Waiting in the Dark

'What do you mean you won't be back tonight?'

Kurt sighed at the sharp tone snapping through his cell's earpiece. 'I told you last week, Blaine, it's my dad's birthday. I'm going home for the weekend.'

'Kurt, I would have remembered if you had said you were going home. Just give him a call and send him his present in the mail.' Why did he sound so angry? No, not angry-pissed off. Okay, so it might have been true that Kurt neglected to specify exactly what his plans were for that weekend but it was a necessity; telling Blaine he planned to go home for a few days any earlier than this would have resulted in a hell of a lot of hassle from his boyfriend. He could almost hear the wheels in Blaine's head turning rapidly to think up the best excuse for him to stay at Dalton.

'Look, I promised my dad weeks ago.' Kurt said as he left the school building he had his afternoon classes in. 'I can't go back on my word now. Besides, you have that test on Monday. I'd only distract you if I was around.'

He then had to close his eyes as Blaine launched into a series of abusive complaints, mainly aimed at Kurt's 'selfish' family. Despite his blood heating up in annoyance, Kurt held his tongue. He didn't want to argue with him today so he tried his best to fuzz out Blaine's words as best he could as he headed across the student parking area towards his car. It was a relief Blaine was due in another class in five minutes, otherwise Kurt would have felt the need to scan the surrounding vicinity for the determined Warbler who would no doubt be hell-bent on dragging him back to the dorms. He let Blaine go on, but as he got into his car and closed the door Blaine heard the slam. 'Fuck, you're leaving now?' He cried.

'Yeah, it takes an hour and a half to get home and I need to be there before Finn gets back from football practise. I don't miss any family stuff.'

On the other end of the phone, Blaine could be heard scoffing bitterly. 'Oh, Finn? So you'd rather spend all weekend with him rather than with me, is that it?'

Kurt started the ignition, his temper flaring with the revs. 'I'm going to be with my family, Blaine. And yeah; right now I'd rather spend my time with them than you. Happy?' He added, sounding a little harsher than he meant to. There was silence from Blaine. If it weren't for the vague chatter of other students in the surrounding area, Kurt would have wondered if they had been cut off. He sighed heavily and rubbed his eyes. 'I'll call you later…'

With that, he shut off his phone and switched it to silent.

The gas tank was low by the time Kurt passed his old school. Not wanting to risk running out before getting home, he pulled into a gas station and began to fill it up. As he was waiting he turned his phone off silent and found that he had twelve missed calls. All from Blaine.

'Geez, what are you thinking?' Kurt muttered under his breath. After paying and settling back in the driver's seat, Kurt just wanted to forget about it. Yet, as his eyes glanced over to the cell on the seat beside him, he gradually changed his mind. It only took one ring before Blaine answered. There was no hello, no acknowledgement, no noise but the faintest sound of breathing.

'Blaine, hey,' Kurt started. There was no reply. 'Blaine, can you hear me?' Nothing. 'Look I know you might be angry but… Are you even there? Hello?'

After several seconds of silence, Kurt found himself getting heated again and he hung up. Flinging the cell to the floor, he turned on his car and drove to his home.

Kurt downright refused to call Blaine at any point that weekend, although he knew he would have certainly answered if Blaine were to have called him. There was just no way Kurt was going to be the one to make the first move. For the first time in a long time Kurt enjoyed spending quality time with his dad, Carole and Finn, who was so much like a true brother now that they had even entered into a few physical play fights. His mind was rested and content with the blip of household normality. Kurt almost felt guilty as he was packing up on Sunday afternoon when he realised he had barely thought about his boyfriend at all over the weekend.

'It's given us both time to cool off,' he reasoned with himself. 'Everyone needs a break every once and a while. Maybe he's hung out with some of the other Warblers and realised how distant he had been with them recently.' It was very possible, so with a little more optimism in his heart, Kurt bid farewell to his family. The long drive back to Dalton was peaceful; the sun was setting as he entered Westerville. Kurt's most recent mix CD was up loud enough for him to enjoy but still hear himself sing over it. He was singing again. Perhaps he had needed that break more than he realised?

He was still whistling as he strolled down the Dalton corridor which led to his room. He only saw two other students on his walk from his car to his dorm door, but seeing as it was getting late it wasn’t surprising; lessons started up again the next day at 8am. For a fleeting moment he paused, wondering if he should stop by Blaine’s dorm to check in on him and let him know Kurt was back. The memory of the immature phone call, though, made him think twice about it. Even if Blaine had cooled off by now and was feeling remorseful, he still had a test to study for. Kurt decided to wait until the next day and continued on his way.

His room was flooded with utter darkness as he entered. The thick red curtains had been drawn to a close - something he had no recollection of doing himself-and the light switch by the door clicked uselessly indicating the bulb had blown at some point while he was away. Letting his bags fall to the floor, he tapped the door shut behind him and began fumbling through the dark until he reached the bedside lamp by the window. He flicked it on and stretched over and pulled the curtains apart. His eyes naturally glanced to the darkened window pane and caught his own reflection... and that of something he had not known was there - someone whose sudden presence caused him gasp loudly and his heart to leap up into his throat. He whirled around and backed up against the glass.

'Geez! Blaine, what the hell-!' He breathed harshly. His alarmed gaze shot across to the other side of the room where his boyfriend sat in his desk chair. Blaine's eyes were on him too, and no doubt had been since Kurt arrived. 'H-how long have you been-? You can't just scare me like that; I almost had a heart attack!' Another question popped into his mind but he didn't say it aloud: How had he got into his locked up room?

Blaine sat there for a little while longer, saying nothing as he kept his dark eyes-which now seemed to be black- on the smaller boy. Eventually, he pushed himself up and calmly walked forward. Despite Kurt stubbornly taking another step back, Blaine reached him. He slowly brought his hand up to Kurt's face and gently stroked his cheek.

'I missed you.' He said simply. Kurt tried to conceal his worry and concern. Blaine's tone was so deep and thoughtful, but his searching stare unnerved him.

'Well, I missed you too,' Kurt replied, but attempts to brush the hand away from his face. He is unsuccessful. 'But that doesn't mean you can just let yourself in and wait in the dark for me. It was scary, Blaine, I didn't know who-'

'I've been here all weekend. Just waiting for you.' Blaine interrupted, his fingers resting just under Kurt's jaw line.

This caught Kurt by surprise. He couldn't tell if he should feel flattered at the idea of Blaine being like a faithful dog waiting for the return of his best friend, or irritated that Blaine would be so foolish to waste the weekend in such a way. Eventually he replies with a disbelieving 'Why in the world would you do that?'

'I thought you'd be home before now.'

Sigh. 'Blaine, I told you I'd be gone all weekend. The earliest I would have been back is now.'

'You shouldn't have left me, Kurt. I thought you'd have realised that…'

Kurt couldn't help but be nervous. Blaine's gaze had hardened on him and his finger under his chin was gradually tilting Kurt's head up so he could look at him more fully. Kurt stared at the striking face near his but for the first time in a long time he could not appreciate the other boy's beautiful features. His eyes seemed to be piercing through him and his jaw was clenched. Feeling uneasy, Kurt pulled his head back and out of Blaine's grasp before quickly sidestepping him. He sat on the far side of the bed. Blaine moved as if to follow but in the end all he did was turn around.

'You're scaring me.' Kurt said seriously. 'You're acting like it's unusual for me to want to spend a rare weekend with my family. I'm with you every day. How can you still have a problem with this?'

Blaine's next actions took Kurt completely by surprise. He had taken one quick step forward and shoved Kurt back onto the mattress so he could lean over him, glaring down. 'I have a problem because you hid your plans from me, and then admitted you wanted to spend your time with them rather than me.' He seemed to almost snarl at him. Kurt's hands pulled up instinctively to cover his face. He hadn't felt so threatened since the last time he had been face to face with David Karofsky. This wasn't right; Blaine couldn't make him feel the same way Karofsky had. That was impossible…

Nevertheless, Kurt still had his hands up as he continued to argue. 'You were being an asshole! Of course I wanted to spend my time with them. Hell, anyone would have been better company than you the other d-'

Then it happened. From Kurt's point of view all he saw was Blaine's eyes flashing in anger and a then blur of motion. He felt the sharp pain on his chin before his brain had registered the sound of a tight fist connecting with his face. As the next few seconds ticked by, the left side of Kurt's face began to ache and throb and he felt like his jaw was swelling up like a beach ball. It all happened so quickly. Kurt at first wondered what had actually occurred. All he could do was cover his red-hot face with a shaking hand as he rose his shocked eyes up to his boyfriend. Apparently, he wasn't the only one who seemed to have missed it.

'Shut up, Kurt!' Blaine snapped at him. 'I've been waiting so long for you to come back; you're supposed to want to be with-'

'You hit me…'

'What?'

'Y-you hit me.' Kurt's voice grew a bit stronger, but was still shaky and disbelieving.

'What? No, Kurt, I didn't…I didn't hit…' Blaine's anger had gone and was replaced with nervous confusion.

'Yes you did.' Kurt's eyes welled up and tears stung his eyes. He couldn't tell if it was the result of the pounding pain on his face or the hurt he felt after realising what Blaine did. 'Just there…O-oh God…' He pushed Blaine away and rolled himself off the bed to his feet. The mirror ahead of him reflected a very pale boy with a solid red blotch on one side of his face. He could almost make out the knuckle lines from where he was standing. 'I c-can't believe…'

Blaine was immediately on his feet too, and turned Kurt around to face him. He stared at the very obvious punch mark and his eyes widened as if he was seeing it for the first time. 'God, K-Kurt, I didn't-I didn't mean to…' His tone was so much higher and weaker. One hand grabbed hold of Kurt's upper arm as his free hand hovered over the abused skin. 'Baby, I'm so sorry! I wasn't thinking, I didn't even realise-! C-come here…' He tried to pull his shaking boyfriend into his arms, but was quick to be shoved away.

'Don't!' Kurt cried out right before an unexpected sob escaped him. 'Don't touch me! Leave!' His own hand covered his cheek as if he was ashamed of it and the other pointed to the door.

‘Kurt, please…’

'Go. R-Right now.'

Blaine stepped forward once again, arms out in an attempt to console Kurt but the pained boy was not softened by the tears in Blaine's eyes. Despite being smaller and a great deal less muscular than his boyfriend, Kurt pushed Blaine towards the door and managed to get him into the hall.

'Please, Kurt!' Blaine’s own tears were falling just as much as Kurt's now and his hands still reached out. Kurt slammed the door shut as soon as he was able to and locked himself in his room. He collapsed against the door, suddenly feeling so exhausted. His cheek was still throbbing and burning but the pain had subsided a little by this point. He was now more shocked than anything.

Blaine beat his fists against the wood repeatedly on the other side of the door. Calling his name and pleading through the keyhole, Blaine cried. Eventually his cries got quieter. Kurt sat for several hours just listening and going over the very short scene in his head until, at around one in the morning, Kurt heard the sound of Blaine getting up from the floor and his slow, trudging footsteps echoed down the hall.

It was only after this did Kurt's mind finally allow him to sleep.

The decision Kurt made the night before to keep the bedroom curtains open was proving to be a painful one the following morning. His eyes still stinging from hours of crying, Kurt cringed as he turned his head towards the sunlight. He weakly stood up and shuffled over to the curtains to close them. That's the last time I sleep up against a door.

He refused to let himself think about the night before, at least until he had a shower. A shower would wash away his drowsy thoughts and make way for logical and beneficial thinking. That's what he told himself. His bathroom was a little small compared to that of some of the other guys but it had everything he needed. The lock was a bit pitiful but, seeing as he was the only one using it, Kurt figured there was no need to have it fixed; it would cost his dad even more in housing fees.

The water hit him hard and fast and succeeded in waking him up instantly. He washed himself over and then reached up to scrub his face. That turned out to be his second mistake of the morning. His cheek seemed to have blown up twice its normal size, and ached like hell when he touched it without care. It was then he allowed himself to nervously pull back the shower curtain and wipe his hand over the steamed up mirror. The glass was still very moist but even through the watery haze he could make out a very red blotch on the white canvas that was his face. He swallowed and closed his eyes. Stop thinking about it. It's not as bad as it looks.

He repeatedly reminded himself how easily he bruised. Like when he looked like Rudolph for a week after his dad bopped his nose playfully, or when he hit his head on his attic ceiling and people asked him if his forehead was sunburnt. No, Blaine didn't have to hit him hard for him to come out like this. Blaine probably didn't hit him hard at all.

But…he shouldn't have hit him in the first place… Kurt knew he was no idiot. Truthfully, he couldn't remember the night before all that well. His talk with Blaine was so brief that he couldn't remember what it was that brought about the blow or if it hurt as bad as his memory claimed it did. Everything was so unclear, and trying to distinguish what was fact and what his mind was making up was too hard for him. It still didn't change the fact, though, that he did not want to see Blaine just yet. He knew they would have to talk about this eventually but right now he just wanted to get the school day over with.

School. Kurt paled at the thought. He had almost forgotten he had class in just under an hour. For once in his life, Kurt did not dress himself with his usual care and attention to detail unless he counted the fact he chose dull, boring colours to go with his uniform to help him fade into the background. Hopefully. Most of his time was spent pressing an icepack to his cheek and using some stage make up to hide the red and blue mark. As it neared eight AM, Kurt eventually had to give up on hiding it completely and resorted to wrapping a Dalton scarf around himself for concealment. Fortunately no one questioned him about his throbbing cheek. Kurt wasn't naïve enough to believe it wasn't noticeable, he was just grateful his classmates and teachers didn't bring it up.

It got to lunchtime after a very long morning of classes. Normally, Kurt would have waited at key points throughout the academy to meet up with Blaine for a 'between-class kiss' but instead he found himself avoiding those areas altogether. It's not like he'd actually be there. He still had his test this morning and would have been doing some last minute studying.

Kurt was beginning to count himself lucky as lunch neared its end and he headed towards one of his last classes. At this rate he could be back in his room without bumping into Blaine at all! The thought made him hopeful, but it was short lived. His French teacher was ill and had left a note telling the class to use the period to revise quietly in the library. Kurt had barely left the room before a hand swooped into his own and pulled him away from his classmates.

'Kurt…'

Alarmed, Kurt turned to meet with Blaine's anxious gaze. It was clear Blaine hadn't slept at all. His hair, although still enviably tousled, was not styled. His flawless skin was uncharacteristically pale apart from the dark half circles beneath his eyes. His tie wasn't arranged neatly; instead it seemed like a child's attempt. Clearly, Blaine had dressed himself last minute and probably hadn’t even glanced in the mirror. Kurt said nothing, but adjusted his satchel whilst clearing his throat.

'Baby,' Blaine's voice quietened to just above a whisper and he pulled them closer to each other and towards the wall at their side. 'H-how are you?'

'Me? Oh, just great, Blaine. You know. As I would be.' Kurt meant his tone to be cutting, but was disappointed in himself when his words came out almost as soft as Blaine's.

However, it still seemed to sting Blaine as he winced. He brought his hand up and stroked Kurt's cheek, causing Kurt to pull back at the vague pain. 'It…doesn't look too bad. A little bruising but it's hardly notica-'

'It's covered in stage make up, you idiot.' Kurt's tone was now cutting as he pulled his hand out of Blaine's and used it to cover his cheek in a protective manner. 'Had an ice pack on it for half an hour, it went numb and I practically painted this side of my face in white make up.'

Blaine's eyes watered up and he seemed genuinely horrified at the thought. 'K-Kurt, baby, I swear to you…I'm so sorry. I-I didn't mean to-I didn't even notice until you…' He took a step closer until he stood the smaller boy into the wall and clasped Kurt's now shaking hand in his. 'I never meant to hurt you. I haven't been able to think straight since-I am so sorry, Kurt…'

Kurt watched him as tears began to fall from his boyfriend's puppy-dog eyes. He willed his heart to not give out to him. 'Did you go to your test?' He found himself asking, but not knowing why he cared.

Blaine looked equally as confused. 'What? Test? I - yeah, I think so.' He took a moment to think. 'Yeah, I did.'

'Good, I didn't want you to miss-'

'I don't care about the test, Kurt!'

'But I do.' Kurt's voice finally overpowered Blaine's. 'And so should you. You're parents pay way too much for you not to.' He wasn't sure why he was focusing on it. He didn't really care this much, but he needed something to distract them from the real issue. Just for a moment. He takes a deep breath. 'I-I can understand. You were upset, maybe nervous about today or something, we got into a fight and it got too heated-that's why you did it. Right?'

Blaine looked perplexed, but realised it wasn't a trap and just nodded along. 'Yeah. Right. I wouldn't ever do something like th-'

'Fine, well, let's just put it in the past, okay?' Kurt cut him off, not wanting to hear any more about it. He bit his lip and tried to ease himself. He hated the pleading, the fear, the confusion – he just wanted to go back to the way they were before this weekend. Blaine clearly did also, as he nodded with him. Then, he cautiously pulled Kurt in to a hug. Kurt didn't stop him, but he didn't return the hug immediately. After a minute or so, Kurt murmured into Blaine's shoulder 'I have to study in the library. You can come if you’re free.'

Blaine smiled through his watery eyes and kissed him carefully. 'I'm free.'