Blaine put the car in park and moved his hands to grip the steering wheel tightly as he spoke, "Who is he?" Kurt was silent as he chewed his bottom lip. He really didn't want to have this conversation with Blaine, didn't want him to get involved. "Kurt, who is he?" Blaine said through gritted teeth, his emphasis becoming more obvious this time. Kurt was stunned as he realized Blaine had been peering into his thoughts and had seen it all already; four times.

"Blaine, please, don't…" Kurt couldn't help it as his mind flew to his memory of Karofsky's rough lips on his and the way he had gripped Kurt's arm so hard that he left bruises. Blaine gasped and turned to Kurt with wide, tear-filled eyes. His knuckles were turning white from gripping the steering wheel so hard. He released the wheel and moved to touch Kurt's hands. "No!" he jerked away and was out the car door before Blaine could stop him. He looked up at the gray sky as a droplet of rain landed on his forehead as a few more were scattered across the sidewalk.

Blaine followed Kurt and snagged the edge of his jacket before he'd made it halfway up the sidewalk, "Kurt, wait!"

Kurt spun around and jerked away from him, "Stay away from me!" Blaine's face looked broken at these words. "No one was supposed to see that! No one was supposed to know!" It was now pouring and the rain mingled with Kurt's tears on his cheeks, "He…he…" he couldn't bring himself to say it, to remind himself of the terror.

"Kurt, please…" Blaine choked, "Let me help you." Kurt froze in place as Blaine grabbed his hands. He locked his hazel eyes on Kurt's and his breathing halted as he saw the devotion and pain that were behind them.

He finally pulled away his gaze and dropped Blaine's hands, "He told me he would kill me if I told anyone." Kurt whispered it so softly he wondered if the other boy had even heard. He scuffed the toe of his boot lightly on the sidewalk while he waited for a response. He waited for over a minute before he looked up at Blaine, who was still silent.

Kurt took a step away from him bewilderedly when he saw the frightening darkness that now clouded his boyfriend's eyes, so different from the loving and supportive look he had given him just moments before. "Blaine…?" the other boy did not respond and he appeared to be in some sort of trance. "Blaine, say something!"

Blaine snapped out of it as he heard the fear in Kurt's voice. He pulled him into the open garage at the end of the drive to get them out from under the downpour. "I'm…sorry you had to deal with that asshole." He exhaled raggedly as he drug a hand through his dark curls. "Kurt, why didn't you tell me about this sooner? I could have been here to protect you from him"

"I don't need you to protect me from him! He shouldn't even have been here! He lives on the other side of town!" Kurt hissed as he hugged his arms across his chest and grimaced slightly as the movement caused a spasm of pain to move through his right side.

Blaine didn't miss this. He reached out a tentative hand towards Kurt as their eyes met. Kurt nodded lightly as he moved his arms down to his sides. Blaine grasped Kurt's azure, cashmere sweater and lifted it slowly to reveal the large, dark purple bruise that now spread across the right side of his ribcage. His fingers trailed lightly over the skin and his breathing stilled. He looked up to meet Kurt's eyes again and Kurt noted that the darkness had returned to them, "I'm so sorry I couldn't have gotten there quicker."

"S'not your fault" Kurt's sniffled.

Blaine pulled him into a gentle hug and stroked his hair, "If you ever, and I mean ever, see him around here again you call me immediately, okay?" Kurt nodded and buried his face in Blaine's shoulder. They stood like that for quite some time before Kurt finally looked up at him, "Can we go get some coffee? And ice? This really hurts." He frowned as he reached up to touch his cheek again.

Blaine grinned at him, glad to see him returning to his normal self, "Sure. Shouldn't you tell your parents first though?"

He shook his head, "No, they wouldn't understand that there's nothing we can do about it. If we called the cops, they would stop pursuing the case as soon as they found out what I am." Blaine started to say something but Kurt cut him off, "And they would. Especially when they see the burns on his hand…"

Blaine looked at him curiously and Kurt just shrugged, turning to dig through a large, red tool cabinet for an umbrella. When he found one he popped it open and stepped out into the rain. Blaine, ever the gentlemen, swiped it away from Kurt before he could argue and held it over his head. He walked Kurt to the passenger side and opened the door for him before closing the umbrella and dashing to the other side of the car and hopping in.

Kurt's heart stopped when he saw Blaine's flushed cheeks and rain slicked skin and hair as he buckled his seat belt. Kurt blushed when Blaine caught him gawking and merely chuckled before turning the key in the engine and switching gears to back out of the drive. "We can get coffee, but first I'm taking you to a drug store to get that cleaned up. You don't want that cut getting infected."

Kurt decided it was pointless arguing with him, plus the cut was on his face after all and he really didn't want it to scar. They drove a few blocks before Blaine pulled into a CVS parking lot. He looked at Kurt, "Do you want to stay in the car or..."

"I'll come in!" Kurt really didn't think he could handle being alone, not right now.

Blaine took his hand as they walked through the sliding double doors before he leaned over and kissed his cheek, just below the cut, "Go entertain yourself. I'll be back in a flash." He grabbed a basket and walked off in the direction of the medical supplies as Kurt went to look through the magazine rack on the second aisle.

Kurt was flipping through a copy of Vogue when Blaine returned with a basket full of supplies, "Ready to go?"

Kurt nodded, giving him a skeptical look, "Do we really need all of that?"

"Better safe than sorry." Blaine took his hand and walked to the checkout counter. The girl behind the counter didn't seem to be paying attention as she popped her gum and flipped through a magazine. Blaine cleared his throat and she glared up at him and began swiping the supplies over the scanner begrudgingly. She gasped and dropped the box of Neosporin in her hand as she took in Kurt's appearance. He panicked slightly as he felt Blaine stiffen beside him. "Tell her you fell down some stairs."

"I fell down some stairs. Clumsy me." he tried to shrug it off as non-chalantly as possible, but he could still feel his hands shaking from nerves. She apparently bought it as she mumbled an apology and went back to scanning the items in the basket.

When the total popped up Kurt felt his stomach churn and he turned to Blaine, who quickly shushed him before he could make an argument and slipped his card over to the cashier. After he paid, Blaine thanked her and took the bag of supplies off the counter as they walked out to the car.

As soon as Blaine shut his car door, Kurt started in on him, "You're not allowed to do that."

"Do what?"

"Buy everything for me. Especially when it's that expensive! I don't care how much money you have, I don't want to have one of those relationships." Kurt huffed.

"Alright," Blaine smiled and leaned over to him, "But this was a special circumstance." He ran his fingers gently underneath the cut and kissed the spot where they had ghosted over Kurt's skin.

Kurt sighed lightly and gave up on the argument. Blaine pulled out some Q-tips and a bottle of peroxide and set to work on Kurt's injuries, tenderly cleaning and swabbing the small cuts on his knuckles and then his cheek. He applied the Neosporin to his knuckles before he bandaged them and then did the same for his cheek, instead pulling out some medical tape and giving him butterfly stitches over the long cut. When he was finished, he pulled out a bottle of water and some Aspirin and passed them over to Kurt, who willingly accepted them and downed two of the pills.

"Right," Kurt passed the bottle back to Blaine, "So, coffee?"

Blaine laughed at him and nodded in agreement, "Coffee."

They pulled into the Lima Bean parking lot and Kurt looked down at the dash and groaned as he saw the time. It was nearly 10:00. He needed to call his father and let him know where he was before half of the police department was out looking for him. Blaine went inside to place their orders while Kurt stayed under the awning and gave Burt a call.

"Hello" a gruff voice answered on the other end.

"Hey, dad."

"Hey kiddo! Where did you get too? Carole said she thought she heard your voice outside but then you never came in."

"Yeah, I went to grab an umbrella. I ran into a friend on my walk and we decided to go get a coffee." Kurt's voice broke, "I'm sorry. I should have called…"

"Hey… are you alright, Kurt?" his father's voice sounded concerned.

Kurt forced back the tears that were threatening to boil over, "Yeah, I'm fine. I'll be home soon. I love you, dad."

"I love you too, kiddo. Bye."

"Bye." Kurt closed his phone and brought his hand up to muffle the sob that escaped his lips. He hated lying to his father, especially over this. He had a right to know about what happened with Karofsky, but Kurt knew it would only bring more trouble to his family and they deserved to have some peace for once. He wiped the tears away and resolved to think up a reasonable story explaining his injuries before he went home that night.

When Kurt walked through the front door, he saw Blaine waving at him from a table in the corner, drinks in hand. Kurt went to join him, thanking him as he took his drink from him, mentally noting to scold him later for already breaking his new rule.

"Still a special circumstance" Blaine added as he pulled a chair out for Kurt, who rolled his eyes as he took a seat, slightly tapping his toe to the Ingrid Michaelson song playing from the speakers overhead. He took a sip of his coffee, shivering lightly as the liquid slowly warmed his entire body. Blaine smiled warmly at him from across the table, "I don't know what I would do without you." Kurt blushed deeply and pulled his eyes away from his companion. "I'm serious. You have no idea how much my life has changed since you walked into it." He grabbed Kurt's hand and gave it a light squeeze to get him to make eye contact. When Kurt looked up, he was glad to see that the warm, loving look from earlier had reappeared in Blaine's eyes.

"Same here." Kurt muttered as he immediately took a sip of his coffee to quell any further discussion of this topic. He thought that if he was forced to explain how Blaine made him feel, he would just end up a blubbering, incoherent mess and he felt he'd suffered enough traumatization for one night thank you very much. He cleared his throat, "So, if I'm gathering correctly from Nick and Jeff's doodles, you can…fly, right?"

Blaine choked on his coffee a little at this question. He, too, cleared his throat lightly before he began, "I can."

"So, why didn't you fly whenever I called you tonight? Wouldn't it have been…quicker?" Kurt didn't want it to seem like he was placing blame for his injuries on Blaine, but he couldn't help wonder.

"It would have been quicker, but something in your voice told me that I might be in need of running someone down and cars are much handier for that." Blaine chuckled casually at this, though his eyes darkened again. "Looking back on it now, I think I made the wrong choice."

"Right." Kurt looked away from him and began to fiddle with the plastic lid on his cup, picking at it absentmindedly as he suddenly felt a bit of guilt wash over him. He was sure Blaine was reading his mind and it only made him feel worse for asking the question in the first place.

"If you ever…want to talk about what happened between you two—tonight or…in the past— I'll be here for you. All you have to do is ask."

Kurt set down his cup and their eyes met as he leaned forward and smirked at Blaine, "I'm counting on it."