Rachel had noticed that he'd stayed in the shelter of his corner of the apartment most days. Not coming out even to watch movies with her and Santana on Fridays, even when they'd offered to let him pick. He'd only politely declined saying he had 'A lot of work to do', which Rachel assumed was related with his internship. 

Isabelle had noticed that at work he'd stayed solitary at his desk most days. Just doing whatever was assigned to him without talking to anyone, not even her. He didn't eat lunch with anyone, and even left the office during his lunch break. She wondered if it had to do with anything at his house. She made a mental note to not send him home with any sort of work to do, she was sure he had enough on his plate. 

Burt had noticed that his phone calls to home were much shorter. And mostly one sided. Kurt had on multiple occasions just let his father talk about all of the things going on within his life without once adding something to do with his. And Burt knew something must have been up, because there had to have been a million things he was doing up there in New York. 

But Blaine had been the first one to really notice just how off he was. 

He'd only been in the city for a month the first time he'd realized it. They were sitting across from each other at the closest starbucks to Kurt's apartment, casually speaking of work and vogue and classes at NYADA. Blaine was rambling about something his dorm mate had done when Kurt looked down at his phone. He stared down at it for less than ten seconds before putting it back in his pocket promptly. 

"I have to go." He said simply, standing with his cup in his hand and walking a few feet away. 

"Okay." Blaine stuttered out, speechlessly. "I'll call you later so we can talk some more." He sent Kurt a smile, which he returned with less enthusiasm and more nervousness.  

He spent the next few hours pondering what could have been so important that he'd nearly bolted from the coffee shop so quickly with barely a goodbye. It could have been anything, it could have been Rachel, or Santana, or maybe his dad was trying to call him. Blaine had known that they didn't get to talk often. But he couldn't pull the nagging thought from the back of his head that something wasn't right about him just leaving like that. 

His suspicion and worry only hit a new peak when Kurt was showing up later and later to their "dates" on week days after dance class every other day when the two of them had them. 

Sure, they weren't really dates. They couldn't be dates if the two of them weren't together. And they certainly couldn't be dates if Kurt was seeing Adam anyway. 

It wasn't that he didn't like Adam. It was just that he hated him. He hated that he was so polite, so proper all the time. Always smiling at Blaine, which in no way was normal. Who smiles at their boyfriend's ex who broke his heart?! Not anyone in their right mind, that's who. He got really agravated because he felt like Adam didn't do half of the things that he'd done for Kurt, just to make him smile, or make his day even if by just a little bit, better. Yet Kurt still thought he was the moon and the stars above. But he knew he wasn't allowed to be jealous, Kurt wasn't his. At least not anymore. 

And when Kurt didn't show at all one day at Starbucks, Blaine was more than a little worried.

The worry became more of a panic when neither Rachel, Santana, or Isabelle knew where he was either. He knew the last of his options would be to call Adam, which he could think of at least a thousand things he'd rather do, but that wasn't important. Not now. Now he just needed to find out where Kurt was.  

He flipped through his phone to find the most recently added to his contacts, that had only been added because Kurt had insisted that they'd all talk to each other. He was sure Adam had already deleted his number after Kurt had asked him to add it anyway. He pressed the green button to engage in a call. He listened to the rings not so tentatively before the call was answered. 

"Hello?" 

"Adam? Hey! It's Blaine, I was just wondering if you happened to know where Kurt was. We were supposed to go out for coffee today and he didn't show and no one's been able to get to him and-" 

"He's fine. Don't worry about it." Blaine was quickly greated again by a dial tone. 

Blaine stood in shock. What the hell does that mean? He sighed, weighing in his options of what to do. 

Twenty minutes later he found himself sitting on the couch of Rachel, Kurt, and Santana's apartment with both of the girls on either of his sides. After telling both of them what Adam had said over the phone earlier, they were both at his side waiting for Kurt to get home. All of them understanding that something about that phonecall wasn't right. 

"I should have known Dr Who wasn't right somehow. He was just too polite." Santana spat. 

Blaine sat silently, not knowing what to tell her. He sighed, pushing himself deeper into the couch and tried to relax. It couldn't be as bad as he thought. Maybe it wasn't a big deal. Maybe he was just overreacting. Maybe Adam was- Blaine's thoughts were interrupted by the door opening. 

Kurt appeared like he as trying to sneak in, dropping his bag at the door. He turned to see three faces watching him suspiciously. 

"Can I help you guys?" He asked. 

"Where have you been?" Rachel piped up first. 

"You were supposed to come and help me find an outfit for my date tomorrow." Santana was next. 

"You forgot about our coffee date today." Blaine was the last to speak up, his voice quiet and nervous. 

"It wasn't a date." He bit out. "And I'm sorry I was late, I was with Adam I-" 

"What the hell is that?" Santana pointed at Kurt's face. A bright red mark that was already becoming a nasty yellow rimmed bruise was covering two thirds of Kurt's cheek. 

The all of the color but the ugly bruise that had just been discovered. drained from Kurt's face. "What are you talking about?" 

"You know damn good and well what I'm talking about!" Santana accused, walking closer to Kurt. Blaine and Rachel weren't far behind her. Blaine noticed that Kurt was picking at his nails, a surefire sign that he was nervous. As his eyes traveled up Kurt's arm he discovered the nasty purple marks on his arms, shaped like perfect finger marks. He stepped up further grabbing Kurt's arm, in which he hissed and pulled away. 

"Kurt, what's going on?" He asked, his voice brimmed with tears. 

"I-" He tried. 

"He's hurting you." Rachel whispered. 

Kurt's mouth stayed open, unable to say anything in response. Santana quieted and Blaine felt the tears that were threatening to fall spilling over on to his cheeks. The older boy felt his knees give out underneath him and he sank to the ground. Blaine was the first at his side. 

"How could you not say anything?" He whispered into Kurt's shoulder. 

"I-I Jus-Just couldn't." He said quietly, still not crying like everyone around him. "He's the first person to take care of me since-" He stopped quickly, just now letting tears fall from his eyes. He only pushed himself further into Blaine, the younger boy wrapped his arms around him. 

"We'll take care of this I promise. You'll never have to see him again."  He mumbled into Kurt's hair, feeling him shake underneath him. 

Kurt only nodded underneath him, letting Blaine tighten his arms around him. 

"I'm sorry Kurt. I'm so sorry. I'll never let anyone hurt you again. I promise." He mumbled the phrases repeatedly into his ex. It would be a long time before Kurt was okay, but he was sure he'd be by his side to make sure he got there eventually.