Blaine had been waiting in the front parking lot for over thirty minutes. He had come to surprise Kurt when he got out of practise, he should have done that fifteen minutes ago. As much as Blaine didn't want to ruin the surprise, he hit speed dial one on his phone and waited.

"Hey! You-"

"Kurt, where are you?" Blaine said in to the phone, not noticing that the voice on the other end continued to speak. Blaine sighed and hung up. If Kurt wouldn't answer then he would wait.

Kurt let silent tears fall down his cheeks as he sat in the corner of his shower. Before he'd gone, Dave had sent another fist in to Kurt's stomach and left without a single word. Standing up, Kurt winced and felt himself wobble slightly. He took his towel off and turned the shower on, crying in the hot stream of water. He felt the water sting the back of his head and put a hand there, flinching at the touch. Retracting his hand, Kurt saw the diluted blood on his fingers. Great, he thought to himself, stepping away from the shower. He pulled his towel down from the wall and put it around his waist before snatching his shampoo and shower gel from the wall and making his way towards his things.

When Kurt had spent the best of fifteen minutes trying to make himself look normal, he pulled his phone from his pocket and noticed four missed calls. All from Blaine. Kurt knew he should call Blaine, but he didn't want to risk setting himself off again. Crying down the phone would only worry Blaine. He told himself he'd call him when he got home, after having had a long walk to clear his mind a little.

Stepping out of the front doors, Kurt heard his name being called, and flinched involuntarily. He looked to see Blaine coming towards him. What? Why was Blaine here? Kurt continued walking and sent his boyfriend a look of confusion.

"Surprise." Blaine said as he pressed his lips lightly to Kurt's and then smiled.

"What are you doing here?"

"Surprising you, hence my saying 'surprise'." Blaine grinned and slipped his arm around Kurt's waist.

Kurt flinched in pain as Blaine's hand squeezed his waist. He'd just managed to place his hand where Dave had kicked him.

"What's up?"

"Nothing. Nothing, I just... bit my tongue." Kurt quickly lied.

"Oh, okay." Blaine then turned his head to drop a quick kiss on Kurt's cheek.

Back at Blaine's house, the boys were sitting on his bed as Blaine told Kurt about the Warblers thing he'd had the other day. Kurt had asked, trying to take his mind off of Dave, and was happy that it was working. He soon felt himself yawning though.

"Am I really that boring?" Blaine asked, grinning.

"Sorry." Kurt mumbled, trying to hold back another yawn.

Blaine moved closer to Kurt and started to tug at his shirt, trying to get it off.

"No, baby. Please, not today." Kurt objected, not having the energy for another make-out session with Blaine.

"No. I was doing it so you could sleep, silly." Blaine told him, pulling the shirt up higher. "Arms up."

Kurt obliged and put his arms in the air, letting Blaine take off his shirt. "You're too good to me.", He muttered, smiling lightly.

Blaine chuckled lightly as he threw Kurt's shirt to the floor and proceeded to take his own off and put it with Kurt's.

Kurt, being Kurt, walked to the crumpled shirts and folded both of them, placing them atop Blaine's chest of drawers.

When Blaine turned and saw this, after pulling his duvet to the foot of the bed, he grinned. But the grin soon slipped from his lips when Kurt turned around.

"You okay?" Kurt asked as he made his way back over to Blaine.

"I'm fine, but what's up with you?"

"Huh?"

"Well, baby, how did you get those bruises?"

"What bruises?" Kurt was confused. He didn't have any bruises. Not that he knew of, anyway.

"On your stomach and hip - just look at them."

Kurt looked down to the places Blaine had said to, and he gasped quietly. On his hip there was a blue-purple bruise the size of his palm and two slightly larger bruises of the same colouring on his stomach. Dave suddenly came to mind and his breath caught in his throat.

"Kurt, what happened?" Blaine had a hand on Kurt's cheek and a strong look of concern on his face.

"Just a few harder tackles, that's all." Kurt mumbled, "Don't worry, I'm fine."

Blaine's facial expression didn't change. He gently pressed his lips to Kurt's. Why wasn't he kissing him back, Blaine wondered. He pulled back and caught Kurt's hand in his own, taking him to the bed.

Blaine lay under the duvet with Kurt, his boyfriend asleep with his head on his chest and his arm around his waist. Blaine placed a light kiss in Kurt's hair before he went back to thinking. He had been thinking about Kurt; he was worried about him. He hadn't made a fuss when putting his helmet on and had not asked how bad his hair looked when he had taken it off. He hadn't kissed Blaine back, and denied Blaine's offers to 'kiss his boo-boos better'. Kurt had also been reluctant to elaborate on his reasons for being late out of practise; he'd had to stay back with Coach Beiste. Blaine only half believed this, but gave up on trying to push Kurt in to answering in more detail.

Dave was all over him. He couldn't get him off, and there was nobody around. Kurt was alone and scared. Pressed against the shower wall, Kurt's lips were roughly attacked by Dave's. Dave's hands were all over Kurt, touching him everywhere. Kurt so badly wanted this torture to be over. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he tried so hard to keep his lips closed. Soon, he felt a savage hand squeeze his butt hard and yelped in to Dave's lips. Dave took advantage of the moment and his tongue was soon inside Kurt's mouth.

As Dave explored – no, invaded – Kurt's mouth, his left hand remained on his butt while his right trailed lower.

Kurt felt his heart skip a beat before going at triple speed as Dave's hand sat on his pants, stroking over his crotch and making him cringe.

Kurt was fidgeting and scrunching his face as he slept. His hands were balled in to fists, and Blaine knew that Kurt was dreaming – having a nightmare, to be specific. Blaine shook Kurt's arm and said "Kurt, calm down, it's only a dream!" He shook him again. Kurt didn't wake though, just began to thrash about in his sleep. Blaine caught Kurt's arms that were hitting at his chest and held them securely in his hands. "Baby, wake up!" Kurt didn't wake still. Blaine hated this. Kurt was having a horrible nightmare, and he couldn't do anything to help. It killed him inside. "Please, Kurt!" He pleaded, squeezing Kurt's hands tightly in his own. Now Kurt was throwing his hips about, as if trying to struggle away from Blaine. He repositioned himself so that he was straddling Kurt's hips, stopping him from moving. However, Kurt still wriggled beneath him.

When Kurt woke up, he looked to see somebody on top of him and instantly froze, his eyes wide like flying saucers. The boy on top of him exhaled and muttered something that sounded like 'Oh, God', under his breath before leaning down and hugging Kurt. It took him a moment to realise that the boy on top of him was Blaine. His boyfriend. He'd just been so terrified. And the dream had felt so horribly real. When Blaine pulled back to look at him, probably wondering why he hadn't hugged him back, he felt tears spring to his eyes. He didn't care that Blaine was sitting on his bruises, or that it was hurting, he only cared that Blaine didn't want to hurt him like Dave had in his dream.

Blaine climbed off of him and helped him up before pulling him in to his arms and saying "It's okay, baby. It's okay, it was only a dream.", and that was what set Kurt off crying.

Kurt pressed his face in to Blaine's chest as he cried, muttering things like 'it was so real', and 'it was awful', between sobs.

Blaine held him close, whispering soothing words in to Kurt's hair as he cried.

He'd never seen him like this before, never seen him so upset. Not even at Prom was it this bad. Blaine didn't want Kurt hurting like this, and just wished he could stop it. When Kurt had calmed down and was just laying with him on the bed in their earlier position, Blaine asked Kurt "Baby, do you want to talk about it?", as he ran his fingers through Kurt's hair.

Kurt shook his head and said "No. I want you to kiss my boo-boos better and make me forget, give me a nice memory in place of it."

"I think I can do that." Blaine sat up, after Kurt had, and moved closer to him. Placing a hand on Kurt's cheek, he angled his head slightly and went in to kiss Kurt, their lips moulding perfectly. Kurt's hand went to Blaine's cheek, and it instantly reminded Blaine of the first they'd kissed - Kurt had been sad then too. And just like their first kiss, Kurt was the one to deepen the kiss. He smiled and wrapped his other arm around Kurt's waist, pulling him closer. Blaine felt Kurt smile and smiled himself.Blaine gently pulled away and looked at a smiling Kurt.

"Thank you." Kurt whispered, his smile stretching a little more.

Grinning, Blaine said "You make it sound like it was something I had to do, not something I wanted to."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Kurt laughed lightly.

"Don't be sorry, just know that I love you." Blaine still felt all tingly and warm whenever he told Kurt that he loved him, it was honestly magical in his eyes.

"I do. And I love you, too. More than anything." Kurt then leant forward and pressed his lips to Blaine's lightly, muttering 'so, so much', in to his lips.

Kissing Blaine would always be one thing Kurt loved. When they kissed, Kurt always felt so wanted and needed, so loved and cared for – so special. After years of feeling awful, being with Blaine made everything better. Not to mention the fact that he got to be with the man he loved - his best friend, in fact - when he was with Blaine.

When Kurt said goodbye to Blaine, he brushed his lips against the curly haired boy's and made his way to the house, not wanting a repeat of the last time. He just wanted to sleep. It wasn't that Kurt didn't want to be near Blaine, it was that Blaine kept on asking about the nightmare, the bruises, and if he was okay; it just kept on making him that little bit more upset. And Blaine had already seen him break down once today, he didn't want him to have to for a second time.

Laying in his bed, Kurt pressed his face in to his pillow and let the over-due tears stain it as he tried to block the images of Dave from his mind by thinking of Blaine; thinking of his kisses and compliments, his touch and warmth, the way he smelled and how his voice always got lower after they kissed, of how he made Kurt feel and how much he loved him. Kurt was trying to be strong, but it was hard when, every minute, there was something reminding him of the very thing he tried to forget – the thing that made him feel weak and awful. As Kurt lay crying, he went over the possible things he could do: tell Principal Figgins and anger Dave even more when he got back to school after his one week suspension (it was the strictest punishment Principal Figgins would ever give); confront Dave about it when in a crowd; threaten to tell people about his sexuality, and maybe even his lesbian beard; or let it go and hope it was just a one-off. Kurt, being the type of person that he was, opted for the plan that was safest in his eyes: telling nobody and hoping – wishing – it was just a one-time thing.

It was quarter to eleven when Blaine got back to Dalton. As soon as he put his bike in the garage, he made his way to his dorm room. After unlocking the door, he quietly went over to his bed and slept in the clothes he had on, not wanting to wake Wes with his changing.

The ringing of the alarm pulled Blaine from his sleep, and he sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"Hey, man. Good time with Kurt?" Wes said as he came out of the bathroom, a towel around his waist.

"Hey. Mmm, thanks." Blaine nodded.

"What time did you get in, anyway?"

"About eleven. Why? Did I wake you?"

"No. No, I just wondered, is all." Rummaging through his closet, Wes asked "How's Kurt?"

Blaine struggled to answer that one. How was Kurt? "I don't know. I'm a little worried about him, actually. He was just so... un-Kurt-ish, you know. I don't know, he's having nightmares, not really responding and just... not being himself. I mean, he wasn't like it on Monday. And he doesn't want to talk about it either." Blaine stopped for a breath, "I'm overreacting, aren't I?" When Blaine had told Wes everything he thought that maybe he was making a mountain out of a mole hill, fueling the ashes; and making it more than it was.

"No. No, you're not. You're just worried, like you said. And you're right, that isn't normal Kurt behaviour. Maybe give it a couple of days and approach him about it if he's still like it."

"Okay. Thanks." Blaine said and made his way to the bathroom.

Classes that day went slower that Blaine had expected them to. Usually, when he was seeing Kurt after school, classes went by pretty quickly due to Blaine's excitement. There was never a day that Blaine was seeing Kurt when he wasn't excited. Sure, he was excited today, but he was also worried, and he figured that his worry outweighed his excitement.

As Blaine belted out the last note of The Warblers' latest song, his phone started to ring. The rest of the guys finished their harmonising before rolling their eyes as Blaine pulled his phone from his pants pocket and answered it, silencing the blaring of Katy Perry's Teenage Dream, as his cheeks heated and developed a gentle pink tint. Nobody but Kurt knew why he had that song as his ringtone, they all thought he just loved Katy Perry a lot, when really it was because it was the first song he'd ever performed in front of Kurt, the first time he'd felt real feelings towards another boy and pursued them in some form. Sure, it had taken him some time and a few mistakes, but he had finally gotten there in the end, and had Kurt as his boyfriend.

"Hello?" Blaine said, having not looked to see who was calling him.

"Hey. Ummm, Blaine, do you mind if I come over a little later? Mister Schue wants us to stay after school to try and get this routine sorted." Kurt said.

"Yeah, sure. What time do you want me to pick you up?"

"Don't worry about it, I'll come up as soon as I can, yeah? You just make sure there's a good stock of whipped cream."

"Oh, Kurt!" Blaine tried to hold back the laugh as Kurt groaned, realising what Blaine was insinuating.

"Yeah. Well, you enjoy that image, and I'll see you later."

"I love you. A lot."

"You too." And then Kurt hung up.

Putting a hand on his shoulder, Wes looked at Blaine and said "You okay, man?"

"Mmm. Yeah." Blaine then turned to The Warblers and said "Sorry about that. So, where were we?" Like with his phone, he pushed the hurt he felt from not hearing the words 'I love you', from Kurt deep in to his pocket, and showed no evidence of being bothered at all.

From a young age, Blaine noticed that he was far more independent than his friends, and that he never got as much affection and care from his parents as they had. It was at the age of eight, after letting his emotional hurt show far too much and worrying more people than he would have liked to, that he taught himself to shut off these feelings almost – push them deep out of sight – and pretend that it didn't matter, that he was fine – just like his friends. Doing this, even if it did make him quite the bottled up person, gave him confidence; Blaine felt more accepted, and found it easier to make friends. Not to mention aiding him in making his 'coming out' easier, helping him ignore the nasty and spiteful things that some people said and did. Of course though, having all of this bottled up emotion made Blaine the passionate singer that he was today. All in all, bottling up his hurt put him where he was now, and that was where he was happiest – the happiest he had ever been that he could remember, for that matter.

Kurt felt awful for lying. He was really at home curled up in a ball on his bed, hugging a pillow tightly to his chest and willing himself to calm down and stop crying. At the end of school, Dave had approached Kurt in the parking lot. Kurt had been later than usual that morning and so, as a result, he'd had to park in the back lot, far away from the school, where few people parked. He'd just pulled on his jacket and was looking at his helmet begrudgingly when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He flinched, and turned to see Dave there, being the only other person in the parking lot. He bit his lip and shrank back slightly.

"Hey, fag! I'll see you at practise on Monday. I'm really looking forward to it, you know."

Kurt had completely forgotten about football practise, and now he so desperately wanted to quit, to never have to go back and fear that he'd have to go through... that all over again. No, he didn't think he could handle that again.

"If you don't come, though, I guess we'll just have to meet up some other time." Dave's voice was threatening as it cut through Kurt's thoughts. "So, you still comin' then?" His hand was now clutching Kurt's shoulder tightly, making him wince slightly.

Kurt couldn't make words leave his mouth so he simply nodded his head vigorously as fear glistened through his glassy eyes.

"See you then." Dave then pressed his lips to Kurt's and kissed him roughly.

Kurt held it together long enough after to call Blaine and hold a somewhat normal sounding conversation, it just lacked Kurt's heart.

Kurt looked at the clock sat on his bedside table and saw that it read five twenty. He forced himself to go in to his bathroom and compose himself, make himself look normal, before he made his way to Blaine's. After splashing cold water on his face and gently dabbling it dry, Kurt packed an outfit for tomorrow along with his phone in to his beige messenger bag, and made his way down the stairs. "I'll see you all tomorrow." Kurt said to his family that were seated in the lounge.

"Okay, honey. Have a nice time and say hello to Blaine for me." Carole said, getting up and hugging him, dropping a kiss in his on his cheek after.

"Yeah. But remember, no funny business." Burt said as he turned in his chair to look at his son with his 'I-mean-business' eyes.

"I know, Dad. You say every time, and, every time, no funny business ever takes place." Kurt told his father, rolling his eyes, "Thank you, Carole. Have a nice night." He returned her kiss and got his leather jacket from the hook, pulling it on and putting his bag over his shoulder.

"Drive safe!" Burt shouted after Kurt as he stepped out of the door.

"Is there any other way?" Kurt shot back, grinning as he heard his father call 'atta' boy' through the now closed door.

Kurt arrived at Blaine's house at three minutes to six, and saw Blaine coming out of the front door as he got off of his bike. He pulled his helmet off, and smiled at Blaine, feeling better, after earlier, already. He set his helmet on the floor just in time to catch Blaine who had launched himself at Kurt. "It's a good thing you're sm- not heavy." Kurt said as he smiled at Blaine, feeling his boyfriend's legs lock tightly around his waist.

"You wanted to say 'small', didn't you?"

"Maybe." Kurt replied, trying to look innocent as Blaine cocked an eyebrow. "Yes."

Blaine grinned and kissed Kurt, wrapping his arms around the taller boy's neck.

As Blaine nibbled on Kurt's lower lip, requesting access, Kurt opened his mouth and let his hands slip lower. He then squeezed Blaine's butt lightly. That caused Blaine to moan deeply in to Kurt's mouth.

When the boys separated their lips and panted hard, Kurt said "Okay... lover boy... down... we get... I've got... an indicator... up... my ass."

Blaine smirked but didn't move.

Sighing, Kurt said "Piggy back, at least?"

"Fine." Blaine pretended to be annoyed as he maneuvered himself so that he was on Kurt's back, his legs around Kurt's waist and his arms locked around his neck, his fingers slowly slipping in to Kurt's jacket and under his t-shirt, gently brushing across the delicate skin on his toned chest.

Holding on with one hand, Blaine put his other one in the air and said "Onwards, my trusty steed!", then moving his hand and swiftly slapping Kurt's butt twice.

Kurt laughed and headed for the front door, his only thought being why hasn't he made a wise crack about him riding me yet?, as he did so.