FIC: Gibbous Moon

[ladydreamer]

Series: Kinn and Clan
Title: Gibbous Moon
Pair: Kurt/Finn
Warnings: sexual assault, violence
Word Count: 8043
Summary: Finn, the hereditary werewolf, has reconciled his friendship with Kurt, after trying to help him when his father had a heart attack. Kurt takes up narration as another wolf makes their lives more dangerous.

Part One: Forget that Twilight Nonsense

Part Two:



Kurt woke with the memory of Finn’s taste on his lips. He lifted his head and looked around his dark room. Quickly, his eyes focused and he could see every detail of the room clearly. Finn wasn’t there.

Rising from his futon, Kurt wondered if Finn had gone home. He should have. They had school today, and Kurt liked Carole. He didn’t want her to worry. He wasn’t sure if he could live with himself if someone took Finn from her because he was hanging out with a bloodsucker.

With some effort, Kurt picked up the sound of Finn softly singing “Died in Your Arms” in the kitchen, while banging around something on the stove. Kurt stilled for a moment, then identified the noise as Finn whisking eggs with a fork. He bit his lip, then climbed the stairs.

“Morning,” Kurt said to Finn’s back.

Finn jumped.

“Shouldn’t you be able to hear me?” Kurt asked.

“Yeah, if I’m listening. But I don’t always, and it’s not near enough to the moon that I can’t block things out.” Finn shrugged and grinned goofily. “That part’s true. About the moon having to do with um…”

“Lycan cycles?” Kurt blinked as Finn looked at him, as though embarrassed. “It’s natural. About as natural as it gets. You’ve had the Change before?”

“Yeah.” Finn raised his brows and nodded with a sigh. He tended the eggs a little sloppily. “I was thirteen the first time. When did you find out…?”

“I didn’t, really. I just always was what I was. My mother bottle-fed me her blood and a little formula. Not a lot. You don’t need that much as a baby.”

Finn’s eyes rounded. “Would you, like… bite her? You know if she… breast fed you?”

“I don’t know!” Kurt laughed and went over to the counter to watch him cook. “I don’t remember if I had sharp baby fangs like Elphaba or what. I guess she would have told me when I got older what to expect.”

“In case you got a girl-”

“She knew about that really early, too. She didn’t expect me to ever be with a girl.” Kurt raked his hand back through his hair.

“Huh. The mind reading thing?”

“I don’t think so. Just normal motherly psychicness.” Kurt smiled and reached over to take the eggs off the burner. “Those are done.”

“Oh. Um. Do you eat eggs?”

“Sometimes. I mostly drink blood, but I have to get nutrients elsewhere, too. Sometimes I drink V8.”

Finn nodded.

“The blood tastes better.” Kurt waited. “I was joking. A little.”

He looked at his hands and went to the refrigerator to get his morning bag. They were running low, and Kurt wasn’t sure how he would get more without his father’s help. He could sell some clothes. Grease some palms. If they tried to put him into foster care, he would have to run, though…

Finn’s hands squeezed his shoulders. “Hey. Don’t cry. Your dad will be okay.”

“You don’t know that. There’s been no change.” Kurt wiped his cheek. “God, I don’t know what to do.”

“Sit down. Eat breakfast. Then get ready for school.” Finn grabbed a packet of blood and a fresh mug. “One thing at a time.”

“It only needs forty-five seconds,” Kurt said.

“Okay. Dish up the eggs, if you want ‘em. Or pour your veggie blood.”

Kurt’s lips twitched. He put some bread in the toaster for Finn, then started some bacon, which Finn hadn’t managed to time properly with the eggs.

“You eat bacon?”

“Almost never,” Kurt admitted. “I’m surprised my dad bought it. I don’t usually let him eat it either. Pig bacon, anyway.”

The microwave beeped and Finn popped the door. “Fresh human juice, coming up!”

“Pig juice.” Kurt sniffed. Then nodded. “That’s pig. I don’t take from humans unless I have to.”

“What’s the difference?” Finn sniffed the mug. His nose scrunched up and he gagged, shoving out his tongue.

Kurt side-eyed him.

“Taste,” Finn decided after another sniff.

“Well, for starters, it’s not fresh. The fresher it is, the better. The taste…? It’s different. You get used to animal blood, but if I need to heal, only human blood will do. Vamps were a lot stronger when we just fed from humans.”

“What about Lycans?” Finn set the mug next to Kurt.

“Never tried it.” Kurt shrugged. “Never met one before you. Well, that I know of. I never met a gay person other than creepy Sandy, that I know off, either, and it’s likely that I’ve seen one at least once. Probably in both cases. There are about the same percentage of Lycans as gay people, I think.”

“Yeah?”

Kurt could feel Finn’s eyes on him. He breathed in deeply. Finn’s heartbeat, his scent… It was just a little hard to ignore when they were this close. Last spring he’d convinced himself that he had built up an immunity to it, but…

Finn made him ache inside. And he couldn’t think about that. He bit into his lip a little harder than he’d meant to, then sucked on it.

“Uh… ow. Does that hurt?”

“Not comparatively.” Kurt reached for his mug and took a drink. “Being impaled hurts more.”

Finn laughed and turned to grab the toast. “Jelly or butter?”

“I don’t do carbs.”

“Of course you don’t.”

Kurt poked at the bacon with his spatula, then lifted the pan and shuffled a few pieces onto the plate Finn was making up. “I made them crispy. I know you probably like rare meat, but bacon isn’t bacon if it’s not crispy.”

Finn waggled his brows and tore a piece of bacon in half with a growl.

“Very manly.” Kurt took some eggs and sat down to eat with Finn. “Wolf-ly?”

“So. The Jesus thing this week… You don’t like the songs because you’re a vampire?”

“Because I’m an atheist. And they don’t help. They just talk about a father who protects you, and that’s all I can’t hear right now.” Kurt drizzled some of the blood on his eggs.

“Gross.”

“It’s part of the same animal. And you’re eating that animal’s backside.”

“Pork butt is a different cut of meat. Bacon comes from the belly or back.”

“Oh, you and your intensive knowledge of meat,” Kurt scoffed.

“I think I have an adequate, mature knowledge of meat.” Finn’s smug looked turned to a frown.

“What?” Kurt wiped his mouth, then took another bite.

Finn focused on his food. “Nothing.”

***

The next few days were an unfocused blur. Coach Sylvester approached him to file a complaint against the Glee club, but thankfully, Finn had apparently already spoken to them about laying off him until there was better news about his father. At some point he went to church with Mercedes to make her feel better (and he miraculously didn’t burst into flame). Finn was over every day, checking on him. He even brought Kurt over to dinner at his house, and when Kurt only nibbled, Carole wrapped him up in a big hug and asked no questions.

Then on a Tuesday afternoon when he was sitting by his father’s hospital bed, he felt his father’s hand squeeze his back. Tears welled up in his eyes, and his father woke up.

“I’m not goin’ anywhere!” he vowed.

As hard as it had been to wait for his father to wake up, it was even harder to see him weak, still in danger of relapsing. Kurt spent every moment he could at home with him, despite his father’s protests that he needed to get out and get some fresh air.

Kurt knew he’d done some alienating when his friends didn’t come over to see him. No, not once. He was pulling away from them, but he couldn’t help it. They didn’t understand, couldn’t. Mr. Schue talked about how they were all different… together. But none of them, save Finn, were as different as he was. Some of them were outright rich and privileged. When he’d first joined the group, and then the Cheerios had appeared, Kurt had told them his father had bought him a car (which he’d borrowed from a neighbor for the week in return for cat-sitting), lied about his age, and refused to come out. Not even when Santana kept teasing him for denying that he was gay. It had felt like the small space he’d been afforded in the club was being taken over by all the popular kids who made his life hell.

And no, getting bullied wasn’t the worst thing he could live through. He’d lived through some hard things. Bloody, painful things. But those things were a threat to his life, and the daily grind of being treated like living garbage… It made him wish he’d died with his mother sometimes. It made him tired.

“What’s eating you?” Burt asked as he stirred the soup Kurt had brought him.

“Nothing. I’m fine.”

“Yeah, I’ll buy that one with a free wrench set thrown in. Tell me what’s going on.” Burt tasted the soup and shrugged his head to the side.

“Dad, you just need to take it easy, okay? You still have to make it through another stress test.” Kurt got himself a bottle of water.

“You’re my stress test.”

Kurt sighed and twisted the cap. “It’s not important. School’s just… It seems so useless sometimes.”

“You need to go, y’know. I don’t care how much longer you’re gonna live than the rest of them. You need college. Get an education. Get two.” Burt blew on the soup. “You don’t want to be 600 years old and flat broke, do you?”

Kurt didn’t like to think about outliving everyone he knew. He especially didn’t like to think about outliving his father, though that seemed more likely every day.

“Door.” Burt looked at him. “Surely you heard whoever’s out there before they knocked, huh? Tell ‘em we don’t want any.”

Kurt turned his head. He hadn’t been paying attention, but now he heard the “Shave and a Haircut” knock. Letting his head fall to the side, he listened to the scuff of sneakers on the front porch. Creaking of the boards as the tall person moved from side to side.

“You gonna get it or what?”

“It’s Finn.”

“Oh. You two hanging out again?”

Kurt hugged his arms and shrugged as he went to open the door. “Hey.”

“Hey! Uh, just wanted to check on you and your dad. Maybe you two can come over Friday night-”

“Friday night is family night.” Kurt frowned. “Also you have football.”

“Oh, right.”

Why do I find his dopiness endearing? Kurt gestured for Finn to enter. “We could do another night, though. A Thursday?”

“Sounds reasonable. Oh, after Glee?”

“Yes.” Kurt stepped back as Finn entered.

“Hey. If I hadn’t invited you into my house…”

Kurt rolled his eyes. Finn really was going to ask every single vampire myth question that existed.

“Would you have been able to enter?” Finn lifted his chin and looked down at him.

“Only if I’m rude or a burglar.” Kurt pinched his lips to the side and looked upward. “Or if there was an emergency!”

“Eh. You can enter my place anytime.” Finn’s lips curved lopsidedly.

Kurt’s mouth opened slightly. “Uh…”

“What was that?” Burt called from the other room.

“Now his ears are good,” Kurt muttered. “Nothing!”

Kurt hurried into the living room. “It’s Finn. I told you.”

“Good guess,” Burt said.

Finn loped over to the couch and sat on the coffee table. “How ya feelin’?”

“Like I got hit by a truck then pressed through Bobby Bee’s grinder.”

“Bobby? The butcher?”

“Yeah, he’s a friend.” Burt set his soup bowl down. “So. Why’d you two fall out to begin with, huh?”

“Oh. Oh, um.” Finn wiggled his head and shoulders like he was going to gesture… something.

“It’s not important, dad,” Kurt said quietly. He eyed Finn.

“Mom says you guys can come over for dinner anytime you want,” Finn offered.

“That’s real nice of her,” Burt said. “Kurt’s kinda a picky eater, but as soon as I’m allowed out, we’ll take you up on that.”

“Oh, I know he is.” Finn pressed his lips together.

Burt narrowed his eyes. “You know.”

“Uh, yeah. You know how he’s uh, always… dieting and…”

Kurt pressed his fingers to the middle of his forehead. “You are so bad at this.”

“You told him?” Burt said sternly.

“Dad, please, just relax.” Kurt sat next to him. “No one is going to believe Finn if he slips up. No one believes in vampires. Except our principal, and he’s an idiot.”

“What if he slips in front of one of them?”

Kurt took his father’s hand and squeezed it. “That… That won’t happen. You won’t lose me, too.”

“You don’t know that. None of us saw them coming. And then…” Burt shook his head. “They just… After what they did to your mother… and then you… Kurt, they were willin’ to murder a seven year old who couldn’t hurt anybody-”

“Who? Kurt?” Finn leaned forward. “Mr. Hummel, I won’t tell anybody. I swear it! Kurt’s the best friend I’ve ever had. I know maybe on the surface, y’know we don’t really make sense, but he just… He makes me better.”

Burt rubbed his hand over his head. “You didn’t tell him? About the Hunters?”

“I mentioned Hunters.” Kurt sighed and let his head drop on his father’s shoulders.

“Oh.” Finn let out a huge sighed. “Dude. I was afraid you were gonna say werewolves killed your mom or something.”

Kurt stiffened.

“What does he know about that?” Burt looked at him and squeezed his knee. “Kurt?” He looked back to Finn. “You know if any of those things around here?”

The rushing of his father’s fragile heart pounded in Kurt’s ears. “Dad, please. Don’t be upset. Just stay calm. I’m all right. I can’t lose you!”

“Whatever you two are cookin’ up, I can handle!” Burt argued.

Finn stood and crossed his arms. “Mr. Hummel, I’ll protect Kurt from whoever’d try anything. I promise.”

Burt looked between the two of them then pursed his lips.

“I promise,” Finn vowed again.

Kurt closed his eyes and put his hand on his father’s chest. Burt covered Kurt’s hand with his own.

“Well. He may end up protecting you. He’s stronger than he looks. But I’ll take any backup I can get in looking out for my son.”

Kurt sucked in his lower lip and enjoyed the blooming smile on Finn’s face. Finn could really use a father figure. Kurt was selfish. He knew it. But maybe he wouldn’t mind sharing his dad with Finn.

Well. A little.

***

They never spoke of the secret they were keeping from his dad, but Finn seemed to get it. The stress of worrying about Kurt might be too much.

Finn also didn’t press too hard about what had happened with the Hunters when he was seven. Kurt didn’t like to think about it, and whenever the kids in the club tried to get all “sharey,” he’d covered with a smile and a joke. Now they didn’t ask anymore. Small favors.

However, Finn did seem determined to keep his promise to Kurt’s dad. He walked him to most of his classes, started intervening when bullies tried to shove him around, and snapped back at Santana when she cracked gay jokes.

“It’s not funny!” Finn argued.

Santana held up her hands. “Alright, alright! Sorry to offend your boyfriend.”

“You’re offending me and everyone else. Stop being so mean,” Finn snapped.

Kurt touched his arm. Of course, Mr. Schue backed Finn up, and they moved on to their lesson of the day, which included splitting everyone up in teams based on gender, because Mr. Schue never seemed to have much creativity around his lessons.

“With the boys, Kurt,” Mr. Schue called, just as Finn was pulling Kurt with him into the group of boys.

Kurt waved at him and sat by the new kid, Sam. “Thanks, Finn,” he whispered.

“No problem.” Finn rubbed his hand over Kurt’s back and dropped a kiss onto the top of his head.

When the guys bursted into laughter, Kurt felt his face going red… Until he realized they were reacting to the look on his face.

“Dude! You got him!” Puck clapped his hands together.

Finn forced a laugh and rubbed the back of his neck. Kurt looked down. He could sense what was happening. Maybe better than Finn could. Finn had been Changing for a number of years, but he’d only had sex the once, and she was a human (allegedly). Finn’s attraction to Kurt right now, even if he wasn’t really aware of it, was part of a biological imperative that Kurt could not take advantage of.

Directly after the boys’ planning session, Kurt parted with Finn so that he could go to football practice. Kurt shifted his bag onto his shoulder and headed down the hallway.

The hands came out of nowhere, slamming him into his locker with such a force that Kurt knew anyone else would not only bruise, but possibly break in several places. He looked up from the floor to see Karofsky’s back.

“What the hell is your problem?” Kurt shouted before he could think better of it.

Karofsky turned, grabbed him by the collar, and slammed him into the locker again. “You getting smart with me, fag?”

Kurt stared into Karofsky’s eyes, which had turned yellow. His nails were beginning to sharpen and dig into Kurt’s skin.

“I know it’s that time of the month, and you’re having a little trouble controlling yourself, but we’re in public,” Kurt said through his teeth.

“What did you say to me?” Karofsky growled. He jerked up again, seemed to notice the changes in himself, and then bolted for the locker room.

Kurt rubbed his arms and drew in a deep breath before sliding back down to the ground. It wasn’t that he was afraid of Karofsky, precisely. But a Lycan out of control might be hard to fight. Kurt never wanted to hurt anyone.

Just his luck, Mr. Schue saw him sitting there and pulled him into his office for one of those “talks” where he tried to relate to you. Mr. Schue would never be able to relate to Kurt. He was as mundane as they came. Kurt didn’t fault him for it. He even envied his peers sometimes.

They didn’t have to worry about being the last of their kind. Or whether they should be.

***

Kurt heard the noise before he woke. He was on his feet before he was properly awake. Someone was in his house. And his dad was asleep in the living room. Kurt started to zip up the stairs but found himself flailing backward and crashing into one of his shelves. A snarl from the stairs told Kurt everything he needed to know about who was there.

What he didn’t know, what he couldn’t fathom, was why his limbs felt so fragile, so weak. He blinked his eyes slowly. It was like everything was moving in slow motion. He had to be dreaming this. Crosses didn’t work. Holy water didn’t either. None of those cheap tricks could slow down a real vampire, not like in the stories.

Suddenly, Karofsky was on him like a dog, pinning him to the ground with a force that was totally unnecessary. Kurt could hardly move as it was.

“What are you doing! Get off of me!” Kurt snapped.

“You! Always thinkin’ you’re better than me! You’re not better than me, you little faggot!” 

Karofsky’s eyes were wild, completely taken over by gold. Fur stuck out of the sides of his face, like overgrown sideburns, and the du-claw on his right paw dug deep into Kurt’s shoulder. It wasn’t the full moon yet. It wasn’t time for this. Yet David Karofsky was half-transformed and gone into a rut. He ground his hips against Kurt, and the feel of the hard bulge under Karofsky’s jeans caused him to gag and gasp.

“I don’t go for insecure, sweaty mutts like you!” Kurt spat. “Go back to your pack, dog!”

“What?” Karofsky’s lips curled around his teeth.

Then he slammed his mouth against Kurt’s and their teeth clicked. Kurt squirmed under him, afraid that his father had heard the fall, afraid he’d come down here. He couldn’t think about where this was going to go, where it had to go, with Karofsky so out of control.

He shifted his mind to a gentler, sweeter kiss. His first, with a boy. The brush of caring lips against his own, followed by a swelling of warmth inside him, because all Finn had been thinking about was protecting him and his mind filled Kurt up with fondness.

Karofsky’s hand was starting to pull down Kurt’s pajama bottoms, when suddenly Finn appeared by Karofsky’s side and threw him off of Kurt. Kurt push himself up and wobbled to his feet. His strength seemed to be returning, his hearing sharpened, his vision cut through the dark better than Finn and Karofsky’s.

There was a strange amulet around Karofsky’s neck. Kurt took a step back.

“Finn, you have to get that necklace off of him. I think it’s made him crazy. Look at him!”

Finn nodded, growled deep in his throat, then lunged at Karofsky. They grappled on the ground. Karofsky was stronger, but Finn was determined.

The moment the amulet hit the floor, Kurt could feel everything slow down.

He zipped around the two boys fighting, plucked Karofsky from Finn’s arms and swept him out of the house, depositing him on the lawn. As Karofsky blinked up at him in surprise, Kurt backhanded him, sending him flying down the street. In another second, he was there, holding Karofsky up by one hand and looking into his eyes. They were taming as Kurt watched, the moon behind them large but not quite full. From yellow to brown, and his fur began to recede.

“What the hell?” Karofsky wriggled, like a worm on a hook. “What are you?”

“A notch higher on the food chain,” Kurt said flippantly. “Don’t tempt me to end this before you get out of control again.”

“I… My hands…” Karofsky looked at them shaking his head.

Kurt dropped him. Then he leaned over on his knees. “Do you know what you are? When were you bitten?”

“Bitten? By…?

Kurt heard Finn on the grass behind him, but didn’t turn his head. He had Karofsky in a thrall, and if he broke his gaze, Kurt wouldn’t be getting any answers.

“When did this start? Turning into a wolf?” Kurt pressed.

“A wolf? I… I’ve never turned into a wolf… I just…” Karofsky shook his head.

Kurt licked his lips. “In two days you will. You might want to chain yourself up until someone can teach you to behave better. Rabid animals get put down, Dave.”

Finn came over to them and crossed his arms. “You can’t have him.”

“I’m not…” Karofsky shook his head and tried to force a laugh. “I don’t want-”

“You can’t have him.”

Kurt remained focused. “Where did you get that amulet you were wearing?”

Kurt’s inside still ached from the fall. It had sapped his strength, prevented his healing.

Karofsky’s expression softened. “I don’t remember. There was this woman? And… She came to our door tonight, and she asked me some questions and…” His gaze became unfocused. “I think she put it on me. The pendant.”

“I got it.” Finn held it up.

Kurt trembled, but couldn’t let Karofsky see what it did to him. He was already starting to lose strength again. “Why don’t you just keep that?”

“You weren’t bitten?” Finn pocketed the amulet. “Maybe you got it from sex.”

“What? From sex? Like an STD?” Kurt looked up at Finn in disbelief. “You Lycans are so weird.”

Finn shrugged. “I mean… Some people bite during sex. Like you’re any better, I’m sure.”

“I can’t spread it. Not without having babies, anyway, It’s my species,” Kurt replied.

“Um.” Karofsky looked at the ground, then he looked back at the moon. His big hands closed on the grass.

“Go home, dude,” Finn said. “You’ll be okay for tonight. I’ll talk to you later, explain some stuff.”

Kurt raised a brow as Karofsky looked like he might argue with Finn. “Go home now,” he ordered.

Karofsky stood, cast one last look back at Kurt, then started to trudge down the sidewalk.

Kurt’s eyelids fluttered, and the night went black.

***

When his eyes opened, the weak, dizzy feeling was stronger than ever. Kurt thought he might throw up, but he didn’t have the strength. All the noises around him were distant, and tinny. A pain was growing in his chest as his hearts thudded unnaturally fast.

“…hospital…”

“…really can’t…”

Kurt made a noise, and someone lifted his head. Cool water slid down his throat. He blinked sluggishly, then focused on the familiar face in front of him.

“Finn…. Oh…” His own voice sounded sedated, and he reached forward for Finn’s letter jacket.

“Are you cold? We can get you some blankets?”

“Let him drink. It’ll heal him-”

“No!” Finn snapped. “You can’t do that right now. You’re sick. Kurt would kill me if I let you!”

“Finn,” Kurt gasped. “Please… take it off. Take it off.”

“What?” Finn looked down, then took off his jacket and set it on the coffee table.

Kurt shook his head. He felt like his chest might burst open any second. “Further! Further! Please!”

Finn looked around wildly, then just stood and threw his jacket out of the room. Kurt closed his eyes, rubbed his chest, and sighed in relief.

“Goddamn, Kurt!” Burt’s hand was petting his forehead. “What’s going on? Are you… What do we do?”

“Feel better.”

“Because of… my jacket?” Finn asked.

Kurt pressed his lips together.

“The amulet!” Finn’s hand touched Kurt’s face. “That’s what it was. Whoever gave Dave that amulet put some kind of spell on it that made him strong and made you weak!”

“I didn’t know that stuff existed.” Kurt’s voice sounded hollow, even to himself. Finn and his dad were still looking down at him with worry in their eyes. “It’s okay. I’ll get better with that… away…”

His head fell back limply, and he stared at the ceiling. The next thing he knew, something warm, thick, and delicious was spilling over his tongue and down his throat. He’d never tasted any blood quite like it, but he felt his strength returning, little, but little, by little.

By the time Kurt realized he was suckling on a wrist, a rib had snapped back into place inside him and a warm, protected feeling washed over him.

“Finn.” Kurt pulled back, then looked up in alarm at Finn, who looked a little pale. “Ohhh, my god! Finn! How much did you let me drink?”

Finn shrugged and brought a napkin over to his red, bloody lips. “I’m okay. Your color’s better. You know, for you. He hurt you, before I got there, didn’t he?”

“I fell. And then he was on me, and I couldn’t fight back. He won’t do it again,” Kurt said. Though there was no certainty in his voice. Even thinking about Karofsky on top of him like that made him shake.

“I hope you two scared the piss out of that dumb kid.” Burt stroked Kurt’s hair.

“Dad!” Kurt realized that his father was standing over him. “You should be resting!”

“No. You. I’ll go back to bed after we’re sure you’re outta the woods.” Burt rubbed his mouth with the back of his hands. “Y’scared the crap out of me just now, kid. Thank God Finn decided to come over.”

“I didn’t,” Finn said firmly. “Kurt called me. I didn’t have a choice.”

“I didn’t call you. I was on the floor,” Kurt muttered with a frown.

“Not will your phone. With your head. It was like you reached out and grabbed my brain and said, ‘I need you’ really, really loud.”

“I can’t… do that.” Kurt rested a hand on his stomach.

“Maybe I was listening.” Finn shrugged as he wrapped a cloth around his wrist. “I dunno. But I’m glad I came.”

“Yeah,” Burt said. “Me too. I don’t know how you stopped that crazy wolf. I didn’t think we’d have to worry about them here. That’s why we moved to Lima.”

“I’m pretty sure most of the ones in the area are way too old and fat to care about Kurt. Dave was just bitten by some careless moron who didn’t teach him how to control himself. I’d feel sorry for him if he weren’t such a homophobe,” Finn said. He knelt by Kurt’s side and petted his hair. “Maybe you should get some sleep.” His tongue peeked out as he looked down at him. “That was pretty cool. Seeing you slap the crap outta Karofsky. Why haven’t you ever done that before? You could make those jerks at school leave you alone.”

Kurt let himself sink back into the sofa and lose himself in Finn’s worried eyes. “Karofsky is Lycan, and I wasn’t on the top of my game tonight. Everyday at school, I’m much stronger, and the vast majority of them are human. I don’t want to hurt anyone. I definitely don’t want to kill anyone.”

“Oh.” Finn leaned forward and rested his chin on Kurt’s arm. “Ohhh. I get it.”

They were quiet for a moment, and Kurt felt his eyes drooping. He jerked his head up, heart racing. Tears trickled down his cheeks.

“It’s okay! You’re okay.” Finn took his hand. “I’ll stay, if you want. Y’know. Make sure your dad goes to bed.”

“Hey,” Burt groused.

“Call your mom,” Kurt urged. “I don’t want Carole to worry, okay?”

Finn bobbed his head. “Yeah, I did kinda run across town in my jammies.”

***

Kurt wasn’t there for the epic Rachel and Finn breakup. It was explosive, by all rumor mill accounts. All of a sudden, people had been betrayed (apparently), hearts had been broken (figuratively), and drama was everywhere (unfortunately). It was a few weeks after the attack, but Kurt still hadn’t really plugged back in to the drama factory that was the Glee club. It had gotten to the point that the girls were eyeing him, regularly, and Tina or Mercedes made sure to sit with him and try to make him feel included.

It was hard to care about those kinds of things. Kurt was just glad that they’d found a nice lead box to hide that amulet in, and Finn kept it at his house in a safe place to make sure it didn’t hurt Kurt again. It had these weird symbols on it. Curls, and straight lines with strategically placed little circles. It meant something. It was definitely magic.

And Finn told Kurt about his talk with Karofsky, explaining the whole Lycan thing to him. Whoever had given it to him had left the guy high and dry. If it weren’t for the nightmares he was still having, Kurt might have reached out to Dave more. Right now he just couldn’t.

But now the breakup was over, the drama was waning, only to birth new drama in its wake. Now Rachel was in a snit over not getting a solo for Sectionals. Kurt couldn’t pay attention to that nonsense. He was sitting on Finn’s back porch. Watching him Change.

First his eyes had changed. Not the golden yellow that Karofsky’s had. They went from a warm brown, to a warm coppery amber. His hair started to gray, darken in spots, then lengthen. After that, it got ugly. Bones cracked, shifted, legs bent downward, his back arched, and his face elongated, stretched into a grinning muzzle. Finn howled.

Of course he howled. That looked painful. When Finn had stopped moving, and just remained on the lawn, panting, Kurt stepped forward. Finn shot up and caught his eye. He snarled, deep and low. It was a warning.

Kurt deliberately focused his eyes at Finn and kept coming. When Finn snapped, Kurt was too fast, pulling his hand out of the way before he could do any damage. Kurt rested his hand firmly on the back of Finn’s neck. Finn laid down and let out a little submissive whimper.

“I’m the more dangerous predator here, Finn. You smell it. Don’t you?” Kurt whispered into Finn’s perked ear. “But I’ll never hurt you. I promise.” He stroked Finn’s fur slowly, then scratched behind his ears. “Because I love you.”

***

The next morning, Kurt woke to someone sniffing his neck. Sleepily, he pushed Finn away. Then he opened his eyes to see the naked, puppyish, grinning manchild in front of him. 

“Finn!” The previous night had involved a lot of romping around with Finn in the backyard. Apparently Carole had gone to visit her mother, so Finn had been on his own that night. When Finn finally tired, Kurt had spent the night with his arms around Finn’s furry body. He was like a hairy body pillow.

Finn just smiled. And smiled and smiled. “I’ve always been scared if I showed someone outside of my family… They’d be weirded out or…” He wobbled his head from side to side. “Scared.”

“There are stranger things.” Kurt smirked. “I’m a stranger thing.”

“You’re an alpha.” Finn rolled his eyes and pulled his legs to his chest.

“An alpha?”

“I don’t have to worry about losing control around you.” Finn took the blanket Kurt threw at him and tucked it around his waist. “I know, like, instinctively, that you’re more powerful, and you’ll take the lead. Not always and forever, but if we have to fight or something. When I’m like that, it helps to sense a leader. One who has his head screwed on, y’know?”

“It’s hard to think of myself that way.” Kurt reached forward and curled his legs to himself. “I’ve never had to think of myself in a group before. You know. Other than Glee.”

“Yeah, well.” Finn scratched his hair. “If you were serious when you said you loved me-”

Kurt looked up with wide eyes.

“You’re not really alone anymore, are you?”

Kurt didn’t know what to say. He hadn’t thought that Finn would remember what had happened when he wolfed out.

It turned out he didn’t have to say anything. Finn leaned forward and pressed their lips together again, but this time, it was not so gentle, but hungry, needy. It was want. It was wanting Kurt after the moon had let go of him, after his lusts had been forced into becoming deeper and more intense.

And there it was, on the surface of Finn’s mind. Want. Lust. But also, adoration. Love.

Kurt didn’t need him to say it back. Oh, he would. But for now, all he needed was for his pup to kiss him.

***

“We’re on the island of misfit toys. Here we don’t want to stay…”

Another secret added to the many. Kurt flitted around the choir room with the others singing the song from his favorite Christmas special. His eyes met Finn’s once, and the two of them grinned bashfully. They were taking it slow. So slow, but no one knew yet. At least, no one had seemed to notice that they’d moved from weirdly close friends to something more.

After Mr. Schue came in, he began to scold them for feeling sorry for themselves and began the old rigamarole about being all different together.

“Well, I’m proud to be a misfit toy,” Kurt declared, interrupting him.

Tina giggled.

Brittany giggled, too. “I loved that spotted elephant. I thought elephant as pronounced Aunt Font, when I was a kid, and I thought he was someone’s Aunt.”

“What?” Puck leaned over laughing. “You thought he was someone’s Aunt.”

“Don’t oppress the elephants, Puck,” Lauren said, bumping his shoulder.

“My mom and I used to watch Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer every year. It’s my favorite.” Kurt looked back to his friends. “Who cares if our tree is the little evergreen that could, or if the other kids treat us like toxic waste? There are worse things that have happened. And Kurt Hummel’s had a pretty good year.”

Finn made a noise. “A good year? Are you kidding?”

“No!” Kurt poked him. “Be cheerful! The gay won’t rub off on you if you’re happy.”

Finn huffed. “You got the living crap kicked out of you this year. Your dad had a friggin’ heart attack. Then you were assaulted in your own house!”

Finn stopped as Kurt lowered his lids in displeasure.

“What now?” Mr. Schue stepped forward. “What happened?”

“Oh, my god, Kurt!” Tina flitted over and landed next to him so she could give him a hug. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine!” Kurt rolled his eyes and patted her shoulder. “That was back in October. The week I was out? I’m fine now, though.”

“We thought you had a cold,” Rachel said.

“It kinda scares me that you don’t tell us this stuff, Kurt,” Mercedes said.

Kurt shrugged. “It’s not easy for me to talk about.”

“So what happened? There was a break in?” Mike asked.

Kurt nodded. “Yeah. Someone broke in, and pushed me down the stairs. Finn showed up to um… Check on me and my dad, like he had been doing since my dad got sick. And the guy left. We got lucky.” He looked at Finn. “Really lucky.”

The girls fussed over Kurt a little more. Every time he looked back at Finn, he saw a smug grin on his face. Kurt couldn’t parse it. He focused a little, and felt happiness from Finn. That didn’t make sense, either. Was he happy that the girls were giving Kurt attention? Why?

They focused the practice around choosing a group to raise money for that year. Mr. Schue had the brilliant idea of them going around to other classes and singing carols, but Kurt pointed out they were going to get books thrown at them, and teenagers don’t have much money. And the ones who do probably wouldn’t be giving it to Glee club. Rachel, still aching for some way to shine, suggested they organize a show to either raise funds or take around to shelters. The rest of the time involved banging out what songs they could sing together.

After practice had ended, Kurt moved towards the door, but Finn caught his arm.

“Don’t go alone,” he said quietly. “Look, I know you’re badass vamp and everything, but…”

“I’ll escort him,” Rachel announced, taking Kurt’s arm. “Cheerios are the ones who bother me, and they won’t bother Kurt. It’s a win-win.”

Kurt slit his eyes at her, but followed anyway after giving Finn a wave. The two of them walked down the hall quietly.

Rachel stopped at his locker and stared hard at Kurt. Hard enough that Kurt looked down over his outfit to make sure nothing was awry.

“You’re dating him now, aren’t you?” Her words sounded like there had been intended malice behind them, but her voice didn’t carry the threat. It weakened and wobbled.

“To date, he’d actually have to take me out somewhere,” Kurt joked. He looked upward and ran his thumb along the inside of his bag’s strap. “Yeah. I am.”

Rachel said nothing. She crossed her arms over herself and stared up at him hard.

“Look, I didn’t want this to come so close on the heels of your breakup-”

“I guess I was wrong about you not having a chance.” She drew her hair behind her ear and looked down. “I really didn’t think he was gay.”

“I think he goes both ways, actually. I mean he does do football and Glee club.”

“Stop joking. I’m trying…” Rachel shook her head. “I’m sorry you got hurt. And I’m sorry we’ve been paying so little attention to what’s been happening to you. That sucks, feeling like your home isn’t safe.”

Kurt shrugged his head to the side. “It does. I still dream about it. But I wasn’t lying. I’m getting over it. I’m okay, or… I will be.”

“Thanks for being honest with me. Thanks for telling me. Is Finn not ready to come out?”

“I’m not sure. I think he wanted to wait. So it would sting less for you. I mean, he’s still mad about you kissing Puck, but… I don’t think he wants to hurt you.” Kurt pinched his lips to the side and shook his head. “That’s not in him.”

“Well, it wouldn’t be Glee club if we didn’t pass the guys around, would it?” Rachel laughed softly. “There was always… this feeling, you know? It was like his heart wasn’t really in his relationship with me. He liked me, but…”

“Not like you should be. Not like you should demand of your boyfriend,” Kurt said firmly. “I could set you up with someone. I could even give you a makeover.” He chuckled. “For real this time.”

“Hmm.” Rachel eyed him with mock suspicious. “Well, maybe. Since you’ve already got him, I probably don’t have anything to worry about.”

A scent caught Kurt’s attention. His arm whipped back against Rachel, and he turned sharply to face the danger.

Karofsky looked at him, trying to keep his expression blank. He seemed more hurt than murderous. Two months, and Kurt was still jumping.

“S-sorry,” he muttered, letting Rachel out of the soccer-mom hold. “I, um-”

“I’m gonna hug you now.”

Rachel’s arms flung around his neck and he bent over to accept the embrace. He’d been expecting more drama, more claims of underhanded betrayal.

When she let him go, Finn was on his way over, and he looked a little worried. Which was laughable, because between the two of them, they could probably take out an army, and Rachel was just a small teenage girl.

“Um. Hey. So, I wanted to know if… after practice… um…”

Kurt raised his brows as the words floated into his mind. “I’ll ask Dad if he wants to come over.”

“Cool.” Finn grinned. Then he looked at Rachel and raised a brow. “Uh…”

She poked him in the chest. “You’d better be good to him.”

Finn gaped.

“I won’t say anything until you’re ready.” She looked to Kurt. “I was thinking of a duet that we might do for the show. Do you have some time?”

Kurt nodded and gave Finn’s arm a covert pat.

***

“You’re something else. I knew it the moment I saw you.”

Kurt looked back at Finn, who was serving as a living cushion, with Kurt laying back on him and Finn’s arms wrapped around Kurt’s waist.

“You did not.”

“Yuh huh.” Finn bowed his head and nibbled on Kurt’s neck.

“Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes, guys,” Carole called from the kitchen, where she’d been talking with Burt.

“I love your mom,” Kurt muttered.

“I bet she’d be up for Christmas stop-motion movies.” Finn jerked his head toward the living room. “We have all the old classics.”

“I don’t know if that would be nice, or if it would just make me cry.”

Finn started kissing along Kurt’s neck, and Kurt closed his eyes.

“I’m sorry. I guess it was dumb to bring it up.”

“No.” Kurt sighed. “It’s dumb that I haven’t gotten over it.”

Finn frowned. “It’s been… what? Nine years? I don’t know what’s an appropriate time to get over a parent’s death.”

“A parent’s murder,” Kurt muttered.

Finn’s hand slipped over Kurt’s, and their fingers interlocked. Kurt let his head fall back onto Finn’s shoulder.

“You were there when it happened?”

Kurt licked his lips slowly, staring at where the cowboy wallpaper met the off-white ceiling. “I was there. They found us in the park. Mom gave them the slip, but they tracked us somehow. That night, they came into our house.”

Finn squeezed Kurt’s hand and kissed the back of his head.

“They cut her head off.”

Finn’s body stiffened. “They… what?”

“We’re really hard to kill. You have to destroy the hearts or the brain. Maybe both, sometimes, if you can’t get a clean shot.” Kurt’s voice sounded clinical. Like he was giving an informative lecture. “They cut her head off. Then they shot through her eye with an arrow and crushed her chest with hammers. Just to be sure.”

“Oh my God-”

“Oh your God,” Kurt said dryly. “They had crosses. And holy water, and stupid chants in Latin. And after they’d killed and mutilated her…” He swallowed. “They pulled me out of my hiding place and impaled me with a sharp pole of wood.”

Finn’s arms grew uncomfortably tight around his waist.

“Didn’t kill me. I told you before that we have two smaller hearts instead of one. They didn’t know the right location here to stick the damn thing to even get one of them. Someone had heard the screaming from next door and called the police. The Hunters ran. They left me hanging from the wall with the pole in my chest.”

Kurt took one of Finn’s hands and slipped it under his shirt. Straightening out Finn’s fingers, Kurt moved them over the middle of his chest.

“I healed, of course, but there’s still a knot of scar tissue under the surface. Not sure what didn’t heal right there.”

It wasn’t always easy to read the emotions of teenagers. They were turbulent, shifting too quickly. Right now he felt Finn’s fear as clearly as if it had been his own. But Kurt wasn’t afraid. Not of that. He was mostly numb from the experience, when he wasn’t sad. Numb, because rage wasn’t an option. Running out and slaughtering every Hunter until he found the ones who had killed his mother…

He wouldn’t become that.

Kurt turned around in Finn’s arms, cupped his face, and smiled before pressing a gentle kiss laced with care to his lips.

“I hate this!” Finn exploded. “I hate that the world is so… intolerant of you, and dangerous for you!”

“I’m faster now. I’m stronger. As long as they don’t find us, we’ll be fine.”

Finn pouted, so Kurt kissed his lips again, this time with a little more teasing, and a suck as he pulled away from his lower lip.

“And they’re just humans. I can compel them. Make them leave us alone.”

Finn didn’t look convinced, but he curled Kurt up to his chest and held him tightly. He pressed kiss after kiss to Kurt’s head.

Kurt laid his face against Finn’s chest and just deeply breathed in his scent and listened to his good heart. There were precious few people in the world who would accept one or the other of them, and nearly no creed would tolerate both. But they were young, and stubborn, and Kurt had no intention of giving up his loved ones so easily ever, ever again.