Chapter 6

“Kurt!” Blaine rushed around the counter to him. “Kurt, what happened?”

“I’m in,” Kurt repeated, looking down.

Blaine put his hands on Kurt’s elbows, trying to coax him into looking at him. “Kurt…you look like you’ve gotten into a fight.”

“I’m in,” Kurt said, eyes snapping up to Blaine’s. 

“Okay,” Blaine conceded. “Okay. You’re in. But what happened?”

Kurt looked to the side. “Nothing.”

Nothing? Kurt, your arm is broken—”

Kurt pushed past him, standing over by the bookcase, staring off into space.

Blaine moved over to him. “Kurt—”

“You’re rich, right? Influential? Have some pull?”

Blaine’s brow furrowed in confusion. “What—”

“Aren’t you?”

“I mean yes, but—”

“Then…I…I need a favor.” He sounded so unsure and he was shaking like a leaf. 

Blaine was deeply disturbed. Because try as he might, he couldn’t find a trace of the snarky, irritated, put-together boy that he’d met just hours ago. “Kurt, what’s going on?” He looked at the broken arm, the awkward way Kurt was standing, his haunched shoulders, the cuts and scrapes and bruises littering his face. His stomach started to sink. “Kurt, who did this to you?”

Kurt flinched. “Please,” he whispered. “Please, I just need this one favor.”

And Blaine couldn’t deny him. Not when he’d just agreed to help. Not when he was looking so terrified. Not when something bad had obviously just happened. “Okay,” he nodded, rubbing his hands lightly up and down Kurt’s arms. “Okay, I promise. It’s fine. What do you need?”

Kurt bit his lip. “I…I kind of need you to get the police off my back.” 

*Loki’s base*

“What the hell were you thinking?” Jesse hissed, smacking his brother up the back of his head. 

“You and Quinn have your toys to play with!” Sebastian snapped. “Why can’t I have my own?”

“Because you lost your chance after you only managed to bring a handful of Santana’s hair back!” Jesse retorted, fuming. “Father would be furious if he’d been the one to find you. You’re lucky I was there.”

“I was more than fine without you! And I wish you would have let me finish.”

“Well I wish that you’d have never gone in the first place!” Jesse snapped. “And why the hell would you pick him?”

“Because he’s irritating. And I want nothing more than to snap him over my leg. Surely you share the same sentiment with Mercedes?”

“No, my main pleasure of suffering her company is anticipation of seeing the look on Thorson’s face when I show him her broken body. Gods, you really are an idiot, aren’t you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Please. Don’t tell me that you didn’t notice the way Stark’s younger son was staring at him.”

Sebastian frowned. “No.”

Jesse groaned, doing his best to refrain from hurling a dozen knives at his brother. “He wants him, you idiot! And father has great plans for Blaine, you know that!”

Sebastian swore under his breath. “It’ll be alright.”

“Not if Kurt tells! Then father’s plans will crumble and I’ll be pointing in your direction when that happens.”

“He won’t tell!” Sebastian yelled in frustration.

“And how can you be so sure?” Jesse glared.

Sebastian stared at him with determination. “Trust me. After what I told him, he won’t say a word. Regardless, I’ll personally make sure that he doesn’t.”

Jesse snorted. “Don’t have too much fun with it.”

*Stark Tower, Manhattan*

“The police?” Blaine said incredulously. Sam was also frowning, moving his way over to them. “Why are the police after you?”

“They…they think that I tried to kill my family,” Kurt muttered, looking down. He was cold. So incredibly cold. He really wanted a blanket. Oh god, was he in shock? Was this what shock felt like? Either way, he wanted a blanket. It was the least the universe could do for him. “And, um…I evaded arrest. And I might have knocked a couple of them out…and I may have caused a police car to blow up…and I didn’t pay any subway fare to get here.”

“Wait, wait,” Blaine shook his head, frowning. “Start at the beginning.” 

Blaine and Sam led him over to a couch, so he sat, folding his legs under himself, not really caring about the upholstery. “Um…at my house tonight, there was…”

“What if all those Avengers could see you now? What would dear Steve say?”

“…a robbery. A couple of guys came. Knocked out dad and Carole. They ended up getting Finn pretty bad too and we got in a fight. Broke my arm. They heard the sirens and scrammed, but I was left behind and apparently it looked to the policeman like I was a murderous sociopath bent on killing my family so…things got pretty ugly and I panicked because I was still shaken up so I kind of fought my way out and I didn’t have anywhere else to go because I was afraid that they’d find me at my friends—” He was getting cold again. He hated being cold. “So I came here.”

“I’m glad you did,” Blaine nodded, wrapping an arm around him. Kurt leaned into the arm. Blaine was warm. “And I’ll talk to Coop when he gets back. Don’t worry, we’ll take care of everything. And I’ll send someone over to your house to look after your family.”

“It’s okay,” Kurt said. He was starting to feel warm again. Blaine’s arm was working wonders. “I called an old family friend, Pyotr. He’s going to be in town for a while and he can take care of them.” 

“Kurt, I want your family to be safe. Trust me, it’s no trouble at all to call in a special favor with one of my dad’s contacts—”

“No,” Kurt shook his head. “Trust me, Pyotr can take care of them.” Blaine still looked at him skeptically, so he rolled his eyes. “He once punched Rogers through a brick building. Trust me, they’ll be fine.”

Blaine nodded, satisfied. “Alright, then. Is there anything else you need?”

“Just some sleep,” Kurt said wearily, rubbing his eyes.

“Of course!” Blaine said, standing. “We’ll set up a room for you tomorrow, but for now you can sleep in my bed.”

“Thanks,” Kurt sighed gratefully, following him to the elevator. They went up a floor to a small penthouse, with a large computer screen, wrap-around balcony, kitchen, and open bathroom.

Kurt raised his eyebrows. “Woah. This…this is really nice.”

“Thanks,” Blaine muttered sheepishly, playing with the back of his hair. “Just ask Jarvis if you need anything.”

Kurt nodded.

“Hey.” Blaine placed a finger under his chin and tilted his head back to him. “Everything’s going to be okay.” He smiled warmly.

Kurt did his best to muster a smile back. He nodded. And believed that maybe, just maybe, it might be.

Blaine gave a nod of his head and left in the elevator.

Kurt’s shoulder’s dropped as all of the energy drained out of him and he dragged himself over to Blaine’s king-sized four-poster bed and dropped down onto the dark red comforter, sleep taking him instantly.

*One floor down*

“‘You can sleep in my bed’?” Sam snorted when Blaine came down from his room. “Seriously?”

“What?” Blaine said said, not quite as innocently as he’d hoped.

“Subtlety, Blaine. You’re doing it wrong.”

Blaine shook his head, heading over to the bar. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Sam followed, sliding onto a stool and leaning in conspiratorially. “I’m talking about the fact that you’re crushing on the guy that you punched earlier today.”

Blaine groaned, his head falling into his hands. “I don’t have a crush on Kurt.”

“Yeah, and Cooper is the poster boy for humility.”

Blaine shot him an unamused look.

Sam grinned. “Don’t even try to deny it. Remember two years ago when you kept telling me I had a crush on Mercedes? Well, the tables have turned my friend. The padawan has become the jedi master. You like Kurt.”

Blaine bit his lip. “Okay, maybe a little—”

“Maybe a lot.”

“But you can’t tell him!” Blaine stressed. “Don’t even hint at it, please. I mean…you saw him tonight.”

“Yeah, about that,” Sam said darkly. “He’s lying through his teeth. If he can take out half of your body guards, no way a couple of muggers did that to him.”

“Maybe he has enemies?” Blaine guessed. “I mean, we know next to nothing about him.”

“Exactly,” Sam frowned. “Are you sure it’s a good idea for him to be on the team.”

“Of course,” Blaine said, a bit more harshly than he meant to. “He’s one of Steve’s relatives.”

“Yeah, but we hardly know him,” Sam muttered, glancing at the ceiling. “He didn’t grow up with us.”

“Well that’s hardly his fault,” Blaine argued. “Steve never even told us that he existed. Plus he can fight, even if he lacks good form.”

Sam nodded. “True. He was holding his own, which was impressive.” He sighed. “Okay, let’s just keep an eye on him.”

“I will,” Blaine promised. 

He didn’t tell Sam that the reason he’d be watching Kurt was to make sure that he was okay.

*One floor up*

Kurt was warm and snuggly. He was lying in a meadow of ferns and lilacs, surrounded by tall pine trees. The sky was a beautiful peach-pink-lavender, though he couldn’t tell if it was sunrise or sunset. The clearing was full of rich scarlet sunlight that reminded him weirdly of fuzzy red peach skins and rubies. The sweet scent of lilacs filled his nostrils, mixing with the sunshiny honey smell of the air.

It was his happy place, where he was truly at peace.

An odd smell filled his nose—like the scent of matches. He sat up, looking around in horror as the sky turned fiery red and scorched black. The ferns and lilacs started crumbling into ash and the forest became a furnace. He tried to stand up, but a hand forced him down into the ash.

“Miss me, sweetheart?” 

Kurt sat up in bed, screaming.