Kurt had made a lot of progress with Logan's help. He had learned to be ok with wearing shirts, he got to the point where he could eat soft foods like yogurt and soup, he was using the bathrooms inside the house easier, and he was even becoming more comfortable with the other people in the mansion. Kurt had learned that Logan was unlikely to hurt him, even when he would bite, or cry, or eat human food, or sit on furniture without permission, Logan was nice to him. 

Logan was pretty proud of himself for how much he was able to help Kurt. He remembered a lot of what it was like to take care of his daughter, Laura, after he got her from a lab. He remembered how she was often scared, but she expressed it with anger, and how she had been conditioned by the people who raised her to behave a certain way, and it was hard to help her work through that conditioning. Kurt was much the same way. 

Kurt had come to really enjoy laying on a couch with Logan while he watched a movie. Logan had rewarded him with high praise when Kurt finally sat on the couch instead of on the floor, and it made the man happy to have made Logan so proud, and he wanted to do it again. Kurt laid with his head in Logan's lap, dozing off while Logan ran his fingers through his hair, when we was startled awake by someone walking into the room. It was the man who originally tried to get Kurt out of his cage when they first found him, and had a weird red stripe instead of eyes. 

"Hey Logan," The man said, and Kurt took notice of how Logan turned and looked at him. Kurt had noticed lots of people calling his master 'Logan' a lot, and he figured it must have been his name. 

Kurt ignored the rest of what the strange man said, and waited for him to walk away before sitting up and turning to look at his master. Logan gave Kurt his attention, smiling softly at him, and trying to determine if there was something Kurt needed, or if he was just adjusting himself to be more comfortable. But before Logan could ask Kurt if he was hungry, or needed to go to the bathroom, Kurt shocked the hell out of him. 

"Lo-gan?" Kurt stuttered out, his voice raspy and hoarse from disuse. Logan's eyes widened in surprise, having never heard Kurt speak before, and he watched patiently for a bit to see if Kurt would start crying, as he would often do when he did something new, but he didn't.

"Yes! That's me!" Logan praised happily, touching his hand to his chest to confirm that he was in fact Logan, then moving to scratch behind Kurt's ear, and kiss the top of his head rewardingly. 

"Lo-gan!" Kurt said again excitedly, leaning happily into Logan's touch, and purring a little bit. I had been a long, long time since he had last spoke, but it felt good to finally do it again. 

It felt good to speak without getting punished, and it felt good to wear clothes, and drink juice, and eat yogurt, and not have to be afraid of getting hurt anymore. When Kurt expressed something so human as to speak and Logan didn't punish him, he felt completely, and utterly safe, something he couldn't even remember feeling. And he didn't want to stop at talking. Kurt wanted to stand, and wear pants, and drink without a straw, and eat without Logan having to feed him. He wanted to be human again. 

Kurt began to cry, and he leaned forward to rest his head on Logan's shoulder, seeking the man's comfort and support. Logan was quick to wrap his arms gently around Kurt, rubbing the man's back soothingly. 

"Nightcrawler? What's wrong?" Logan asked, half expecting Kurt to answer after finding out that he could talk. 

"Kur-urt." Kurt corrected. Nightcrawler wasn't his name, it was what his last owner called him, and he didn't want that anymore. He wanted to be called by his real name, and he wanted Logan to know what it was before he forgot it completely, just like he forgot what it felt like to want something. 

"Kurt? Is that your name?" Logan asked, and Kurt nodded into his shoulder. "Ok, Kurt, thank you for telling me." Logan kissed Kurt on the temple, and Kurt cried more, but began to purr too. 

"Hu-man." Kurt said, trying so hard to force himself to keep talking, to trust that he wasn't in any kind of danger, and he would be ok. "Human. Not ani-mal."

"Of course you're not an animal." Logan assured, making Kurt relax more into his hold, and even lift his arms up to grip Logan's shirt. 

"I'm Human. I can - walk." Kurt said, more to himself than to Logan. Logan pulled out of Kurt's hold stood up, making Kurt whimper in worry, but Logan didn't leave, or hurt him, he just held Kurt's hands, and took a few steps back, smiling encouragingly. 

"Go ahead and stand." Kurt listened, and stood up on shaky legs. He began to cry more, but he took some tiny steps, following Logan as the man stepped back a bit, still holding onto Kurt's hands. "Good job Kurt!"

"I can walk."

"Yes you can. You're doing great." Kurt smiled widely, steadily getting stronger as he kept walking towards Logan. 

"Clothes?" Kurt asked eventually. He wanted to be human again, and he didn't want to take it slow. He had been an animal for far too long and he was ready to be human again. 

"Of course, come on." Logan walked slowly, being patient with Kurt as they carefully made their way upstairs and into their room. 

Logan then made sure that Kurt was steady on his feet before letting go of his hands to get a pair of boxers out of his dresser, figuring it was better to start with those instead of full pants. Logan then released one of his claws from his hand, making Kurt flinch, and whimper, and almost fall over. But Logan quickly retracted his claw again, and helped stabilize Kurt again before guiding him so he was sitting on the bed. 

"It's ok, I'm just going to put a hole in the boxers so that you're tail will fit in them." Logan assured. "I'm sorry I scared you." Logan then stepped back, and used a claw to cut a hole into the boxers before helping Kurt into them. 

Once Kurt was dressed, he wanted to go downstairs and eat. Kurt stood beside Logan while the man got him a bowl of yogurt, and a cup of juice, then the two men walked over to the table, and Kurt sat himself down in Logan's lap like he usually did to eat, but before Logan could grab the spoon to feed him, Kurt began to feed himself. He was shaky with the spoon, and ended up making a bit of a mess, and he was a little worried that Logan might be mad at him, but Logan just chuckled, and continuously wiped the yogurt from Kurt's face with the sleeve of his shirt. When Kurt had finished eating his yogurt, and drinking his juice, he came with Logan to the sink, and watched the man wash the dishes and put them away. 

"Thank - you." Kurt said with a bit of difficulty, and Logan smiled kindly at him, rubbing his back gently to let Kurt know that he was taken care of. 

Kurt would be ok. It would be a long, uphill battle for him to recover from the stuff he had been through, and the effects of the bad situations would never completely go away, but he knew he would be ok. He knew that Logan would help him however he needed, and Logan would never hurt him, or punish him for acting like a human, because he was a human.

Kurt would be ok.