He shifts under the covers, tearing his eyes away from that photo and the memory that she would die just three weeks later in the process. Blaine slid down and rolled over to face Kurt, bringing up a hand to brush back some of his hair that had fallen out of place.

"Can I ask you something?" He was whispering, face mere inches away from Kurt's, whose eyes slipped closed before he nodded. Soft lips pressed against his forehead and the hand returned to brush his hair once more. "What the hell happened to you?" 

Kurt kept his eyes closed but snorted sadly, curling into himself slightly, "How long do you have?"

Blaine frowned but stayed silent when Kurt opened his eyes and stared blankly at him before rolling onto his back, head resting on the forearm not next to Blaine, eyes now firmly fixed on the shadows flitting across his ceiling.

"I don't even know where to start." His hand that lays in-between them searches until his fingers tangle with Blaine's, "It's not like I have a hard home life. It's not perfect; hasn't been since mom died but it's not bad." He rolls his head slightly to look at Blaine again; mentally cursing the scratchy feeling building up behind his eyes. "My dad loves me, I know he does, he just...he doesn't get it and it's hard for him."

Blaine doesn't offer any clear reaction other than to squeeze his hand tightly, absentmindedly playing with his fingers with the hand not gripping his. "It was really hard after..."

"How did it happen?" Blaine's voice is soft, almost as if he can't tell if he should be asking but knows he needs to keep Kurt talking if he wants to find out anything.

"Car crash. She was picking me up from school and I was being a brat." He can feel the tears building up and tenses his jaw in an attempt to stall them, "I was always picked on, I can't remember what happened only that I was pissed off and upset and I was sulking. And she was trying so hard to get my attention from the back seat when I wouldn't answer that she didn't see the other car about to run a red a light. It hit the driver's side and rolled us."

He clenched his fists, momentarily forgetting he was holding Blaine's hand in his until the other boy let out a quiet hiss and resumed stroking his knuckles as they relaxed. "She didn't die right away; she kept talking to me. Telling me it was okay and that I was being really brave and that she needed me to be brave for a little bit longer." Kurt shook his head, frowning sadly, "I don't remember much, only that I was terrified, in a shit load of pain and that we were both crying and screaming."

Blaine pressed a hard kiss to his shoulder, keeping his head rested there as Kurt stared above them, only acknowledging the gesture by shifting closer. "I broke a lot of bones and hit my head really hard so I was in the hospital for ages. But mom, she, part of the car door broke off and went into her side, she lost too much blood and by the time they got us both to surgery her heart gave up. Died on the table."

He took a deep breath, blinked and carried on, it had been over nine years; he could tell the story without having a breakdown for Christ's sake. "After that school got a little bit easier. No one wanted to be the kid who hits 'poor little Hummel' with his casts and dead mommy. Home got difficult - I could hear dad crying when he wasn't around me, so I would only cry when I was alone, and he didn't know what to do with a kid who wouldn't do anything but stare at walls and read alone. I dealt though; I just did it alone, and acted tougher than I felt because I couldn't let him down."

He smiled wryly at Blaine. "Of course then I turned thirteen and suddenly the other kids realised I was still a freak and the bullying picked up. Standard bullying among kids in Lima; dumpster tosses, pee balloons, insults, beatings...having all my patio furniture nailed to the roof," at that he let out a harsh laugh, "Have to give them props for that one; originality and all that."

Blaine's staring at him again; Kurt can almost feel his disbelieving stare. "They...they nailed your garden furniture to your roof?"

"Uh huh. I still can't understand the logistics of that particular prank but it was oddly impressive; if really fucking aggravating to get down before my dad got home." Another dark laugh. "All before I officially came out too...not that it was ever needed, my closest may as well been made of glass."

"It's constant isn't it? The shit people like us go through." He felt Blaine nod against his shoulder. "It's not enough for us to get it in school but it's everywhere; out on the fucking streets while we have dinner. I learnt to cope; or I tried my hardest anyway. Turns out all I did was let it build and build until I snapped."

Both boys shifted slightly at the sound of the front door slamming shut and heavy foot steps banging back up to a room just down the hall. A quick glance towards his bedroom door showed it to be locked firmly, offering a bit of relief at his idiot step-brother not barging in on them.

He fell quiet, eyes still fixed on the ceiling as he listened to the boy next to him breathe and his step-brother fumble around in his bedroom. Apparently he stayed quiet for too long because Blaine eventually lifted himself up onto one elbow, bringing their still joint hands up onto Kurt's chest. "Hey, you don't have to..."

But he did, didn't he? Because Karofsky wasn't backing off and honestly, Kurt was terrified. He's not scared of the other jocks; hell, they're all wary or relatively frightened of him now but Karofsky? He's different. He made it his life's mission to single Kurt out shortly after he officially came out.

"Only Quinn knows," he muttered and this time he curls into Blaine's shoulder, "Part of it anyway, only what she saw." He nuzzled in closer, "I er, fuck it was almost a year ago, he was relentless. I had bruises on top of bruises from the day school kicked back off again and I'm pretty sure they were all his fucking handy work. Got sick of it, and I was venting to Puck one night and he asked why I didn't ever try to stand up to him when I'd never had a problem doing it with anyone else."

Kurt clenched the hand on Blaine's chest, scrunching up his polo as a result. The dark haired boy didn't say anything, only moved the hand running up and down said forearm to cover his hand. "I didn't have an answer. I mean he looked at me differently and no one else had it in for me like he did but it never occurred to me why. So when he slammed me into a locker the next day I ran after him." He lifted his head slightly to find Blaine's eyes. "It didn't go well for me."

He stayed silent despite the curiosity in Blaine's eyes; kept his gaze on a crack in the plasterboard opposite. All the while fighting back bitter tears and the bile he could feel rising in the back of his throat. Clearly he stayed silent too long because Blaine moved so that they were both sitting up against the headboard.

"What do you mean?" Kurt ignored him, shaking his head slightly like he had water in his ears. He could feel a cocktail of rage, despair and panic beginning to build up. Dammit, this is why you shut down Kurt, this is why we don't fucking think about shit like this.

"Hey, Kurt, c'mon look at me, what happened?" Blaine's hands were resting on either side of his jaw, coaxing his face round gently until he was forced to look at the other boy's face. "My mind is kind of jumping to all sorts of 'worst case scenarios' over here." 

Kurt blinked roughly, shutting down against tears and emotional outbursts was what he was good at, but he couldn't bring himself to close off to Blaine.

"Quinn found my bag in the hall."

Thinking about saying the words out loud right now made him want to throw up or smash something; preferably both. "She was looking for me 'cause I hadn't shown up to class. I owe her everything for that; if she hadn't come when she did, I..." he let out a watery hiccough, "I don't want to think about what could have gone down."

He could see it happening again. Running after the bully, finding him in the locker room and just screaming at him, unloading all of his frustration onto his biggest tormentor only to be shoved roughly up against the lockers and having his first kiss with a boy stolen.

"He...Kurt he didn't...." Blaine shifted to face Kurt a bit more.

"No, he didn't do...that. He, er, he kissed me." He snorts angrily because it sounds almost trivial when put like that, "roughed me up a bit too when I fought back."

Kurt had to force himself to stay in bed and not give into the urge to vomit at the memory of it. Pushing the jock away when he'd gone in for another kiss only deterred him for a moment - only served to piss him off even more so that Kurt was slammed to the floor, pinned by the much larger body of Karofsky as he kicked out and struggled to get away. He'd felt the other boys crotch, sickeningly hard against his hip before he was kneed in the ribs for struggling, when that didn't make him stop fighting back he took a right hook to the face. Quinn walked in to find Kurt still trying to get away despite the blows being reigned down on him.

He didn't realise he was shaking until Blaine dropped one hand from his jaw to tangle their fingers back together, the thumb of his other hand gently stroking the now purple bruise from jumping in front of Blaine earlier.

Keeping his eyes downcast on their joint hands Kurt let Blaine angle his head slightly as he leant in to place butterfly kisses along the mark. Following it towards the corner of his mouth where he whispered, "You're sort of amazing, did you know that?" before planting his lips on top of Kurt's firmly. It was almost like Blaine was trying to wipe away the memory of Karofsky's chapped lips with every swipe of his tongue.

"You are," He adds against Kurt's lips when the older boy let out a muffled denial, he pulls back to smile gently at the skank, "You might not see it, the entire school or town might not see it but I do. So do Quinn and Puck; and Beth. I literally spent about five minutes with her and it was obvious that she thinks the world of you. You worry about your dad more than any teenager I've ever met and you stopped me from possibly getting my ass handed to me, then decided to become my friend when you could've walked away."

Kurt bit his lip, "I nearly did. I tried so hard to walk away from you."

"I know. I'm really glad you didn't."

"I'm really glad I didn't too." Shifting so he was laying back down Kurt reached up to cradle the back of Blaine's neck before tugging him back down for another kiss. He could feel Blaine's smile against his own as the other boy moved to lay half on top of him, elbowing him in the ribs in the process.

Kurt let out a quiet laugh, "Smooth Anderson."

This time Blaine delivered a sharp poke to the opposite rib causing Kurt to jerk away. "Shut up, that's harder than it looks." Kurt was still laughing as he rolled onto his side to face Blaine who moved to share the pillow, almost nose to nose with him.

"You never told anyone did you?"

Kurt felt the small smile slowly slip from his face as the mood sobered once again. "I told you only Quinn knows." Blaine frowned slightly, staring at Kurt while Kurt in turn let his eyes wander all over his room, anywhere but Blaine.

"McKinley is my third high school since I was fifteen, I'm seventeen."

Kurt blinked, eyes flitting back over Blaine who was now biting his bottom lip and staring determinedly at the covers around their waists. "What?"

"I transferred to Dalton for my sophomore year; well it was supposed to be my sophomore year."

"Blaine," Kurt hesitated, he didn't quite understand what the other boy was doing, "What...why are you telling me this?"

"Because you told me something that not everyone knows, so...least I can do is return the favour." He took a deep breath before mirroring Kurt's earlier position of lying on his back, eyes closed.

"Did you know I'm meant to be a senior?" Kurt shook his head even though Blaine couldn't see him, feeling his stomach twist up in almost horrified anticipation. Please tell me it's because you're dyslexic. Please. "I came out when I was fourteen. I didn't even mean to - we were having dinner and my dad just kept on and on about this new girl who'd moved in up the road and how I should ask her out and it slipped out...kind of, I sort of shouted "I'm gay" at him and left the room. I assume people starting spreading rumours around at school when I stopped answering or outright denying being gay if people asked and then next thing I know the whole damn school is calling me a faggot. Before that I was just another anonymous freshman. " 

Kurt could feel his entire body tensing, itching to go and start a fight with one of these little shits. Forcing himself to relax, he moved to nuzzle into Blaine's bicep, placing light kisses on top of his sleeve every now and again.

"I had notes left in my locker telling me I sick in the head or to go and off myself," Blaine's voice cracked on the last syllable and Kurt reacted by squeezing his arm tighter, placing more kisses on his shoulder all while trying to not seethe too much - he knew how those notes felt; he'd had plenty. "I had one saving grace, there was this boy in junior year who was out as well; I guess you could say he took me under his wing...he became my only friend."

"So he was your gay Yoda?"

Blaine hiccoughed out a sharp giggle, "Yeah, anyway we carried on and just after Valentines Day there was this Sadie Hawkins dance...I don't remember whose idea it was but we decided to hell with it and went as friends. No one bothered us really; we got looks and comments behind our backs but that was it. So we left, thinking we'd just conquered the school and nothing could get to us now."

Opening his eyes Blaine turned his head to face Kurt - amber eyes ridiculously wide and watery. "I don't remember much, I know it hurt and I know they used baseball bats and broke my leg, five ribs, my collar bone and I needed surgery because one of the ribs was close to ripping a hole in my lung. They put Jamie in a coma and he doesn't remember who I am."

"Fuck, Blaine I..."

"I didn't tell anyone at Dalton the details, told them I got beat up and that was it. They know I'm gay, I'm never going back into the closet, but I didn't really tell them everything."

Kurt stared opened mouthed at Blaine, moving his hands so that one was underneath their shared pillow and the other stroked along imaginary lines surrounding Blaine's face. "So why did you tell me?"

Blaine shrugged. "You showed me yours I showed you mine."

Kurt couldn't help the cheeky smile that started to grow, "Ahh, is that how this is going to work then? Seems fair enough." He chuckled when Blaine lightly shoved him.

"Dalton was my safe haven. When dad told me he was pulling me out and two days later I'm back in a homophobic public school...it, it kind of threw me for a loop. I mean I might have kept some stuff to myself but those guys were the only friends I had and he just, took it all away to make me 'man up'."

"You don't need to man up." He moved forward to seal his lips over Blaine's briefly, smiling when the other boy tried to chase them when he pulled back. "He threatened to kill me if I told anyone. So I didn't, but I just felt so weak and out of control and I, to paraphrase my dad and grandparents 'went off of the rails' a little bit. Not one of my friends noticed except Q and Puck, or if they did they never said anything or tried to help. Everything just started pilling up and I couldn't handle it. I like who I am now, I'm different but I'm still me, but even I know that the bullying was a catalyst. I started hanging out with Puck and Quinn more, started drinking and smoking, got my first piercings, changed my clothes started punching kids back in school...got a tattoo and dropped out of glee."

Kurt sighed and ran a hand through his already messed up hair and looked over to Blaine, he seemed to realise that they needed a subject change, to move away from the more heavy subjects. His golden eyes flicked over Kurt's face, the hand not under the pillow playing with the now lilac strands of Kurt's hair.

"Did it hurt?" His eyes are on Kurt's eyebrow, tracing over the titanium bell bar as his hand moved to run feather-light over the piercings in his left ear.

"Not really. They're a little bit addictive."

"How many do you have?"

"Umm..." Kurt scrunched up his nose as he mentally counted, "nine...yeah nine."

Blaine's eye widened a little bit, "Nine?"

"Uh-huh, I got the first three done at the same time and got hooked. I blame Puck for introducing me to the place."

Blaine let out a quiet laugh and shuffled a bit closer so that when Kurt didn't focus on too hard his eyes blurred into one large golden-brown orb. "I like them."

Kurt raised both eyebrows and smirked at him. "Really?"

Blaine's soft smile morphed into a grin, "Uh-huh, turns out the whole bad-boy image really works for me."

"Well that's a very good thing isn't it?" He didn't give Blaine a chance to answer before he was leaning forward, placing his lips over Blaine's and moving impossibly closer.

Kurt jolted awake to sound of the front door slamming as Finn left for the garage. He leant up on his elbows slightly to glance over to his alarm clock, half past eight. "Fucking hell." He groaned dropping his head back down onto the mattress, arms clutching the pillow just above his head tighter as he yawned. He rolled his head to the left to see Blaine shifting to onto his side to face him, frowning slightly as he began to wake up.

A small whimper escaped his lips causing Kurt to bite back a giggle, Blaine's frown deepened as he opened his eyes in the muted morning light. "Too early."

Kurt did laugh at that. "Finn likes to think he still lives in a barn. Shutting doors quietly isn't a skill he has." He pulled a face at how rusty his voice sounds so he kept everything at a whisper.

Blaine squeezed his eyes shut and moved to burry his face in the spot next to his shoulder, tugging the covers up to his nose. "Too early."

Kurt's still laughing quietly as he snuggled further down into the warmth provided by the covers and now Blaine's body heat. "Is that all you can say?"

"No. Need coffee...it's early."

"Go back to sleep." He dropped a kiss to Blaine's hairline, pulling a face at the gel that he forgot to wash out last night before thinking fuck it; it's too early to care and keeping his face pressed to the top of Blaine's head.

Blaine shakes his head and tries to press himself closer into the mattress and Kurt's side; "I'm 'wake now."

"Barely." Kurt perked up slightly when he remembers the cheesecake they didn't eat last night that he mercifully shoved into the fridge on their way up to his bedroom. Cheesecake for breakfast sounds really good. Cheesecake for breakfast in bed sounds even better so he rolls to side and stumbles out of the mess of covers and Blaine makes an affronted sound, opens his eyes and fixes them blearily on Kurt.

"No...warm."

"I'll be back."

"But...warm."

Kurt moved sluggishly downstairs, shuffles over to the fridge to pull out the box, grabs two forks from a draw. The coffee pot was still full from Finn's small mug he only ever has before he leaves for work this early so Kurt filled two. Although he doesn't always like black coffee he does drink it and knows Blaine does and it might be the thing needed to get the other boy to move towards using full sentences.

He backed into his room feeling like a balancing act with the box, cutlery and mugs. Blaine's eye's are closed but he lifts his head almost as soon as Kurt toed the bedroom door shut again, squinted eyes following as he makes his way back to his side, places the mugs down on the nightstand before climbing awkwardly back under the covers.

"Is that the cheesecake?" Blaine's voice is croaky but at least it's more than two words.

"Mmhmm and coffee if you want - "

"Gimme!" Blaine sat up against the headboard half slumped against Kurt's side all the while making grabby hands for one of the mugs, letting out a happy hum when Kurt passed him one.

Kurt smiled at the childlike joy giving Blaine a cup of coffee seemed to invoke, though granted it was early and Blaine seemed like even less of a morning person than he was, before grabbing one of the forks and diving into his breakfast, pretty much shovelling twice as much as he should be able to fit in his mouth in.

Blaine snorted looking highly amused.

Kurt swallowed as much as he could, "Shu' up, issh fuckin' goo'."

Blaine let out a tired sounding laugh, "I'm sorry; what was that again?" Kurt narrowed his eyes at him before poking the shin closest to him with his toe. Blaine jerked his leg away still giggling and leant across Kurt to place his coffee back, grab and fork and take a small amount of cake.

Kurt raised his eyebrows almost expectantly. "Well?"

Blaine moaned in response much to Kurt's smug satisfaction. "See, it's amazing."

Blaine nodded silently, his mouth full with more fruity cheesecake. His table...well, bed manners were clearly slightly better than Kurt's who sometimes talked despite having just taken a bite of pizza. Blaine took another bite of cheesecake looking almost thoughtful as he chewed.

"What?"

"Only me and Quinn know about what happened don't we?"

Kurt visibly tensed all over, Christ he thought they were done with this now that it was all out in the open. "That's what I said."

"He threatened to kill you."

Kurt made a non-committal nose, eyes kept firmly on the box in front of him before he took another forkful.

"Kurt..."

"No one did anything okay? Fucking Figgins is useless anyway with bullying and Coach Sylvester was acting principle and said it was my word against his. No one on a school board in Ohio of all places is gonna believe the token gay kid over the football player."

Kurt shifted under Blaine's gaze, it's not like he didn't realise how serious it was. He told Quinn that if she told anyone he'd deny everything and she only saw him getting beat up - she doesn't know about the stares or the touches or the threats. He sighed when Blaine's stare didn't let up, "I have less than a year left to be spent in this hell-hole with the likes of him okay? It'll be fine."

"Okay, I'll drop it," seeing Kurt about to open his mouth he hastily added, "if you tell me whenever something happens with him or...or anyone."

The other boy rolled his eyes but consented after making Blaine promise the same thing. We really need a subject change, this is all getting too morbid for nine am.

"When's your birthday? You said you were seventeen last night..."

"January twelfth, what about yours?"

"October twenty-seventh; so you're still younger than me!"

"That's in two weeks."

Kurt nodded, too busy digging into more cake to provide a real answer. "Mmph!" A sharp jab to his ribs caused him to jerk his eyes up to Blaine who was staring at him expectantly. "Whaaat?"

"Were you going to tell me?"

"Umm, I feel like the right answer is yes?" His voice went up at the end turning it into a question as he looked uncertainly at the other boy who merely quirked one eyebrow. "Yes...yes I was?"

"Is that a question or an answer?" Blaine smirked. "Have any plans?"

"Nope, I'll probably go out to a bar with Puck and Quinn if they can get a babysitter. I think that's Puck's plan...we'll have to get you a fake ID so you can come...if you want that is, I'm not saying you have to I just meant that - " he was cut of Blaine leaning into peck him lightly on the lips, pulling away far too quickly for Kurt's liking. He managed to refrain from whining.

"I'll be there."