"Morning" Kurt whispered and pecked him sweetly on the lips. Blaine hummed appreciatively.

"I wish I could wake up like this every morning" he whispered back, not wanting to ruin the moment. He was smiling against Kurt's lips, going for another quick kiss because he could do that now.

"Want some coffee?" Kurt asked him in between kisses. "Or you know we could stay in bed and cuddle and kiss for a little while…" he trailed off, hand going to Blaine's unruly curls and burying his fingers in their softness.

"As much as I'd love to stay here with you all day, I'm afraid I must go. I have a rehearsal at 1 o'clock" Blaine disentangled himself from the sheets and Kurt's body and he heard the little whine his boyfriend made, but he started getting up, too. Blaine changed back in his last night clothes and folded the sweatpants and shirt Kurt gave him in a neat pile and put them back on his bed. When he was done, Kurt went to his side of the bed and smiled at him, taking his hand and walking out of the room.

"You sure about that coffee?" he asked, just in case the other boy's changed his mind.

"Yeah, I think so. If I don't leave now, I am not sure that I'll leave at all" he grinned and Kurt nodded, amusement sparkling in his eyes.

They made their way silently through the living room, where they saw Brittany and Santana fast asleep on the couch, pressed close together and Sam who was sprawled on one of the armchairs. The others must have left later in the evening and Finn was probably asleep, too.

"I'll call you later, okay?" Blaine whispered, not wanting to wake anyone up, and pulled Kurt in a hug, not ready to let go of him yet. He felt the boy nod against his shoulder. The kissed one again, before parting. Kurt waited in the doorway until he couldn't see Blaine anymore. Then he sighed happily, tracing his lips with his fingers, still feeling Blaine's lips on his.

Unfortunately, he was too distracted to see that Brittany was in fact awake and was following every step he took with her eyes. When he finally left to room, she sat up, unwillingly entangling herself from Santana and running out of the apartment to catch up with Blaine.

xxx

She saw him easily, he was going down the stairs of the apartment building briskly, hands in his jacket. It was freezing outside and Brittany wished that she could go back to Kurt's warm living room. She couldn't, though.

"Hey, Blaine, wait up" she called after him. He turned around, smiling brightly at her.

"Hi, Brittany, what's up?" He asked her cheerily.

"I saw you" she said, pausing at the confused look on Blaine's face. "You and Kurt, I mean. So you are his boyfriend now, aren't you?"

"Er…yeah, I am" he admitted and beamed at her. She looked at him sadly.

"I'm sorry, then. I hope he told you about his evil exes" Blaine nodded. "Well, I'm the first one so I guess we should not waste more time."

Blaine was dumbfounded. When Kurt told him about his exes he thought that…well, he thought they'd all be guys. This was not okay. How was he supposed to fight Brittany – sweet blonde Brittany, who probably didn't know how to punch him in the face properly?

She was blinking at him, waiting for some kind of response and he felt suddenly guilty for keeping her waiting but what was he expected to do? Swing at her and start the fight? No. He was a gentleman; he couldn't possibly fight a girl.

"Look, there must be some other way. I can't fight with you, Britt" he told her seriously but she huffed in annoyance.

"There's no other way. You either fight me or forget about Kurt. It's your choice" she told him and Blaine thought how everything nowadays seemed to be up to him. He sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose, when Brittany suddenly punched him in the stomach. Blaine was shocked, out of breath and slipping on the ice on the ground. He couldn't even react properly. Then he realized that she way too close for his liking, trying to punch him in the face, but Blaine saw most of the hits coming and tried avoided them. She succeeded in landing some of her punches on his face and he knew that he would be bruised and his eye might swell.

Brittany was obviously some kind of ninja, aiming at different parts of his body and Blaine was doing his best at keeping up her pace. She somehow managed to pin him to the wall and Blaine thought that that was it, he was probably going to get beaten up by a girl against a wall next to Kurt's apartment, when he remembered why he was fighting her at the first place. He struggled to get out of her reach and then he managed to punch her in the face. He winced.

Brittany was shocked at first and then she lost her balance because of the blow she received and then took a step back, slipping on the frozen pavement and falling on her back, hitting her head in the process.

Blaine was terrified. He kneeled to her, shook her lightly and mumbling an 'oh fuck, what have I done' before calling an ambulance.

xxx

"Kurt?" he was shaking and clutching the phone to his ear.

"Blaine, is everything alright? You sound upset" Kurt asked him, trying not to panic.

"It's Brittany. She's in the hospital. Would you please, come here, Kurt? I'm freaking out and it's all my fault, I did what I had to…" Blaine was talking fast and Kurt was frozen in the middle of his room, his heart skipping a beat.

"Hey, hey, I'm on my way. Try to calm down a little, okay? I'm coming, honey" he said and ran out of his room, shaking Santana's shoulder to wake her up.

"Wake up, Santana. We have to go. Brittany is in the hospital" the Latina jumped and took her purse, while Kurt was calling a cab.

"Just so you know, I'm probably going to kick Anderson's ass for hurting my girl" she told him, but the bitchiness to her voice sounded fake to his ears. Kurt knew that she was doing her best to stay strong.

"Yeah, I know you are" he nodded and squeezed her shoulder, before leaving the apartment.

Xxx

Kurt spotted Blaine immediately. He was pacing nervously in front of Brittany's room, messing his already messy curly hair and Kurt could imagine the look on his face. When they reached him, Kurt embraced him, petting his hair lovingly.

"It's not your fault" he whispered and felt Blaine fisting the back of his coat. "She's going to be okay, I promise" he reassured him, his breath tickling Blaine's ear.

"Kurt, I feel so bad" he told him once he was out of his warm arms. He sat on the blue plastic chair next to the room, looking up at Kurt as if somebody's just shot his puppy and made him watch. "I-I've never had to fight with a girl. I mean back at school I've picked up fights and I-I have been hurt but it was never like this. She'll probably hate me when she wakes up" he rambled and Kurt could only assume what Blaine felt like at the moment. Of course he wasn't happy, either. He was the reason Blaine had to fight Brittany. It was a burden he would have to carry on his shoulders, but for now he wanted to hug Blaine and make them both feel better.

While they were sitting outside of the room, Santana went in, sitting on the hard chair next to Brittany's bed, her heart clenching painfully. How many times would she have to go through this? Her heart broke every time she saw Britt bruised or black-eyed or like in this case, in a hospital bed, after a fight with one of the many guys who wanted to date Kurt Hummel. She was angry and sad and everything she wanted was to take Brittany away from here. Kurt was their friend, sure, but this whole "seven evil exes" thing was stupid and hurtful for the people who had to watch from the side.

She took Brittany's warm hand and waited until she woke up, not moving from her spot on that hospital chair.

xxx

Later, the doctor told them that she had a minor concussion so all she needed was rest. Blaine finally calmed down, but Kurt knew that the guilt would take a while to go completely away, but he could help him with that. He squeezed Blaine's hand and smiled at him.

"See, she's going to be alright" Blaine managed to smile back. "By the way, what happened to your rehearsal? Don't tell me you missed it."

"Oh God, I did. I forgot all about it" he couldn't keep the disappointment out of his voice. "But I think I might have a black eye and some painful bruises. I'm absolutely fucked."

"Why don't you go home now, shower and then go to the community theater? I'm sure that when the director sees you he'll understand. And you could always rehears tomorrow."

Blaine nodded. Suddenly, Santana was out of Brittany's room and coming towards them.

"She's awake, if you want to see her do it now" she told them, shooting Blaine a glare and then going back to her room.

"You go, I'll wait here" Kurt told him and Blaine gathered his courage to walk through the door. He stopped in the doorway, looking at Santana, who was holding Brittany's hand, and kissing her head sweetly and sniffling discreetly. Then the blonde noticed him standing there.

"Hey, Blaine, come here" she beckoned him and whispered something to Santana, who stood up and with a last gentle kiss to her forehead, left the room.

Blaine was hovering in the middle of the room, not sure what to do or what to say.

"I'm not mad at you" fortunately, the girl broke the silence first. "I was kind of hoping I'd lose, you know" she confessed and Blaine finally went over and sat where Santana was sitting just a moment ago.

"I would have done the same for Santana. And I wouldn't even thinking about it. I know you care about Kurt" she continued. "So I feel like warning you about the ones after me. They're not as nice as me, remember that."

"Thank you" he whispered and bent down to hug her lightly. "And I'll always be sorry for what I had to do to you."

She smiled and shook her head. "Don't worry, I've had worse. Now, if you don't mind, I'm feeling dizzy so I think I should take a nap" she yawned and wrapped the hospital covers tightly around her thin frame.

"Of course, get well, Britt" she smiled again and closed her bright blue eyes.

Blaine went out of the room and closed the door quietly.

"She's taking a nap" he informed Santana, who nodded and crossed her legs, staring at the closed door of the room.

"Would you be okay here on your own? Because Blaine and I should really leave" Kurt's tone was apologetic but he needed to clean his apartment and maybe Sam was still asleep there so he needed to kick him out if he didn't want to miss his shift at the bar and Blaine needed to shower and rest.

"Yeah, whatever, Hummel. I'll stay here, no need for you to stick around as well" she rolled her eyes.

"Okay then, call me you get her home and drive safely" he kissed the top of her head and they bold told her goodbye.

They walked out of the hospital, hands clutched together into the freezing New York night. It was snowing and Blaine thought that he had never seen such a beautiful sight. Then he felt Kurt squeeze his hand once again and turned to look at him.

"I never got to thank you" he said and Blaine was confused at first, because why would Kurt thank him? "I mean for not giving up. I know it was hard for you. But you fought Brittany even though she was the last person you wanted to hurt. So thank you, Blaine" the curly-haired boy teared up a bit and closed the distance between them, melting the snowflakes on his boyfriend's lips and then pressing their foreheads together.

"You're welcome" he whispered and then Blaine pulled Kurt by the hand and they disappeared into the crowd of people.