Jesse arrived at work that evening feeling rather down; he hissed at his colleagues and couldn’t stop thinking about that damned Kurt Hummel. He’d given Kurt the role as Fiyero, not only because he was perfect for the part, but also because Jesse had felt attracted to him since the first time he’d laid eyes on him. Kurt had looked absolutely stunning in his fashionable clothes and pushed-back hair, and when he had shaken Jesse’s hand Jesse ad been amazed by his extremely soft skin. He’d thought that it would fade eventually, but the feeling had just grown stronger, and now that idiotic Blaine Anderson had come in and messed with everything. Jesse crumbled a piece of paper in his hand; he needed a way to break those two up, and he needed a way to get Blaine fired and most of all, he needed a way to get Kurt Hummel for himself. He sighed and poured some more whiskey.
By eleven, when tonight’s performance was over, Jesse was having a hard time standing straight. He had drunk too much whisky, causing him to fumble with his papers. He decided to let it be for tonight and grabbed his coat. He stumbled down the hallway, but was stopped suddenly by a singing voice - Kurt’s voice.
Jesse ripped the door open, and a surprised shriek sounded before him. Then it was like something took over his body, a mix of alcohol and fury, and he remembers launching forward, hitting Kurt in the stomach. He remembers hitting him in the face, pulling his hair, the way Kurt screamed as the pain attacked him in a new place and kept on coming, the punches and kicks and curses and hateful words, until Jesse spat on Kurt’s face, turned around and stormed out the door as quickly as he’d entered.

Blaine looked at the clock. Kurt had promised to swing by when his performance was over, but it had been over an hour since he should have been at Blaine’s and Blaine was getting anxious. He decided to take a cab into the theatre and look for him he knew he probably wouldn’t be there; he’d probably just forgotten about their plans, but he had to make sure he was okay. He wasn’t.

Blaine found Kurt in his room, lying on the floor, his eye black, and his clothing ripped. As soon as he stepped in, Kurt started crying. The tears just wouldn’t stop, and all Blaine could do was hold him tight, rocking him, till he calmed down a little.

‘’What happened Kurt? Who did this?’’

‘’J…Jesse’’ Kurt said between sobs, tears flowing, and when Blaine tried to help Kurt stand, he cried out in pain. Blaine was worried out of his mind. He lifted Kurt and put him in the big chair in the corner.
Kurt spoke very quietly “he… he… Blaine…’’ his voice broke.
Blaine didn’t need to hear more; he just needed to get Kurt to a hospital. He felt the rage rise in his chest and shook his head.

Kurt nodded slowly, looking down. ‘’Blaine, it hurts,’’ Kurt said quietly, burying his head in Blaine’s shoulder.

‘’Where? Please tell me,” Blaine implored, trying to keep himself from shaking too badly. He was going to kill Jesse for this, or at least confront him, that was for sure, but first he had to get Kurt out of there. He supported Kurt on the way out onto the street, and got a cab.

The hospital patched Kurt up quickly. Luckily, the damage wasn’t too severe, and they drove to Blaine’s place in silence.

‘’I need a shower,’’ Kurt said simply as they entered the tiny apartment.

Blaine stood in the living room, listening Kurt sob while he showered, and Blaine didn’t know what to do. He could call the police, but he wasn’t sure if Kurt wanted that. He could confront Jesse, but he was, like, four inches taller than Blaine and most likely a lot stronger. He sighed and sat down on the couch Kurt had tried to sleep on last night. He smiled at the memory, but his expression faded as the water stopped running in the bathroom.
Five minutes later Kurt stepped out, hair wet. His clothes seemed to hang on him; his eyes were red and swollen, and he looked like he could fall to the floor any minute. Blaine stood immediately and ran over to him, wrapping his arms around him. ‘’You need to tell me exactly what happened.’’
Kurt nodded and Blaine seated him down the couch and sat beside him, holding his hand.
Kurt’s voice was shaky, but he managed to speak. ‘’He… he was drunk, and stormed in and just… started hitting me like a lunatic.’’
Blaine nodded, placing a soothing hand around Kurt’s shoulders. ‘’should I call the police?’’

‘’N-No, please don’t, not yet it’s…,’’ Kurt said, the tears running down his face again.

‘’Okay, I won’t, I promise.’’

‘’I just don’t want to lose my job,’’ Kurt said. Blaine nodded because he didn’t know what else to do.

Then silence fell as Blaine rocked him in his arms until Kurt eventually fell asleep. Blaine was too angry at Jesse to be able to sleep, and he hated that this had happened to someone as wonderful as Kurt. He didn’t deserve this. He deserved applause and love, and someone he could trust. At least he had Blaine. That had to count for something.

The next morning Kurt could stand without hurting too badly, and Blaine had made him a large breakfast as if it somehow would make him feel better, it was silly really; the guy had been beaten up; of course it wouldn’t help a thing, but Kurt actually smiled as he entered the kitchen.
They held hands during the quiet meal, even thought it made eating awkward. Blaine just didn’t know another way to soothe him other than to hold on to his hand.

‘’Did you sleep well?’’ Blaine asked quietly, eyeing Kurt’s black eye. The swollen skin looked a little better, but he’d need an awful lot of makeup tonight.

‘’Mhm,’’ Kurt answered, still looking down at his pancakes. ‘’can I ask you a question Blaine,’’ he asked.

‘’Sure,’’ Blaine said a little too cheerfully Kurt sounded extremely serious, and for some reason it made him a little nervous.

‘’I assume that you like me,’’ Kurt started. ‘’Would you tell me why… please?’’

Oh.

‘’Um, I thought that was obvious. You’re amazing Kurt, everything you do and say, it’s just… I’ve never met anyone like you.’’

Kurt moved a little in his seat. ‘’So… It’s not because I’m, well, quite famous? Cause I noticed the first time I met you, you looked like you were about to drop dead anytime, and I thought you were just another fan, ’’he said, sounding a little apologetic.

‘’Okay, to tell you the truth…’’ Blaine hesitated; he’d never thought that he would be sitting in his apartment, talking to Kurt Hummel, about this. ‘’I kind of liked you way before I met you. I’ve seen you perform a million times and when I saw you outside that hotel, it was magical. But I have to say, you are not what I expected; you are so much more than I expected, so much more, Kurt.’’

When Kurt finally looked up he had tears in his eyes ‘’I, I don’t remember.’’

‘’what, Kurt?’’ Blaine quickly stood and went around the table to sit next to him.

‘’I’m so sorry Blaine, but I don’t remember seeing you outside that hotel. There are usually so many people and I…,’’

‘’Hey,’’ Blaine quickly said, ‘’it’s okay; I don’t expect you to remember. There were so many fans and I was just another one of them.’’

Kurt looked up at him. ‘’But I don’t want to be the famous Kurt Hummel to you, I just want to be me, to be Kurt, you know?’’

Blaine felt like tearing up as well but quickly pulled himself together. ‘’You are Kurt. You mean so much to me, and that’s not because you’re famous, or extremely good looking. It’s because you’re you.’’

Kurt drew in a shaky breath. ‘’Really?’
‘’Really, really.’ Blaine smiled at Kurt.

‘’Good, ‘cause sometimes I don’t quite know, and wait a sec, I’m ‘extremely good looking’?’’

Now it was Blaine’s turn to get insecure. He blushed a little; he’d obviously gotten slightly carried away there. ‘’Well… Yes. You didn’t know?’’

Kurt smiled. ‘’’ I know, but it’s nice hearing it coming from you anyway,’’
Blaine would have elbowed him if it weren’t for his injuries, and decided to change the topic instead. ‘’You think you can perform tonight?’’

Kurt’s smile faded a little. ‘’I have to, don’t I?’’ he sighed heavily. ‘’Sometime I wish I could just take a week off, go somewhere nice, Europe maybe. Would you go to Europe with me, Blaine?’’

Blaine smiled at him, ‘’of course I would.’’

They stayed in for the rest of the day, watching ‘The Bachelorette’ on Blaine’s old TV. Kurt didn’t complain about the quality or the lack of space, and he seemed oddly relaxed for someone who’d just gotten beaten up.

In the afternoon came around they grabbed some quick food, and then took a cab to the theatre. They both would have preferred staying home, cuddling on the couch watching TV, but this needed to be done. Blaine had called Wes earlier and told him about the situation (with permission from Kurt, of course), and Wes had insisted on coming along to help confront Jesse.
They met him back the theatre. Kurt was supposed to go on in an hour, which should give them enough time.

Blaine banged through the door to Jesse’s office and Jesse looked completely frightened until he saw who it was; then his expression just turned hateful. ‘’Guess I should have seen this one coming,’’ he mumbled and rose. ‘’what can I help you with, gentlemen?’’ he asked as politely as he could manage at the moment.
‘’Drop the act, Jesse,’’ Blaine hissed, feeling himself become even more angry. Kurt put an arm on his shoulder to hold him back from hitting Jesse. Wes took over from there.
‘’We know what you did to Kurt, and you need to back off now.’’
Jesse raised his eyebrows and then laughed, ‘’or what? You’re going to beat me up? Your own boss, or at least Blaine and Kurt’s boss anyway. I don’t know who the hell you are.’’

‘’I’m Wesley Montgomery,’’ Wes said.

Jesse shrugged ‘’whatever,’’ he mumbled. ‘’If you’re all done wasting my time, you can leave.’’

‘’We’re not going to leave until you give me an apology, or I’ll go to the police and then you might just lose your job,’’ Kurt said, sounding the calmest of the three. Blaine thought it sounded a bit silly, Jesse needed to go to jail, not apologize. But Kurt’s beloved job was hanging by a thread, and Blaine knew how important it was for him, even more important than Blaine, he guessed ii was his whole life, anyway. Jesse laughed, ‘’they can’t arrest me, I’m famous, and they wouldn’t believe you anyway. You’re just part of the cast and you know what? I could fire you right now if I wanted to and that’s your own fault, do you hear me? Your fault!”

Kurt shook his head, ‘’Jesse please, you don’t mean that we used to be friends, or almost friends. Why did you do it anyway, Jesse? If it was Blaine you wouldn’t you have beaten him up instead?”
‘’Of course it’s not Blaine!’’ Jesse spat ‘’It’s you Hummel, don’t you get that!? You and your hair and your tight jeans and your voice.’’ Something shone in Jesse’s eyes.
‘’And then you choose to run off with that… that hobbit! He’s unnaturally short!’’

‘’I have a name you know!’’ Blaine yelled, ‘’and even though you clearly have a thing or my boyfriend, you need to back off, and especially stop beating him up, it’s sick!’’
Jesse took a step forward. ‘’And you need to stop telling me what to do!’’

Kurt pulled Blaine’s shirt. ‘’This isn’t helping. Blaine, let’s get out of here.’’ The three of them slowly backed out of the room, leaving Jesse standing on the floor, furious.
Wes left shortly after he’d given Kurt and Blaine his opinion about Jesse; he was clearly as upset as Blaine.

Then they were alone in Kurt’s room. ‘’I’m sorry about all that,’’ Blaine said, placing a hand on the side of Kurt’s face. ‘’We’ll find a way so you can keep your job. We just need to get rid of Jesse...’’
‘’No, Blaine’’ Kurt interrupted. ‘’Jesse is a good boss; I don’t want him to leave.’’

Blaine’s eyebrows crumbled, ‘’Why?’’

‘’I need him. We all need him. Without him this set wouldn’t work. He drinks too much yeah, and he gets violent, but he’s important and good at his job. I don’t want him to get fired.’’

Blaine looked up at him. ‘’You’re too good, you know.’’

Kurt smiled. ‘’I know,’’ he said before he leaned in and pressed his soft lips against Blaine’s, who, to Kurt’s surprise, quickly pulled away.

‘’But what if he kills you next time? Then I will sit there, knowing it was my fault that you died! I can’t live with that Kurt!’’

Kurt chuckled lightly though Blaine didn’t find it the least bit funny. ‘’I promise that I won’t die Blaine. I can handle Jesse. I just need to know that you won’t do anything stupid, like beating him up for example.’’

‘’Yeah, I could do that,’’ Blaine said a little distantly.

Kurt grabbed his hands. ‘’No! Promise me you won’t!’’

This time Blaine grinned. ‘’No I won’t, ‘’ and he was completely certain that he could have promised Kurt anything at that moment, and have kept that promise.

Kurt planted a second Kiss on Blaine’s lips. ‘’and by the way, you protecting me in Jesse’s office before? Super hot.’’

Blaine felt his face grow hotter but still managed to smile at his boyfriend who had a big smirk on his face.