“I can’t kill him, Coop.”

“I know, so you’ve said… about fifteen times. And I thought you weren’t supposed to tell anyone who the murderer is?” Cooper remarks, playfully pointing the gun at various objects in the room.

“Does it matter?” Blaine rolls over onto his stomach and buries his face in the pillow. “It’s not like you wouldn’t have found out anyway,” he continues, his voice muffled. “I think dad knew I would tell you.”

“Well, since we’ve established you can’t kill him, you have to tell him what’s going on. Tell him who you are,” Cooper says in a calm voice. Blaine lifts his head from the pillow, not quite believing his own ears.

“You can’t be serious. He would hate me forever!”

“You don’t know that,” Cooper points out, twirling the gun around his fingers. “And honestly, Blaine – what would you rather have, Kurt alive and hating you or Kurt dead and gone, six feet under?”

Blaine lifts himself up on his elbows and glances over at Cooper, who’s looking at him with a serious expression on his face even though the gun is still twirling around in his right hand.

“Would you stop playing with that,” Blaine mutters, rolling over onto his back and running a hand through his curls. Cooper flashes him a quick smirk but stops, putting the gun on a side table. He leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

“You know Kurt’s in grave danger now, little brother. You’re the only one who knows about it, the only one who can help him.”

Blaine knows his brother is right but the thought of telling Kurt everything… Scary doesn’t even begin to cover it. All his life he’s looked to Cooper for advice and this time is no different, so he sits up and meets his brother’s eyes.

“What do I do?”

“The car’s already waiting outside, if you don’t get in it soon dad will start asking questions,” Cooper says, getting up from his chair and grabbing the gun from the table, holding it out towards Blaine. “Take it, go to his place, leave it in the car. Tell him everything. He deserves to know, Blaine. Make him understand that he’s in danger and that you’re the only one who can help him. You know how to keep him out of harm’s way.”

Blaine nods, his mouth a thin line as he accepts the gun from Cooper. He quickly shoves the ammo his father gave him in under his pillow, grabs his leather jacket and walks out without another word.

*

As the big black car makes its way through the streets towards Kurt’s apartment, Blaine sits sullenly in the back seat and inspects the gun in his hands. Blaine has never actually fired a gun at another person but he has fired guns, a multitude of them in fact, at shooting ranges many times before and he’s well aware that this isn't just any gun. It’s his great-grandfather’s Colt Peacemaker, a fine piece of craftsmanship and a treasured family possession. Blaine can’t for the life of him figure out why his father trusted him with this gun; he knows the man better than to think it’s some sort of heartfelt bonding attempt. The best explanation he can come up with right now is that it’s some sort of mockery, or a dare. Maybe his father knows he’s met Kurt before – he’s got eyes and ears everywhere after all – and is confident that Blaine won’t kill him. And he’s right, Blaine won’t do it and he’ll be damned if he won’t save Kurt from his family, whatever it takes.

And he knows exactly what it’ll take.

When the car comes to a halt outside Kurt’s apartment building, Blaine bends down and slides the gun under the seat, far out of view. He sits up straight, extremely relieved to be rid of it for now, and takes one, two, three deep breaths to calm himself before stepping out of the car and into the building. He’s eternally grateful that the main entrance of the building isn’t locked at this time of day, because it would just be extremely awkward having to ask Kurt to buzz him in. On the elevator ride to Kurt’s fourth floor apartment Blaine frantically repeats to himself what he’s going to tell Kurt. You have to be safe, Kurt. I’m sorry that you got involved in all this but this is the only way, trust me. Even in his own head it sounds weak and unconvincing, because what reason does Kurt have to trust him blindly like he’s going to ask him to do? They barely know each other.

I have to keep him safe.

When the elevator stops Blaine steps out of it, shaking with nerves, and rings Kurt’s doorbell. He can hear shuffling inside and then steps walking towards him and oh god he’s not sure if he can do this. But he has to, for Kurt. He has to be strong for Kurt. His heart is pounding in his ears as the door unlocks and opens, revealing Kurt who understandably looks a bit surprised to see him.

“Blaine?” Oh, how Blaine has missed the sound of his voice. “Um, hi. How… how did you know where I live?”

Blaine can see his face shift into a guarded expression and shit, he thinks I’m some kind of creepy stalker.

“I -, um, look, this isn’t what it looks like, Kurt,” he says, speaking slowly and trying to sound more confident that he is. “I know we barely know each other but I… I have to speak with you, it’s important. Can I please come in?”

Kurt just watches him for a while, slowly chewing on his bottom lip, before nodding his permission and stepping aside to let Blaine in.

“Thank you,” Blaine says quietly, trying not to stare into Kurt’s eyes as he walks past him and into the apartment. He doesn’t dare to go further than a couple of steps inside so he stops there, hearing Kurt close the door behind him. His eyes quickly scan over the living room he just stepped into – small but light and open, modern furnishings – before turning around to face Kurt. His blue eyes meet Blaine’s, the puzzled and somewhat guarded expression still on his face. Blaine takes a deep breath and runs a hand through his curls.

“I, um… you may want to sit down for this one,” he says meekly, gesturing towards the couch by the far wall. Kurt nods quietly, walks over and sits down, his movements graceful but hesitant and his eyes on Blaine at all times. Blaine follows, desperately trying to calm his wildly beating heart. He sits down and covers his face with his hands, breathing shakily.

How do I even start?

“Are… are you okay?” Kurt suddenly asks, his voice sounding genuinely concerned, and when Blaine looks up at him he has to stop himself from just leaning forward and kissing him right then and there. Kurt is worried about him, even though Blaine just showed up out of nowhere and they barely know each other. His expression is a mixture of so many things, his eyes are glowing blue and grey and Blaine wants to lose himself in those eyes and never return.

Oh god, I’m really falling in love with him aren’t I?

“Yeah, yeah I’m okay, don’t worry about me,” he says, surprised at himself for how normal his voice sounds. “I… to be honest, you should be worried about yourself.”

A dash of fear splays over Kurt’s face for a split second – Blaine doesn’t miss it – before the confused expression is back. “What are you talking about?”

Oh god which part do I start with? The fact that I’m an Anderson? The fact that I know he killed someone? Fuck, I don’t want him to be scared of me, I couldn’t bear it.

“Kurt,” he begins slowly, weighing every word carefully on his tongue. “What I’m about to tell you might shock you but I’m asking you… no, I’m begging you to trust me when I say that I mean you no harm.” He meets Kurt’s eyes and sees the small grain of fear in them and he almost panics for a second but no, no, I have to stay calm. For him.

“Okay, you’re kind of scaring me now,” Kurt says slowly and Blaine’s heart breaks a little at the quiver in his voice.

“You have nothing to be afraid of here, please, Kurt. I’m here to help you, I swear,” he pleads, just barely stopping himself from reaching out and taking Kurt’s hand.

“Help me with what?” Kurt asks, eyeing Blaine cautiously and gripping the couch cushion. Blaine can see his hands shake slightly.

Fuck’s sake, just say it. Just spit it out. Do it.

“I know you killed someone.”

Even Blaine is shocked by his own words; it sounds so much worse when you say it out loud. He doesn’t dare to look at Kurt, who’s still as a statue, barely breathing. Blaine opens his mouth again and keeps talking because it seems like the only logical thing to do.

“I know you killed someone but I don’t believe it was in cold blood. Self-defense, accident, whatever it was… I know you didn’t do it on purpose.” Blaine covers his face with his hands. “I just know!” he half-yells into his hands, shoulders shaking as he’s trying not to lose it in front of Kurt.

“You’re right,” Kurt says quietly, making Blaine try even harder to even out his breathing. “It… it was both self-defense and an accident. He attacked me and I –“

Kurt’s voice breaks and Blaine finally lifts his gaze to look at him. His head is bent down, hand covering his mouth and eyes blinking rapidly, as if trying to hold back tears. Blaine wants to scream.

“Kurt, it’s okay, it’s okay. You don’t have to talk about it, I believe you,” he says, yet again straining against the urge to touch the man beside him. “I wouldn’t be here otherwise,” he continues with a joyless laugh.

“But why are you here?” Kurt asks, eyes desperate. Desperate to understand, Blaine realizes. “What can you do? And why… how do you know? And why do you even want to –“

“I’m here because I can help,” Blaine interrupts him, searching for a way to calm Kurt down. “And I want to help because… well, because I can. In fact, I think I’m just about the only one who can.”

“What are you talking about?” Kurt says, his voice so low it’s almost a whisper. His eyes stare at Blaine, wide and unblinking. Blaine swallows and braces himself for the next part.

“Your life is in danger, Kurt. There’s only one way for you to be safe, and I can provide it. If you want me to.”

God, please want me to.

“You still haven’t told me how you know all this,” Kurt says hesitantly, eyes flickering across the room and looking everywhere but at Blaine. Blaine sighs and presses his lips together, taking a deep breath through his nose.

“I was just getting to that,” he says, now attempting to keep the fear out of his own voice instead of Kurt’s. He sticks his hand in his jacket pocket and curls his fingers around his signet ring. “Please remember, Kurt; I don’t want to hurt you. I’m here to help.”

Kurt nods slowly, biting his lip and focusing on Blaine’s hand in his pocket. Blaine closes his eyes and pulls out the ring, holding it out in his open palm.

Please don’t hate me, please don’t hate me, please don’t hate me.

A sharp gasp from Kurt quickly crushes his hope and he feels the couch move as Kurt gets up. He opens his eyes, despair coursing through his body as he sees Kurt back away from him, hand over his mouth and eyes wide with fear and… with fear and disgust, Blaine realizes and he can almost hear the crack of his own heart breaking.

“Kurt, please, don’t,” he pleads, standing up and quickly tucking the ring away again. He doesn’t dare move closer to Kurt, who’s almost backed up against the wall now. “I don’t want to –“

“Bullshit!” Kurt yells suddenly, dropping his hand from his mouth and fisting it at his side. “I killed one of your own and I’m supposed to believe you came here to help me?”

“Yes!” Blaine exclaims, the empty feeling of hopelessness in his gut increasing with each passing second. “There’s only one way for you to be safe and –“

“You’re a fucking liar!” Kurt yells again, his face reddening and his eyes dark with rage. “How dare you… what were you going for, huh? Did you want me to trust you enough to get in a car with you and go to your family, to your father, and have him deal with me? Did you –“

“Kurt, stop!” Blaine interrupts him, screaming so loud he actually surprises himself. He takes a few calming breaths and clears his throat, looking at a stunned Kurt with pleading eyes. “Kurt. Please listen to me, because it’s very important that you understand this. Victor was my cousin and my entire family besides me and my brother wants you dead. It was a piece of cake for my father to find out where you lived, how else do you think I would’ve been able to find you?” he says, feeling a hollow sort of calm spreading through his body as he gets everything out of his system. “He sent me here to kill you. I’m not kidding around, I hid a Colt Peacemaker under the backseat of the car that took me here. I have no intentions of getting you into that car and as you must understand by now, I have no intentions of harming you in any way.”

“Then what are your intentions?” Kurt whispers, almost too quietly for Blaine to hear. His hands are clasped together over his chest and his eyes are filled with unshed tears. Tears of fear, Blaine thinks and his stomach falls into his shoes.

“To get you out of my father’s reach, if you’ll let me,” Blaine says, gearing up for what he knows he must say very soon.

“How?” Kurt says, voice a little louder but still very quiet in the spacious room.

Okay, here we go.

“You have to marry me,” Blaine blurts out on a tight breath, probably a little too quickly. Kurt is just staring at him, blinking slowly.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“You have to marry me,” Blaine says again, slower this time. His heart is beating wildly in his chest as he watches Kurt’s reaction. His mouth falls open, his brow furrows and he holds up a questioning finger in the air.

“Okay, okay, hold on just a second,” he says slowly, as if still trying to process the information. “I thought we were talking running away to Africa or something. How will marrying you possibly get me out of your father’s reach?”

Blaine tries to ignore the sour tone in Kurt’s voice. “If you marry me you become part of the family,” he explains, fiddling with the hem of his jacket but still looking at Kurt. “It’s forbidden to hurt a member of the family, no matter their crime. Those are the rules.”

“Your father would obey those rules?” Kurt asks, his tone understandably skeptic and his head cocked to the side.

“If he believed we married for love then yes, he would,” Blaine says, his voice calm and secure for the first time since he was handed the Colt this morning. “My father may be many things but he’s –“

“Just… wait, okay?” Kurt interrupts, holding up his hands. “I still don’t understand why you want to do this, or why I should let you. Marriage is not something anyone should take lightly on.”

“I know that,” Blaine says, trying not to let hopelessness spread inside him again. “But you must understand that I can’t just stand by while they seek out and kill you. I know we’ve only met a couple of times but I’m not like my father, Kurt. I could never forgive myself if I let them hurt you when I could’ve done something to prevent it.”

Kurt bites his lip. “And you’re sure there isn’t another way?”

“As far as both me and my brother knows, this is the only solution that’ll keep you alive,” Blaine says, a sadness in his voice. “We don’t know of any –“

“Fine. Okay.”

Baine blinks. “Okay?”

“Okay, yes, fine, affirmative, whatever,” Kurt says, moving away from the wall and slumping down into an armchair. “I’ll do it if that’s what it takes. I’ll marry you.”

Blaine’s first impulse is to pounce Kurt and hug him, sobbing ‘thank you’ into his shoulder. He mentally slaps himself for that one. Instead he takes one tentative step forward, looking down at Kurt with wide eyes.

“Well that’s… that’s good. That’s excellent,” he says, trying to contain the relief in his voice. “I… thank you. I mean, for letting me help you.”

“Do you have any idea where to go for this?” Kurt says, looking up at him with a resigned expression. “Because as far as I know it’s not legal in this godforsaken place yet.”

Fortunately, Blaine has this part of the conversation prepared. “I have a friend who’s a priest in Vermont, it’s legal there and he owes me a favour,” he says, trying not to sound too excited. In fact, he shouldn’t be sounding excited at all. Kurt raises a perfectly shaped eyebrow.

“Vermont? Isn’t that a little far?”

“I have connections,” Blaine says, shrugging. “I can have a private jet waiting for us tomorrow morning.”

“So soon?” Kurt breathes, going slightly pale. Blaine swallows and bites his lip; he knows it’s sudden but the rush is necessary.

“Kurt,” he says, taking another step forward and is delighted when Kurt doesn’t shy away from him. “I won’t be able to keep the fact that you’re still alive from my father for more than 24 hours, if even that. He’s going to find out soon and when he does he’ll send one of my uncles and trust me, they won’t blink twice before they pull the trigger. If you’re still in town tomorrow, you’ll be in grave danger.”

“I was under the impression that marriage licenses take a bit longer to acquire than 24 hours?” Kurt says, eyebrow raised and the sour tone back in his voice.

“Like I said,” Blaine says, shrugging again. “Connections. I’ll handle all of that tonight, you just stay here, explain to your close friends what’s going on and gather some stuff to take with you tomorrow. Okay?”

Kurt looks down at his hands that are clasped together in his lap and nods slowly. Blaine can hear him breathing deeply and shakily and his need to reach out and touch the other man has never been so strong.

“You will have to come with me afterwards, you understand that, right?” Blaine says softly, doing everything in his power to not make it sound like an order because it’s not. It’s a plea. “My father… he has to see us together. Believe we’re in love and… and happy –“
His voice breaks and he has to look away from Kurt because he can’t deal with his feelings right now. They will have to wait, even though that’s easier said than done.

“Yeah,” Kurt says, his voice emotionless. “Yeah, I understand. I’ll come with you.”

“Thank you,” Blaine whispers, not knowing what else to say and feeling like he’s seriously overstayed his nearly nonexistent welcome. “I should… I should go. I’ll come and pick you up myself early tomorrow morning, the plane will be at a private airport not far out of town,” he adds, slowly making his way towards the door. Kurt nods quietly and gets up; apparently his manners are too good for him to not follow Blaine to the door.

“I’m so sorry about all this,” Blaine says sincerely as Kurt opens the door for him. “I really am.”

Kurt chews on his bottom lip for a moment before he speaks. “So am I.”

Blaine just presses his lips together and nods curtly, walking out of the apartment. He’s just about to take his first step down the stairs in the hallway when he hears Kurt’s voice behind him and spins around.

“There’s something you should know, Blaine.”

“What’s that?” Blaine asks, slightly confused. Kurt raises his chin and looks up at the ceiling for a moment before slowly lowering his eyes all the way to his feet.

“I have a boyfriend.”

Suddenly everything inside Blaine is either falling or clenching painfully and he doesn’t have time to pick his heart up from his feet, much less actually form a coherent response, before it’s too late and Kurt has closed the door behind him. Blaine stumbles down two steps at a time and when he reaches the car and throws himself into it he’s shaking with full-body sobs. Everything is such a mess.

----------

Four floors above ground Kurt is crying too, but for different reasons.

His entire life has been turned upside down just when he thought he could maybe start getting everything back to normal after what happened. His emotions are all over the place, throwing him off metaphorical cliffs and making him feel like he’s drowning because he can’t catch his breath.

I’m getting married tomorrow. To a guy I barely know.

He knows that in theory, his first instinct should be to call Chandler. But instead his finger hovers above the name ‘Rachel!!! <3’ in his contacts (she typed the name in and he never bothered changing it) and he bites his lip, feeling slightly guilty. But she’s my best friend, he thinks angrily to himself. It’s only normal that I would want to talk to her about this.

In the end he scrolls up to Chandler’s name in the list (without exclamation marks or hearts) and calls him first because it feels like the right thing to do. Chandler comes over and Kurt sits him down on the couch, gaining a little more sympathy for Blaine when he struggles to get the words out.

Chandler reacts as expected.

“I have to do this!” Kurt exclaims when Chandler won’t stop pacing the floor and throwing random arguments at him. “They’re going to kill me, Chandler. What part of this don’t you get?”

“How do you know he’s not just playing you?” Chandler says for what must be the fifth time, Kurt is sure. “He could be delivering you straight to the execution as far as you know!”

“If he wanted me dead he would’ve done it himself,” Kurt sighs, also for the fifth time. “He had a gun, remember?”

“Well, what if he didn’t?” Chandler rambles on, never standing still. “What if that was just a lie to make you trust him?”

“You didn’t see him,” Kurt says quietly, his fingers absent-mindedly lacing together. “He wasn’t lying, I could see it. Feel it.”

“Bullshit,” Chandler mumbles under his breath but Kurt can hear it. He clenches his teeth.

“Look, Chandler, if he really wanted me dead there are a billion easier ways to do it. Why would he go through all this hassle just to put a bullet in my head when he could’ve done it the moment I opened the door for him?” Kurt says, his voice revealing how tired he is of this argument. “I’m going to do this, I’m going to marry him to be safe, whether you support me or not.”

“How could I possibly support you marrying some random guy, who also happens to be a member of a family that wants to kill you?” Chandler spits out, throwing his arms over his head in frustration. Kurt presses his lips together and stays quiet until Chandler deflates a little.

“I’m sorry, babe,” he says, walking up to sit beside Kurt on the couch again. “But I don’t like this. I don’t like it at all.”

“Well I don’t like it either,” Kurt says in a strained voice. “But it’s the only way. We’re leaving tomorrow morning.”

“Can I come with you?” Chandler asks, reaching out and taking Kurt’s hand in his. “To his family, afterwards. To keep you safe?”

Kurt shakes his head without looking at his boyfriend. “You can’t. Blaine and I have to play the happy couple and that won’t work so well if you’re there. And I will be safe, don’t worry. They can’t hurt me.”

“Oh I’m quite sure they can, your friend is just claiming that they won’t,” Chandler says, rolling his eyes.

“He’s not my friend. He’s…” Kurt looks up at the ceiling and holds the breath for a couple of seconds before letting it out, shoulders slumping a little. “I don’t know what he is. But he can help me, and I’m going to let him.”

“Fine,” Chandler says, his shoulders slumping too. “Are you… are you going to break up with me now?”

In my current state I can’t handle the scene you'll cause if I do. “No, Chandler, I’m not. You trust me, right?”

“Of course I do,” Chandler says, leaning in to kiss his cheek. “We’ll get through this, okay?”

“Sure,” Kurt nods, his voice emotionless. “I have to call Rachel now, and then I have to… um, pack, I guess. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay,” Chandler says, hesitating for a moment before leaning in to press a kiss to Kurt’s lips. It’s chaste but warm and firm and Kurt relaxes a little into the familiarity of it. He wonders if he’s going to miss this.

When Chandler is gone Kurt picks up his phone again and calls Rachel. By the time he’s explained everything to her they’re both crying and Kurt has thrown himself on his bed, sobbing into the pillow.

“Why did this have to happen to me?” he slurs into the phone and hears Rachel blowing her nose at the other end. “This is just so fucking unfair!”

“I know sweetie, I know,” Rachel says, her voice thick. “But if this is what you need to do to be safe, I’ll support you. You know that, right?”

“I know, and I love you for it,” he sighs, his breathing starting to calm down a little. “Will you come with me to his family? I need to stay with him after the wedding ceremony and it’d be nice to have a friendly face there.”

“You’re not bringing Chandler?” she asks.

“No, I don’t wa –, I can’t,” he answers, stuttering a little. “I just… I want you to be there with me. Will you?”

”Well it’ll be hard to explain to Finn but… yes, of course I’ll come with you, sweetie. Anything to make this easier for you,” she says in a soft voice and Kurt can’t help but smile a little.

“Thank you,” Kurt breathes, relieved, and rolls over onto his back. “Hey, do you want to know something crazy?”

“Sure,” she says and he can hear her sheets rustling too as she settles in.

“I actually… I was actually crushing on Blaine. Before, you know, before I found out about all this,” Kurt says slowly. “I didn’t want to admit it to myself because of Chandler but I was definitely falling for him. And now…” he chokes out, feeling the tears well up again. “And now I know that he’s a member of that cruel family and it disgusts me and on top of that I have to marry him!” he yells out, his voice breaking at the end of the sentence. He sinks further into the sheets, panting slightly.

“Oh honey,” Rachel says, her voice layered with sympathy. “Maybe everything is not lost yet? Maybe Blaine’s different than the other Andersons. After all, he did come to save your life.”

“It’s in his blood,” Kurt mumbles, shaking his head. “He may be able to play the dapper gentleman but we all know that the Andersons have done horrible things and he’s one of them. I just wish I’d known before so I wouldn’t have wasted the butterflies in my stomach on him.”

“Now you’re just being silly,” Rachel giggles at the other end. “Look, Kurt, I’m not saying you should be happy about this. What I’m saying is that you should give him a chance; it might make staying with him and his family more bearable.”

“I doubt it,” Kurt mutters, sitting up on the bed. “I have to pack now, darling. I will call you tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay sweetie,” she says, and he can hear the emotion in her voice.

“I love you, Rachel Barbra Berry.”

“And I love you, Kurt Elizabeth Hummel. Good luck, okay? Be safe.”

“I will.”

After they’ve hung up Kurt goes to pack a bag but isn’t really paying attention to what he’s doing. His mind is at a million places and he doesn’t even notice that he’s crying until he sees teardrops on his Hermés scarf. By that point he just gives up, peels his clothes off and climbs into bed. He grips his pillow tightly and squeezes his eyes shut, quietly crying himself to sleep.