Kurt had been driving for about five minutes when he slammed on the brakes and silently cursed himself. He just remembered that he had left his phone in Blaine’s room. As much as he didn’t want to go back, he knew that phone was his only way of making sure Blaine was okay. Kurt quickly drove back to Blaine’s house and parked out front. He was halfway up the driveway when Blaine came staggering out of the house holding the back of his head. Right away Kurt knew something was very wrong. He sprinted over to Blaine helped steady him. Blaine then took his hand away from his head and Kurt saw it was covered in blood.

“Ohmygod, Ohmygod! Blaine what’s the matter, what happened?” Kurt said fighting hysteria. He had never been good with blood and he was beginning to feel nauseous.

Blaine mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like “I fell” but Kurt wasn’t really listening. He had wrapped Blaine’s arm around his shoulder and was focusing on helping him walk to the car. Kurt managed to get him sitting in the passenger seat. For a moment Kurt worried that the blood would stain his car but immediately felt very guilty for being concerned about that at a time like this. Blaine still seemed slightly conscious which Kurt took as a good sign.

Kurt breathed deeply trying to calm himself down. Blaine had obviously been trying to get away from his house so Kurt had a pretty good idea of what happened.

“Alright. I’m going to take you to the hospital okay? It’s only a ten minute drive. We will be there in no time.” He said in a soothing voice as if he was talking to a child.

When Blaine didn’t respond Kurt looked over and saw that he had slipped into unconsciousness. Don’t panic don’t panic, he intoned to himself. As Kurt drove his fingers started to ache and he realized he was gripping the wheel as hard as he could. He loosened his fingers and took three deep breaths. Although the ride was less than ten minutes, it felt like an eternity to Kurt. The one thought that kept playing in his mind was What if I wasn’t there? What if I hadn’t forgotten my phone and didn’t go back? Kurt pushed those thoughts away; he couldn’t think about that right now. What mattered was he had gone back and Blaine was going to be okay. He hoped.

&&&&

Kurt spent the night in the hospital despite his dad’s protests. The hospital had called Blaine’s parents after he was brought in and Blaine’s mother had come right away. Although they had been waiting together in Blaine’s room they didn’t talk much. She was out getting a coffee when Blaine finally woke up.

“Mmm where am I?” said a still groggy Blaine.

Kurt jumped at the sound and ran to the bed. “Hey. You’re in the hospital. How are you feeling?”

“I’ve been better. My head hurts really bad.” he said grimacing. “What happened?”

“You hit your head last night and got a concussion. You also had to have three stitches. As for how it happened we were hoping you could tell us. The doctors said there was a good chance of amnesia though…” Kurt hadn’t told the doctors his theory because he couldn’t be sure of anything until he talked to Blaine.

Blaine paused for a moment. “No, no I remember.”

When he didn’t continue Kurt decided it was time to find out some answers. “Look Blaine, we’re going to need to talk about this. I can understand you probably just want to rest right now but soon we need to. I have a pretty good idea about what’s going on but I need to hear it from you. I want to know everything.”

“Everything eh? Well that could take a while but I guess we have time.”

Kurt was surprised. “You mean you’re ready to talk now?”

He sighed. “Yes. It’s funny. I’ve held all of this in for such a long time but now I can’t bear the thought of waiting any longer.”

Blaine closed his eyes and began. “I’m not sure I could put an exact date on when it really started. For as long as I can remember I’ve been different. When I was little I spent my time singing and dancing rather than playing sports like the other boys. My dad noticed and while he never said anything, I could tell he was disappointed. He wanted his son to be just like him and I’m not. I realized I was gay early, around twelve I think. I didn’t tell anyone though and one of the main reasons was because of him. I knew my dad wouldn’t like it and I couldn’t bear to let him down any further.”

Blaine was facing Kurt but he didn’t appear to be really looking at him. He seemed to be lost in his own memories.

“So I held back, I told no one. But when I got to ninth grade I couldn’t hold it in anymore. There was one out boy at my school, Brian, and I told him. Talking to him made me realize that I shouldn’t hide who I am. I’ll never forget when he said to me, ‘I know you’re scared, but if you can’t accept yourself, how do you expect others to accept you?’ Those words really hit home for me and so I decided it was time to stop hiding. There was an end-of-the-year dance and we went together.”

Blaine stopped talking there and for a moment Kurt thought that was all he was going to say.

“I chickened out though and didn’t tell my dad. I really wanted to but I was just so scared. The dance was actually pretty fun. Sure there were some people who whispered and sniggered but it wasn’t too bad. After the dance we had to wait outside the school for Brian’s parents to pick us up. While we were there these three huge guys on the football team came and beat us up, badly. When my dad came to the hospital you can imagine his surprise when he saw who my date was. For weeks I tried to talk to my dad about it but he just kept avoiding me so I eventually gave up. I told you that I came out to my dad a year ago because that’s when I actually said the words to him. He knew that night though, and I suspect he guessed even before then.”

At this point Blaine looked up and almost seemed surprised that Kurt was there. “Sorry, I know you asked about the injury but I just thought you have some background information.” Blaine said.

“Oh no don’t be sorry. It’s good you’re telling someone and I’m happy to be that person.” Kurt responded. For the first time Kurt had been allowed to see Blaine’s past and it intrigued him.

“Well okay. So the next year I transferred to Dalton. It was so much better there. I was honest about my sexuality from the get go and nobody cared. It was eye-opening to realize that there are people out there who won’t judge you. I made my first real friends and becoming a Warbler meant I got to sing and dance outside of my bedroom. Besides the fact that my dad and I were still not talking much everything was great. Then the beginning of last summer was when it all went sour. My dad came home one day with this old, junkie car. He had decided that we were going to fix it up as a father-son project. At first I was okay with the idea because I thought maybe he was really trying to mend our relationship. But then I overheard a conversation he was having with my mom. When she asked him why he got the car he admitted it was because he thought working on it might ‘make me more of a man’. I was furious. I knew that was code for ‘make me straight.’ I was so sure he was finally accepting me for who I was when it was really just the opposite. I burst into the room and yelled at him, I told him I was gay and that it was never going to change. His eyes bulged out of his head and he looked angrier then I had ever seen him. Then he… he hit me.”

Even though Kurt knew it was coming he let out a small gasp. His first instinct was to give Blaine a hug and comfort him. But when Kurt looked at him he realized that wasn’t what he wanted right now. Right now he wanted someone to listen, he wanted someone to understand.

“After he hit me, he looked as shocked as I felt. I don’t think it really registered with him what he was doing until he had already done it. Nobody mentioned it after that day and I really believed it was never going to happen again. But it did. Last winter my dad went away on business for a weekend and got home earlier than expected. He walked in on me and my mom watching Brokeback Mountain. When he saw what movie it was he walked over to us and…” Blaine stopped there unable to continue.

Kurt took his hand and rubbed it gently. “Did he hit you again?” he asked gently.

“Worse. He hit her.” Tears formed in Blaine’s eyes but he blinked them away. “He blamed her for making me gay. He said if she hadn’t encouraged my music or let me watch movies with homosexuality in it than I would have been ‘normal’. For the next few months I just avoided him. It wasn’t hard considering I was at Dalton most of the time. He ignored me too until that day when he came home and found us in the basement. That was the final straw I guess. Ever since then he has been much more… expressive of his feeling towards me.”

Kurt looked at Blaine and his chest started to ache. It was my fault, I was the reason Blaine had all those bruises. I was the reason he was being hurt.

As if reading Kurt’s thoughts Blaine said, “No. It is absolutely, one hundred percent, not your fault. I knew you think that and that was the main reason I never told you. I-I thought you would leave. I thought if I told you I would scare you off and I just can’t lose you Kurt.”

Kurt recognized the fear in Blaine’s eyes. If it hadn’t been such a serious moment, Kurt would have laughed at the ridiculousness of the idea that he would break up with Blaine. “I will never leave you.” said Kurt his voice cracking slightly.

Blaine looked up with him, his eyes shining. “I love you.”

Kurt’s heart skipped a beat. He had been in love with Blaine for quite some time now but never could he have imagined Blaine would feel the same way. Just when Kurt had accepted the fact that he would never find anyone in Lima, Blaine came along and changed everything. Kurt realized he had probably waited a bit too long to respond but Blaine seemed unfazed.

Kurt swallowed and said, “I love you too.”

Kurt’s not sure how long they sat there, just staring into each other’s eyes. After a while they heard a cough behind them. They turned to find Blaine’s mom standing in the doorway of the room.

“How are you feeling honey?” she asked with concern.

“Honestly, I feel better than I have in a long time.” Blaine said and he squeezed Kurt’s hand.

Blaine’s mom raised an eyebrow but didn’t ask. “Alright well the doctor is coming to take a look at you so say goodbye to Kurt.” she said and stepped outside to give them some privacy.

“You have to talk about it with her. You need- you can’t go back to living with him.”

“I know. I think this nightmare is finally over.” Blaine said with a small smile.

As Kurt stood up to go Blaine put a hand on his arm. “Did you mean it when you said you would never leave?”