In My Veins

KLEX

"My dad wants me to go home and talk with him," Blaine told Burt after he had hung up. He was still shaking a little, his fists clenched to stop himself from crumbling.

"Well," Burt said. "Is that a good thing?"

Blaine shrugged. "No idea," he said. "He says to wait until he has time, so I don't know when that will be."

Burt nodded. "At least it's something, right?"

"I guess."

Burt smiled, gave him a pat on the shoulder, then left the room. Blaine wished he could call Kurt and tell him about it, but he was sticking to his word. He would do this by himself.

"Do you want me to go with you, Blaine?" Burt asked, following Blaine out into the hall. "I can leave the garage for an hour, or so."

"No, it's fine," Blaine smiled, gratefully. "Thank you, though. I'll be okay."

"Okay," Burt looked sceptical as he opened the front door. "Call if you need anything."

"I will. Thanks, Burt," Blaine said. "I'll see you later."

"Good luck."

Blaine walked outside and shut the door behind him, then got in his car and headed for his parents' house. It had been three weeks since his father had called him and said he wanted to talk. He'd called him the night before saying he wanted to see him today and Blaine said he'd be there after his shift at the coffee shop.

Blaine had no idea what he could possibly want, but he was about to find out.

"Your mother wants to talk with you," Blaine's dad said, flatly when he opened the front door. He didn't even really look at Blaine, simply opened the door, gave him a look of disapproval, then spoke. "She's in the living room. I'll be in the kitchen."

Blaine watched as his dad walked away. He stood there for a couple of heartbeats, then walked inside and shut the door. He headed into the living room and found his mother sitting on the sofa, studying her nails.

"Um, mom?" Blaine said, quietly and she looked up, quickly.

"Oh, Blaine," she said. "Sit down."

Blaine sat down facing her. They both just sat there staring at one another for a few moments, then his mom spoke. "Are you still...?" she trailed off, but Blaine knew what she was asking.

"Am I still gay?" he said. "Yes, mom, I'm still gay. Always have been, always will be."

"Oh," she said, looking disappointed. Blaine was used to that look by now, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. "What a shame."

He felt sick, sitting there in the familiar room, the room where there had been more fights than happy times. The room in which his dad had bruised his ribs so badly when he was fourteen, that he couldn't even sit up properly for over a week. He shuddered at the memory and all he wanted to do was leave there and never go back.

"Was there something you wanted?" Blaine asked, finally.

"No," she told him. "I thought that by now you'd have realised how wrong it is, what you're doing."

Blaine rolled his eyes, almost instinctively. "There's nothing wrong with me being gay, mom," Blaine said, standing up. "What is wrong, however, is how I've had to live for the past year or so. Nice talking to you—actually, no. It hasn't been nice talking to you. It's been the opposite of nice. So, good luck, mom. Thanks for nothing."

Blaine walked out leaving her sitting there and went into the kitchen, his heart beating rapidly in his chest. It was time to face his dad now. He found him sitting at the dinner table with his arms crossed over his chest.