By the time that Kurt was eight, he had started to express an interest in singing and he was, admittedly, quite good for an eight year old. He had started singing every time he heard a song he knew and no matter how many times he sung the same song, Blaine couldn't help but smile each time he heard it. Kurt had taken a particular liking to the Wicked soundtrack, which Blaine found kind of odd considering you didn't really find many eight year old boys who knew the words to every single song from the show. Come to think of it, Blaine wasn't even sure how Kurt found out about Wicked, let alone how he learnt all of the songs. Kurt probably sung more than he spoke, but Blaine sort of adored that about him.

Blaine was in the middle of making dinner when he heard a sweet, childish voice belting out Defying Gravity from the living room. He smiled as he continued to prepare dinner when he heard a loud thump followed by a pained scream and a series of sobs. Blaine quickly ran into the living room where he found Kurt curled up on the floor, clutching his arm and crying his eyes out.

"Hey, what happened?" Blaine asked urgently, kneeling down next to the small boy. Kurt just continued crying and fell into Blaine's arms, seemingly incapable of speaking. He began to cradle the crying boy against his chest but stopped when the eight year old wailed in pain. Without thinking, he gently lifted Kurt into his arms, grabbed his keys and his phone from the kitchen and left to head to the hospital. Well, he tried...

Blaine tried to set Kurt in the passenger seat but the eight year old clung to him with all of the strength he had in the one arm that wasn't hurting. He lifted the tearful boy back out of the car and balanced him on his hip while taking his phone out and dialling Wes's number.

"Wes? Please tell me you're not busy..." Blaine said frantically into the phone.

"Hello to you too, Blaine. No, I'm not. What's up?"

"Kurt's hurt his arm and he won't stop crying. I was gonna take him to the hospital but he won't let me put him in the car and I'm kind of freaking out and-"

"Woah, breathe." Wes said and Blaine let out a shaky breath.

"Do you mind taking us there, please? I wouldn't ask but I just..."

"It's fine, I'll be there soon. Okay?"

"Thank you." Blaine sighed. And with that, Blaine hung up and took the still sobbing boy inside to give him some water before he made himself throw up.

By the time Wes showed up, Kurt had cried himself to sleep, which Blaine was extremely thankful for. He got into the car, sitting Kurt on his lap in case he woke up and freaked out, and cradled his injured arm gently.

Kurt slept the entire way to the hospital, only waking as they were pulling into the hospital car park. He threw his good arm around Blaine's neck as they got out of the car, clinging onto his t-shirt, and buried his face in the twenty seven year old's shoulder, silent tears seeping into his shirt. Blaine made soft shushing noises, trying to get eight year old to calm down.

It turned out that Kurt had broken his arm in two places, but no one knew what he'd actually done as he wouldn't speak to anyone. Wes took Blaine and Kurt back home afterwards, Kurt transfixed with the cast that was wrapped around his arm.

Kurt sat in the living room watching TV while Wes helped Blaine finish dinner. Blaine noticed that Kurt hadn't said a single word all day while they were eating dinner, and Wes seemed to realise that something was wrong.

'You okay?' He mouthed to Blaine, receiving a hesitant nod in response.

"I think..." Wes began, eyeing Blaine carefully but making sure Kurt knew he was speaking to him. "We should all play a game," He continued, noticing the way Blaine picked up on Kurt's instant personality change. "Why don't you go and pick one?" Wes suggested and Kurt quickly hopped off his chair before heading up to his bedroom to find something to play.

"Smooth." Blaine laughed, standing up and taking the plates to the sink.

"Seriously, what's wrong?"

"Nothings 'wrong', it's just...he hasn't said a single word all day."

"What happened to not caring if he didn't want to speak?"

"I don't I just...I feel like he doesn't know that he can talk to me if he wants to." Blaine sighed.

"He's eight, Blaine...you're acting like he's in the middle of a mid-life crisis."

"You know what I mean. The only times he really speaks to me is when he's asking me something, answering something I've said or stuff like that. Most kids at his age don't stop talking."

"He's not like most kids though, you know that more than anyone."

"I guess...I feel kind of bad for him to be honest. I mean he's happy enough, but his parents died when he was five."

"And then you swooped in to take care of him, being the amazing, caring person that you are."

"You make me sound like I'm some kind of hero." Blaine laughed.

"You're more of a hero than you think." Wes said honestly.

Kurt came running into the kitchen after that, holding what Blaine assumed to be his favourite game, and just stared at the two friends for a few moments until they all went into the living room.

Wes left a little later on and Blaine took Kurt upstairs and helped him get into his pyjamas before taking him downstairs to watch TV and eat ice cream.

Kurt dropped his spoon into his bowl when he was finished and leant his head against Blaine's arm.

"You okay, little one?" Blaine asked, moving his arm so that he was encircling Kurt as the eight year old snuggled up to his side.

Kurt nodded and cuddled up closer.

After a while, Blaine could see Kurt was beginning to fall asleep and stood up, taking Kurt's bowl and putting it in the sink before returning to the living room and kneeling in front of the sleepy boy.

"Come on." Blaine smiled, standing up and holding his hand out for Kurt.

Kurt lazily took Blaine's hand and let himself be led up the stairs and into his bedroom, where Blaine proceeded to thoroughly tuck him into bed before going to leave the room.

"Blaine?" Kurt said quietly from where his head was barely peeping above the cover on his bed.

"Yeah?" Blaine asked, turning around to face the little boy.

"Can you stay with me for a little while, please?" Kurt questioned, barely audible.

Blaine smiled softly, even though Kurt probably couldn't see properly in the dark, and made his way back over to Kurt's bed before sitting on the edge and gently ran his fingers through the eight year old's hair until he fell asleep.

Blaine stood up from where he was seated on the edge of Kurt's bed and bent down to place a tiny kiss to his hair before silently leaving the room and retreating to his own bedroom where he fell asleep instantly.