt and Blaine are nine years older, written for the KBB (also from summer), and the link to that is up at the top.
This was my first kid!fic, so any constructive criticism would be awesome. ♥
Rating: PG
Word Count: 7,359
Warnings: Vampire AU, kidfic!vampires, mentions of bullying, mentions of death (not main characters), slight angst, fluff, small Kurt/Jeff friendship
Summary: Kurt needs a friend, Blaine just wants somewhere to belong.
Author's Notes: I wrote this for a Glee summer challenge this last summer, and I finally remembered to post it here. This is a prequel to An Attempt to Tip the Scales. Beta'd by the always wonderful star55 and teaboytoaliens.
Kurt didn’t mean to be a trend setter. He didn’t mean to give the third grade boys any ideas.
Yesterday, there was a big pep assembly at the end of the school day, so to get all the students of Lima Elementary School even more hyped up, the lunch crew decided to hand out slushy drinks to the kids.
There were a lot of slushy spills made in the cafeteria, but Kurt Hummel just happened to be the first one.
With a red slushy in hand, Kurt started to make his way over to a lonely bench in the cafeteria, not noticing the boy in the grade above him that was standing a few feet away. Kurt's shoulder collided with the boy's arm and it sent the slushy flying upwards, right into Kurt's chest and face.
In the first instant, he felt a stinging cold sensation. A second later, the crushed red ice was running down his baby blue shirt and the stinging continued to his eyes where he rubbed at them frantically to stop the burning.
The boy and a crowd of others started to laugh at him, so Kurt picked up his wet lunch bag and ran to the bathroom without a second thought.
The worst part wasn't the kids that were laughing, what hurt the most to Kurt was that no one even bothered to run after him to see if he was alright.
After lunch recess ended, Kurt had managed to squeeze most of the slush out of his shirt, and with only two hours left in the school day, he just decided to wear the shirt with embarrassment under his little dark blazer.
After school, he had hurried to his house from the bus stop to get home before his dad did. Burt always tried to take an hour break from work as soon as Kurt got home so he could see how his son's day went and to make him an early dinner, but Kurt needed to change his shirt first. His dad couldn't hear about what had happened.
After his dad left for work again, Kurt decided to get some of his homework done. It's not fun now, so it definitely won't be fun in two hours.
He worked on his times tables. A lot of students in his class were seemingly perfect at their times tables, but Kurt was stuck on his sevens. How was he supposed to remember that eight times seven was fifty-six? It didn't make sense.
All multiplication just seemed like a memory game to Kurt. There was no real reason that a number times a number equaled some ridiculously higher number, but fine, be that way, Math. Kurt decided he would just have to get used to not wanting to understand things, like understanding why kids at school didn't like him.
He wasn't mean to anyone, he never answered a question wrong when he raised his hand... Why were they laughing and why was not one person willing to help him clean up?
Ignore them.
That's the best Kurt could think to do right now. He didn't want to acknowledge that he was sad for not having any friends to play with yet (they'd only just moved to Lima a year ago after Kurt's mom had passed away).
He'd work on his times tables and hope for time to pass by.
Time tells all, only time will tell...
Kurt just wanted time to give him a friend.
~*~
He knew it wouldn't stop at that one slushy incident. Many "accidents" were occurring on a daily basis now, and Kurt was finally smart enough to wear clothes he could easily change out of before he went home so his dad wouldn't notice and start asking questions.
Kurt didn't want to have to explain to his dad that other kids thought his son was a baby and cried after getting a slushy in the eyes, so Kurt would just hide that part of his life. For now.
A fifth grade girl offered to take him to the principal's office on one occasion, but Kurt didn't want to be that kid. Being a tattle tale in elementary school was the worst thing you could possibly be--a betrayer, a Benedict Arnold. He would go to junior high with the reputation of that one kid that told on the popular boys.
So, for recess today, Kurt finds himself on the far end of the playground, hanging behind a rather large pine tree that helps him hide from his bullies. He's telling himself it's not hiding unless they find him. He'll make sure they won't.
It's late April, gray clouds have been around all week, and Kurt's pretty sure it's supposed to rain today. Maybe it'll make recess end early.
As Kurt turns his head towards the rest of the playground to watch his other classmates swing and play with jump ropes, he hears footsteps coming towards him and immediately turns his head back to see who's there.
A boy about his age with thick, dark hair is staring at him hesitantly, a sad yet curious expression on his face. Kurt sees the boy's little jeans are tattered at the bottoms and his shirt looks dirty.
He looks cold.
Kurt automatically thinks he's strange and wants to get away now.
However, even if this kid is odd, Kurt's never seen him around recess before.
He looks sad.
Kurt Hummel is most certainly kindhearted before he is judgmental. ...Well, he tries to be.
He asks the boy what's wrong, but the boy doesn't answer and instead just continues biting his lip and looking a little lower than Kurt's eyes every couple moments.
"...Um, hi?" Kurt says carefully, scooting away from the tree a few inches in case he needs to run away.
The dark haired boy's little hand reaches out in front of him, and Kurt thinks he's asking him to shake it, but no. Kurt is not about to do that.
The boy puts his hand back down, but this time he just sighs and nods a little to himself and to Kurt it looks like the boy was heavily contemplating whether to speak to him or not. He probably knows my unwanted reputation.
He waits a few more moments, but then the boy says, "hi, I'm... Blaine".
Kurt smiles, relieved that this boy, this Blaine, is putting forth a tiny effort to talk to him after standing there for so long. "Hi, Blaine, I'm Kurt. Now, that wasn't so hard to say, was it?"
Blaine bites his lip and matches Kurt's small smile.
A few more moments pass before Kurt decides he's going to have to put more of an effort into this conversation than Blaine.
He stands up and moves a step forward to lessen the distance between them. "Are you a first grader or...? ...I haven't seen you at this recess before."
He watches Blaine's nervous smile fade back to a frown. "You have to go back inside."
"What?"
Right after he questions it, Kurt hears the recess monitors calling the kids to come inside since it's now raining.
How'd he know that?
Blaine starts walking away, back towards the far fence of the playground and Kurt asks why he's not going in with the rest of the kids.
"You need to, the teachers said we gotta."
Blaine turns around slightly only to catch Kurt's concerned glance. He doesn't seem to want to open his mouth very far, so he mumbles back his response, a reply Kurt can barely here over the now pouring rain.
"I'm not a kid anymore," is all Kurt hears before Blaine's crawling under the small opening in the fence and heading away from the school. He notes that Blaine's by far the fastest runner and crawler he's ever seen. Kurt wants to be that skilled.
Maybe he's a ninja.
Even though his mind is telling him to stay away from Blaine, something makes him wish that Blaine would have stayed or that he would have followed him under the fence. He at least wants to know the kid's last name so he can look him up in the school yearbook. Just to know who this boy is.
Instead, he does as he's told and goes inside with the rest of his classmates where they finish up recess in the classroom by being loud and obnoxious second graders.
Despite having a new fascination with this boy, Kurt's pretty annoyed by Blaine saying he isn't a kid. He most certainly looks like a kid, talks like a kid, and acts like a weird one.
Just because I'm lame, doesn't mean you can act all cool and crawl under a fence all ninja-like. You are so a kid. Ugh.
~*~
It's a few days later, and Kurt's walking home from school this time, afraid to take the bus.
The boys in the back of his bus have now learned that Kurt really hates his hair being touched, so as a way to mess with him, they've started throwing Cheerios cereal at his hair and ruffling it up when he isn't looking.
Kurt will just walk home the last two months of school. It isn't too far from his house anyway.
He's feeling pretty lazy as he's walking down the sidewalk in the warm spring afternoon, and he's almost managed to forget about his encounter with the boy, Blaine, on the playground. It wasn't a big moment for Kurt, but even though it's already a few days later, he kind of wishes he would have at least seen him around the playground again, but he hasn't.
However, while he's headed down his own street, he senses someone's walking behind him. Just one of those feelings.
He turns his head to look back, but then immediately turns around completely because whoa.
That Blaine kid is twenty feet from him.
What?
It's not like Kurt could stop thinking about the random cute kid that acted really weird at recess last week (even though he tried). Now, Blaine's walking over to him with a much more confident smile than last time. Interesting.
"Oh, hi," Kurt says quietly once Blaine's only a few paces away.
Blaine smiles back at him and Kurt can't help but feel a little fluttery feeling in his stomach. Must be the birds chirping that are making me feel anxious and nervous. Yeah, that's it.
"Hi, Kurt."
Blaine stuffs his hand in his pocket and stays a foot away to not invade Kurt's personal space, but he looks like he's really glad to see him.
Again with Kurt's obnoxious fluttery feelings that have weirdly taken over his entire body. Why, why, why?
"W-What's up, Blaine?" I haven't seen you around school...
The glint in Blaine's hazel eyes lets Kurt know that Blaine can probably tell he's nervous. Hopefully, he can also tell it's a good kind of nervous.
Though, Kurt's not sure why he should be asking him how he is or be nervous to be around this ninja-like kid in the first place. He totally didn't try to find him on the playground any of the other days last week. What a rude boy.
When Blaine just shrugs at Kurt's question, he's not sure why he says it, but "do you want to come over?" leaves his mouth before he can think he's wasting his time talking to this kid that never talks.
It's not like Kurt spends his time talking to a lot of other kids either, though. Maybe his first friend will be a shy, quiet boy that doesn't seem to like school very much. Kurt's possibly okay with this.
He doesn't give him an answer, but when Kurt continues walking towards his house, Blaine walks with him, and it astounds Kurt how nice it feels to be walking down the street with someone that isn't his dad.
It's a simple motion, walking--but with a new friend?
Kind of exciting.
----
Kurt gives him a small tour of the house, not that there's much of a tour to give other than "this is the kitchen, over there's the living room, and my room is upstairs".
They sit down on the living room couch, smiling awkwardly until Kurt turns A Pup Named Scooby-Doo on and they can both pretend to be absorbed in the mystery cartoon.
Burt told Kurt that he wouldn't be home until a little after six tonight since they're short on staff at the shop, so Kurt thinks he has at least two and a half more hours of getting to know Blaine before his dad intimidates his new friend.
Kurt's not sure if Blaine's even a friend, but he's a boy his age, he's over his house right now, he seems to be okay with Kurt in his presence, and they're watching an enjoyable cartoon. I'd call that progress.
Blaine's small hand wraps itself in the hem of his shirt and Kurt can't help but notice all the dirt that's stuck under Blaine's finger nails.
Gross, doesn't he wash his hands? Maybe his house doesn't have a sink...
A few questions to ask Blaine are coming to mind, but maybe the silence is good for them.
Burt's told Kurt before that having "a few good buddies that you can relax and kick back with and not have to say much while you're fishing is always a good thing. You'll find friends that just enjoy your company, kiddo".
Maybe this severe case of silence between Kurt and Blaine is actually them bonding? Yeah, alright, sounds okay.
However, Kurt knows that in order to get any information out of Blaine, he's going to have to ask for it.
Maybe he's been picked on, too...
He won't pressure Blaine to tell him about himself, but at least knowing where he's from would be a good start.
"So, where ya from?" Kurt shifts his legs on the couch to smile over at Blaine as warmly and friendly as he can.
Blaine keeps his eyes on the TV but Kurt can see how something Blaine looks, like he would rather just stare at a blank wall for an hour than have to talk to Kurt or anyone else ever again.
"Chicago." Blaine says suddenly, looking down at his knees and kicking his legs out that can barely touch the carpet.
"Oh, wow, really? That's amazing! How is it?" Jealous of you so hard right now.
"Big."
Even though it took Blaine a couple moments to just say those two words, Kurt's absolutely thrilled that he's managed to learn something new about Blaine.
Also, if Blaine says Chicago is big, then it must be. Complete with buildings, lots of people, a city that never sleeps, and stores...
Kurt wants to go so badly, more importantly, he wants to leave.
"Well, I'm from here, er, around. I moved here with my dad last year, because um, he didn't want to stay where we were, so now I'm here. Why'd you move? What grade are you in?"
Blaine sighs and just takes this opportunity to stare harder at the floor. Kurt's smile fades, and now he thinks he must have said something wrong, because Blaine looks like he's about to cry.
Before Kurt can think of a polite way to apologize for whatever he said, Blaine turns his head to look at Kurt and says "I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have come over I--I can go. I'm sorry".
Kurt frowns further and shakes his head, subconsciously moving closer to the boy to reassure him that he wants him here.
"No, no, it's okay. I've got nothing better to do--I mean, I like the company. You're welcome to stay as long as you'd like."
Blaine stares back at him looking very surprised, like the idea of somebody okay with him being around them is a foreign concept. Kurt can relate.
Kurt figures that finding out where Blaine's from is a big enough accomplishment, so he'll let them watch cartoons for another two hours in silence.
At six, however, Kurt knows Burt's going to be home soon, so he decides to warn Blaine first.
"My dad's going to be home soon, but you should meet him. He's nice once you get to know him; he won't be mad you're here, I don't think..."
Blaine immediately says he should go, but he makes no move to exit. He just tells Kurt he doesn't want to meet his dad, and even though Kurt tries again to insist that Burt's nice, he sees Blaine's hesitance and knows it won't work right now.
He doesn't want Blaine to leave, so instead he says "just go up to my room, and I'll come up there as soon as I'm done eating dinner".
Burt gets home a few minutes after Kurt hears Blaine go up the stairs, puts his dirty gloves and keys on the counter, and then smiles tiredly at Kurt.
"Hey, Kurt, what'd you do today?"
Kurt's thankful that Burt looks too exhausted to notice that Kurt's lying when he says "nothing, dad".
There's a boy in my room. Oh my.
----
When Kurt finally makes it up the stairs after possibly the shortest dinner he's ever had, he opens his bedroom door to find Blaine on his bed looking at Kurt's photo album of his mother.
Blaine looks up at him and smiles slowly, scooting over so Kurt can get on the bed, too. Kurt thinks it's strange that Blaine is actually motioning him to sit next to him after acting so weird about even talking to him, but Kurt's definitely not going to complain this time.
"That's my mom. She's dead now, though," he says flatly, coming over to sit on the bed.
Blaine nods without looking up from a picture of Kurt and his mother smiling. "Both of mine are."
Kurt turns his head quickly to stare at him and frown. "Both of them? Really?"
Blaine nods slowly and then doesn't speak for a minute, but Kurt has a feeling his new friend is on the verge of saying something. Then, he does:
"But I survived. Not really, though."
What?
A dark feeling creeps under Kurt's skin. Something about the word 'survived' and how Blaine's starting to act doesn't sit too well with him.
Kurt knew from the beginning that something was off with Blaine, but now he's realizing that something is the reason Blaine seems different. Not that Kurt will judge him or like him any less but, what happened?
Before Kurt can ask this, Blaine eyes start tearing up and he throws his hands on his lap in frustration. Kurt turns to him, also scooting away a few inches to stay away in case Blaine decides to go berserk. He closes his eyes and shifts himself away so Kurt can't see his face.
"I'm so hungry..."
It's barely above a whisper, but Kurt's heard it now, and he can't help but feel extremely embarrassed and guilty for not bringing Blaine something up to eat.
Kurt got to have dinner, Blaine had to wait in his humid room for twenty minutes. Kurt would have normally offered his new friend a snack, but he was too nervous about him leaving, so he forgot to ask.
"Ah, I'm so sorry! I'll get you something, what'd you want?"
The boy whimpers and shakes his head, "no, I should go."
Kurt toys with the idea of putting his hand on Blaine's shoulder to comfort him somehow, but he's not sure how Blaine will react.
"You can stay the night if you want... I-I have extra clothes..." And even if you don't spend the night, the clothes you're wearing seriously need to go.
Blaine just keeps mumbling to himself about how hungry he is, rubbing his forehead as a way to ease whatever pain he must be feeling. Kurt tells him that he makes a mean pb&j sandwich, so he hurries down to the kitchen to make one.
He grabs the grape jelly from the fridge. Why won't he talk? Is he a spoiled rich kid that wants a cooler friend but couldn't find one?
He pulls a knife from the silverware drawer and takes the peanut butter from the kitchen pantry. Why am I wasting my time? Am I this desperate for someone to talk to? Or to listen to me?
He brings the sandwich upstairs quietly but then sets it on his bed in frustration when he sees Blaine's gone and the window's open.
Kurt didn't expect him to stay, but he also didn't expect his sort-of-new-friend to climb out of a two story window.
I must be so repulsive. But this is a waste of a perfectly good sandwich too, you jerk.
~*~
Another week goes by without Kurt seeing Blaine on the playground at school. Luckily, Kurt has finally made a new friend at recess to keep his thoughts occupied, and the bullying has died down since the popular boys have started playing soccer at recess.
Kurt's gathering sticks with a cute little blond boy named Jeff who has pudgy cheeks. Jeff used to go to a private school in some place called Westerville, so he tells Kurt, but his parents had to move for his dad's job and then they decided to try public schooling for a while.
Kurt thinks this is a good thing, because a) Jeff is new and doesn't know Kurt's reputation and b) Jeff is new and doesn't know Kurt's reputation.
He can feel normal with a possible friend for once. Jeff actually talks back.
They're putting the sticks under Kurt's pine tree in order to make an outline for a house that they're going to use for specific storage of interesting looking rocks and other things they find on the playground.
"Hey, Kurt! Why don't we go play soccer? It looks fun."
Yeah, how about no.
"Um, you can. I might later..."
Jeff shrugs, "nah, it's okay. If you're not gonna, I won't."
Jeff's a nice kid and he's a skilled stick house builder and all, but Kurt feels like he's missing Something.
Something that Kurt had for a short period of time and it felt nice to have It around even if It was a little odd.
~*~
As he's heading down his street, Kurt believes it's not a day that he would normally expect to see Blaine sitting on his doorstep, but then again, Kurt never expects much. Kurt didn't expect to see this.
His heart rate is increasing as he gets to his house, and he feels so unreasonably happy to see Blaine. He wants to hug him, but he won't. Not yet. He doesn't deserve it, Kurt thinks. Why do I want to hug him anyway? That's weird.
Kurt's heart skips a beat when Blaine surprisingly holds out a handful of sticks to him when Kurt gets close enough. "Here, you can use these for your house."
All pre-existing thoughts about him not being good enough to hug? Yeah, well, they're kind of gone now.
Kurt's eyebrows furrow and he gives Blaine a look, despite being completely happy to see him. "Were you spying on me?"
Blaine nods and apologizes, his small smile quickly turning to a sad frown like it usually does. Kurt notices that Blaine has different clothes on from the last two times he's seen him, but these clothes are a bit long and baggy. They don't look like they're even his.
Kurt wonders where Blaine lives. He's wondering why his jeans go past his little tennis shoes, but most of all, he's wondering why he's still interested in talking to this kid.
Maybe, it's because for an eight year old, Blaine sure is deep and brooding. Kurt wants to know more. Maybe, it's because these sticks would seriously be awesome for his and Jeff's stick house, but man. Kurt hates that he wants to know this kid better. Like, why?
"You coulda come played with me and Jeff, Jeff's nice and weird like us."
Blaine shrugs, "I wasn't sure if you were still mad at me for leaving that one night."
Kurt shrugs and sits next to him on the step outside the door. "I was just kind of confused and sad. No biggie. I'm sure you didn't mean it."
Blaine stares at him, and his stare feels so heartfelt that it forces Kurt to look down at the cement and blush slightly.
"I made you sad?" Blaine asks softly.
Kurt nods a little as he stands up to awkwardly let Blaine in.
Their conversation ends outside, and now, they're watching afternoon cartoons on the couch like they had the first time Blaine came over.
To his surprise, Kurt slowly feels Blaine getting closer.
Like literally, on the couch, Blaine's legs seem closer to his own than they were a few moments ago.
He's not sure why he does it, but Kurt hesitantly presses his knees against Blaine's to see what he'll do, just because.
Both boys blush, and as Kurt's moving his knee away, Blaine starts saying he should go.
While Blaine's standing up, Kurt decides it's now or never to figure out if Blaine's his friend or not. Or if they're just going to hang out for five minutes every other week.
He just wants to know.
He wants Blaine to stay.
Kurt clears his throat and it makes Blaine turn to look at him after he's moved away from the couch. "I missed you. I don't know why, but I did." Crap.
Blaine's expression is unreadable. "No one's allowed to say that to me."
"Why not?"
"People go missing when I'm around. I-I don't get missed."
Kurt asks why.
"...People don't like me very much, except you."
Kurt tells him that people don't like him very much, either, but Blaine's the nicest kid his age that he knows and the most interesting. He likes when Blaine's around.
Kurt's not sure, but he swears he sees a small smirk playing on Blaine's face. "I know you think that. I can feel it."
"Excuse me? Huh?"
"Your scent gets stronger, i-it's just something I can sense, I guess. And your heart beats... louder around me, which I don't really get, but uh, it does. Or maybe I'm just crazy, I don't know. I'm crazy."
Holy crap, that's the longest thing I think he's ever said to me. Sweet. Success. But uh... heart beat? Double crap.
Blaine goes out of what Kurt thinks is his character and looks up at Kurt to glare at him. "How come you aren't questioning me? Why don't you tell me to get lost?"
Kurt just stares at him with a confused expression. "Um, I dunno... I'm sorry? I guess I'm just thinking you'll tell me when you wanna?"
Blaine's jaw clenches and he shoves his hand in his little pocket. "Well?"
"Are you like a werewolf?"
"No! What? I'm a vampire."
"...Oh. ...Ohhh... ...Wait, how?"
----
They're in Kurt's room, on the bed, sitting across from each other, and Kurt's now quizzing him on all things vampires, because he like needs to know everything.
Blaine's scooted up by the headboard, and he actually looks relieved now that Kurt hasn't freaked out over his big secret.
"Why can you go out in the sun? Are you allergic to garlic? Do sharp pencils scare you?"
Blaine shrugs and awkwardly takes one of Kurt's pillows to put on his lap. "I think... I think I'm like... I don't know. No one's been around to tell me really."
"Think you're like what?"
When Blaine stares at him, Kurt tries not to blush; he tries not to breathe or live or have his heart rate go up because apparently Blaine can hear it.
Instead, Blaine is the one to blush. "I-I don't know. I think I might be, um... part human?"
After he finishes revealing that to Kurt, he scrunches the pillow closer to his chest and looks down pitifully.
Kurt realizes this might be one of the things Blaine starts crying about. He doesn't want to pry any more information from him, but actually, yes. He does.
"How could that happen? I mean, not to make fun of you, but I don't get it. And you're growing, right? Aren't vampires supposed to stay the same age?"
Blaine shrugs, and Kurt realizes he's done talking about it for now. Fine.
"...So, what about werewolves? Any other monsters exist?"
He inwardly slaps himself for insinuating that Blaine's a monster. He doesn't feel like Blaine is, it's just the wrong word he didn't mean to use.
However, Blaine doesn't call him out on it, he just stares down at the pillow, probably hating himself for being reminded of what he already thinks of himself.
"...Do you have fangs?"
Blaine nods slowly and then Kurt sees him tuck his lips into his mouth.
"Can I see them?"
Blaine shakes his head, letting his lips go for a moment. "They're... gross."
Come on, let me see.
Kurt smiles and scoots over to him on the bed, "Blaine, it's okay. I won't be grossed out. I promise. I bet I've seen worse."
Blaine holds the pillow closer to himself but slowly opens his mouth all the way and tilts his chin up, exposing two identical sharp teeth that hang out a little farther and are longer than the rest of his little teeth. Kurt leans forward to look at them better and sees that they also seem a lot smoother than his other teeth. Probably easier to sink into skin... This is uh-mazing.
Without much thought, Kurt reaches to touch one of Blaine's fangs, watching it prick his finger and draw blood almost instantly.
Blaine yanks his head back and Kurt hears him growl.
"...Should I put a Band Aid on it then?"
Blaine nods quickly, his eyes looking darker than they were moments before, but Kurt thinks it could just be the lighting in his room.
He's a little scared, but he told Blaine he wouldn't be, so he has to act as calm as he can. "Do you want like... um. We don't have blood in the fridge, I don't think..."
Blaine moves to get off the bed. "I should go."
An interesting thought comes to Kurt's head. "...Do you say that when you're hungry?"
He nods, getting off the bed, looking a little more on edge. He talks quickly. "Yeah, sorry, I can't control it."
Kurt isn't as alarmed as he maybe should be. He lays down on his bed and looks over at the restless boy standing near him. "What happens when you're older? Can you like age? Or are you... stuck...?"
Blaine shrugs, looking over at the window like it'd be a good escape plan. "I was born this way." He bites his lip. "They, um, my aunt told me my mom died when she was having me, but she didn't tell me anything else. ...I-I don't know why I just told you that."
"Oh. Where's your dad?" At least I got to know mine...
He sighs. "I think he killed her, my mom. I've never met him, and my aunt always talked bad about him." He looks down at the floor and rubs his arm. "She always looked mad at me when she talked about him. I think she thinks I killed my mom. I ran away on Christmas, she's probably happy."
Kurt frowns and gets off the bed to come over to him. "Blaine, no..."
Blaine shakes his head. "No, she is. I did some bad things. It just keeps getting worse... I--" he turns to Kurt with watery eyes, "I'm sorry. I really have to go, I don't want to hurt you, Kurt."
Why does my name sound so cool when he says it? Hmmm.
"Uh-um. Sure thing. So like, wait, are you going to go kill someone now?"
Blaine glares at him, but Kurt can't help but feel insensitive about the situation.
He bites his lip and tries not to smile. "I'm sorry, Blaine. It's just that in vampire movies, the vampires are usually evil and you're like... wait, you're eight, right?"
The glare stays in place. "Right."
"You're not evil, right?"
"...Well, vampires are all evil. My aunt said so. I don't know if she knew I was one, but..."
"Wow, what a--excuse my French--jerk. You're not evil, Blaine. I know you're not."
Blaine's eyes change their look for a moment from devastated to confused. "You don't know what you're saying."
Time for Kurt Hummel to speak his mind.
"I speak English pretty well, so yeah, I think I do. You woulda killed me by now if you were bad. We're friends. You won't hurt me."
Blaine sighs and looks out the window. He mumbles the next thing he says, but Kurt's already used to having to strain his ears to hear Blaine speak. "Why aren't you afraid of me? I've hurt people."
Kurt tries to think about who this short eight year old boy could have hurt, but he can't seem to care. He just sees this boy who is, sadly, probably his new best friend in the whole world.
"Have you killed anyone before?" Kurt asks softly, keeping a little distance between the two.
Blaine shakes his head and walks over to the window. "But I almost did this one time. Most of the time, um... Most of the time I get too full before they go missing, so it's okay, though."
"Go missing? You mean before you kill them?"
Blaine frowns and opens the window. "No. I don't call it that."
"But that's what it is."
He sticks his leg out and looks back at Kurt. "I don't want to hurt people, but I have to. It starts hurting if I don't. I'm really sorry, Kurt."
Kurt can't help but ignore the conversation about killing people, because oh my, he just said my name so perfectly...
"It's okay, as long as you don't kill anybody."
Blaine nods and says he'll probably go a few towns away and pick an adult.
Kurt gasps and walks over to the window, putting his hand on Blaine's shoulder. "Just don't go after an old guy, okay? They have germs. You might get sick and die."
Blaine looks at Kurt's hand on his shoulder and smiles slightly. "...You're so concerned for the human, Kurt."
Kurt steps back and puts his hand on his hip. "Excuse me if I don't want my best friend to die."
Blaine giggles and hops through the window, standing out on the ledge of Kurt's bedroom. "Best friend?"
"Ugh, no. Go kill someone. Leave me alone."
The last thing Kurt sees is Blaine glare at him playfully and stick his tongue out before jumping off the house. Kurt races back to the window to see if he can see Blaine run off, but the ninja/vampire is already gone.
My best friend's a vampire.
Five minutes later, Burt has to tell Kurt to stop jumping around his room because he's being too loud.
~*~
The next day at recess, Kurt and Jeff are under the pine tree completing their stick house (Kurt delightfully used the sticks Blaine gave him). They plop down on the grass and stare at their creation, both boys not sure what to do now.
A few minutes later, Kurt sees Blaine crawl under the fence and start to walk the fifty feet over to the pine tree they're under.
It'd be an understatement to say that Kurt gleefully jumps off the ground to run over to his friend an excitement. Yes, an understatement.
He hugs Blaine when he reaches him and is thrilled to feel him hug back. When he pulls back, he sees that the other boy is blushing slightly but also smiling. "Hi..." Blaine says.
Kurt smiles and backs away a little as they start walking over to the pine tree where Jeff sits confused.
"So! How was last night? Who'd you go after?"
Blaine can't help but think how strange it is that Kurt seems interested in the details. He thought he'd never be able to tell anybody about his once-every-two-ish-weeks routine.
"Soccer mom getting groceries. Who goes grocery shopping at ten anyway? ...I felt bad though, because I made her drop all her groceries, so I put them to the side of her car in case she still wanted them after she woke up."
"...You made her pass out?"
"Um, yeah... that's usually what happens. But she kind of did it quicker than most people do, so I think I just freaked her out."
Whoa. Blaine totally sucks people's blood. That's messed up. But so cool.
"Nah, she's probably just a wimp, but that's cool. Did she die?"
Blaine shakes his head and looks proud of himself. "Nope. Someone called 911. I think she's good."
Kurt smiles and nods back at him. We finally have something to talk about!
Kurt is delighted to introduce Jeff to Blaine, because yes, Kurt Hummel indeed has two friends to his name now.
He looks around to see if any other kids notice his two shiny new friends, but no one seems to care as the intense soccer game is going on across the field. Figures. Those morons.
Blaine helps them start on a second stick house, because there really is nothing else to do. They get pretty far on this one with Blaine's help until it starts raining and Kurt and Jeff need to go inside. Stupid April weather.
Kurt tells Blaine that he can go to Kurt's house and wait for him to get home from school in two hours. Blaine just smiles and hugs him quickly goodbye.
Kurt's left with nothing but fluttery feelings of hope and acceptance for the rest of the day.
Things are finally working out.
~*~
The last two hours of the day drag on, because Kurt knows he has Blaine waiting for him at home. He still hopes, anyway.
What he doesn't expect to see is Blaine sitting on his doorstep with his head down, faced with the pouring rain that hasn't stopped since Kurt's recess.
Blaine's face is wet from the rain, but once Kurt gets close enough to him, he sees Blaine's eyes are watery and then when he sniffles, he knows for sure that Blaine's been crying.
Kurt props his backpack up against the house so it hopefully won't get any more wet and sits next to Blaine on the step despite the pouring rain. Without even knowing what he's crying about, Kurt just hugs him and tells him that everything is going to be okay. Kurt's grown to realize that things generally tend to feel a bit better after crying. At least for a little while.
He means to let go soon after the hug, but Blaine grips onto Kurt's arm and holds it as he keeps crying. Kurt frowns and instinctively kisses the side of Blaine's head, feeling the boy's wet curls on his face.
Blaine leans his head into Kurt but keeps his eyes to the ground. "I can't even get sick, did you know that? I never got sick as a baby."
Kurt wants to pull back to give Blaine a confused look as to why he's thinking about that, but the crying boy still holds on tightly. "I've been sitting here for hours in the rain. I won't even get sick. Not a cold--nothin'."
"Really? That's so neat."
"No. It's not normal."
"Not many things are."
Blaine sighs and pulls back to look at him now that he's calmed down a little. "I want to be normal again."
Kurt frowns and stares back at him sympathetically. "Were you ever? You're too nice to be normal."
"...That lady coulda died last night 'cause of me. That's not nice."
"Well, don't eat so much next time then."
"You mean drink blood."
"Right, ew. But right."
Blaine's eyebrows furrow and he looks at Kurt confusedly. "Why aren't you afraid of me?"
Kurt laughs a little and blushes softly. "I get to hug you, why would I be afraid?"
"People get hurt because of me. They almost die."
"Yeah, so? A lot of people get hurt or almost die because of other people. You have a reason to do what you do, and you can't help it."
"...I guess, but it's still... I hate it. I want to be like you."
"You want to be naturally fantastic at knowing what clothes look good together? Trust me, they all do. Sorry, you're stuck with your stupid baggy clothes."
"They aren't mine. I stole them."
Kurt slaps Blaine's arm and glares at him. "Bad! Why'd you do that?"
Blaine glares at him and slaps him back, concentrating on not slapping him as hard as he potentially could with his vampire strength. "Says the kid that's okay with me putting people in the hospital. ...I needed clothes! You saw the ones I ran away with. It was some third graders' I stole."
Kurt sighs and nods. "Okay, well, will you pretend to not want to get sick and come inside with me? I'm done getting rained on."
"Your dad's home. It wasn't busy at the shop."
"How do you know?"
"Are you really asking me that?"
"...Fine. Whatever, Mr. Good Ears. ...Want to meet him then?"
Blaine bites his lip, but this time he looks like he's almost willing to say yes. "I can't. He'll ask questions. I--I'll have to go away again."
Kurt frowns. "...You need someone else to talk to that isn't me, Blaine."
"Why? You're the only person I want to talk to. You don't think I'm a monster. You actually like me... You don't think I'm wrong."
Kurt stops to consider how difficult having a best friend that's a vampire will be. Really though, Blaine can go out in sunlight, he doesn't seem to have a desire to kill Kurt any time soon, and he's growing at a regular human rate. How weird.
This might actually be okay.
"Are you really a vampire? You're breaking like all the rules. You're going to get in trouble, I think, with like... the vampire principal."
Blaine sits up straight and stares at Kurt with large, concerned eyes. "I don't know! It's not my fault!"
Kurt's grinning at him now and leaning into him to tease him further. "Maybe you're like Wesley Snipes in Blade. My uncle loves that movie. Blade's part human and stuff, too. I looked it all up online."
"What?! Don't pop culture reference! I'm freaking out, Kurt! What if I get in trouble?!"
While Blaine's now afraid of getting caught by a vampire principal, Kurt's thinking about how fun it will be to have a best friend that knows exactly how he's felt since he moved to Lima--like an outcast, someone that doesn't belong.
With Kurt as Blaine's friend, maybe Kurt can help him work on his blood cravings and make him realize that he's actually more human than he realizes.
He's something that he doesn't think he is--a good person.
Kurt's needed a friend like Blaine. Kurt thinks maybe Blaine needs him now, too.
He bites his lip and looks Blaine straight in the eyes. He watches Blaine's concerned look soften as soon as he's stared back at Kurt long enough.
Kurt puts a hand on Blaine's shoulder and speaks as confidently as he can.
"Everything. Is going. To be. Okay."
As Blaine stares back at him hard, both boys jump as the front door starts to open.
Blaine freaks out, but Kurt quickly grabs his arm before Blaine can make a run for it.
Above them, Burt looks from boy to boy, a worried expression on his face for why there's a random boy on his doorstep and why they're both sopping wet in the rain.
Kurt smiles over at a cowering Blaine and then turns to his dad who is giving Blaine the saddest look Kurt has ever seen. Kurt knows this is definitely a good thing.
"Dad, this is Blaine. He's a vampire. Can he live with us? ...Oh, and can he stay for dinner, too?"
THE END.
---
I apologize for any horribleness this might have been since it was written over five months ago (which to me in internet/writing time = at least two years ago), but I was looking back in my journal and realized I never posted this to anywhere but the challenge journal, so yes. There is a sequel to this where Kurt and Blaine are nine years older, written for the KBB (also from summer), and the link to that is up at the top.
This was my first kid!fic, so any constructive criticism would be awesome. ♥