The Warblers left shortly after theyd eaten their pancakes and got dressed, leaving Kurt and Blaine to clear up the mess in the kitchen. Blaine couldnt help but mirror the smile that Kurt was now sporting, hoping that hed played a part in making it appear.

"Im sorry my friends are so crazy. We havent seen each other for a few weeks so we had a lot to catch up on," said Blaine as he loaded plates into the dishwasher.

"I like them. Theyre funny," Kurt assured him. "Why did you leave Dalton anyway? You seem to miss your friends a lot."

"Its kind of difficult to explain. The main reason was that we moved here and Daltons a good two hour drive away. I wasnt really up for boarding; I couldnt imagine staying at school every single hour of every single day. I like living at home. And I think I liked the idea of facing public school again. When I transferred to Dalton, it felt like I was running. I know Ill probably get bullied when people find out that Im gay, but Im going with the dont ask dont tell right now," Blaine explained.

"I like your way of thinking," Kurt smiled.

"So, I hate to be a party pooper, but are you ready to talk?" asked Blaine. Kurts smile dropped and he hesitantly nodded.

"You dont mind do you? I mean youve just had a good night with your old friends and Ive already ruined that by gatecrashing. I dont want to be a further bother," Kurt said. Blaine shook his head though.

"No, youre not a bother. And I had a good night with you too. The guys loved you!" Blaine insisted.

"They did? I thought they were just being nice because they felt sorry for me," Kurt said.

"Nope. They did like you. I think Nicks thinking of dumping Jeff so he can marry you or something," Blaine chuckled.

"You were right, by the way. Niff are adorable!"

"Everyone thinks so! Now, Ill make us some hot chocolate and we can go to my room to talk, okay?" Blaine asked.

"Okay," Kurt agreed.

When they were upstairs and settled on Blaines bed, Blaine turned to Kurt with a reassuring smile. "So, why were you so upset last night?" he asked.

"Its stupid really. It was my own fault," Kurt murmured.

"Tell me," Blaine said, softly.

Kurt took a deep breath and looked down at Blaines bed spread, playing with the material with his fingers. "I was at Alexs last night, as usual, and we were kissing and it was fine, but then he started to move his hand further up my leg until it was on my inner thigh and I pushed him away and told him to stop and said we should cool down. He got kind of annoyed and kept kissing me and wouldnt listen w-when I told him to stop. It wasnt until he started to unbutton my shirt that I p-pushed him and yelled at him to stop, which just made him more annoyed. H-he yelled at me, told me it was no wonder Id never h-had a boyfriend because I was such a p-prude and wouldnt put out." A few tears leaked from his eyes and Blaine put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Hes right though, I-I should have just given him what he wanted and it would have been fine. Weve been dating for four months, how can I expect him to wait?"

"No, stop," said Blaine. "Dont talk like that. Its not your fault. If he loved you, hed wait as long as you needed."

"But he shouldnt have to!" Kurt insisted.

"Kurt, if youre not ready, he should respect that, okay? He shouldnt push you into doing anything you dont want to do. Im just happy that you didnt let him," Blaine said, wrapping his arms around Kurt. Kurt rested his head on Blaines shoulder and sniffed. "I still cant believe youre with that jerk."

"I cant leave him," Kurt sniffed. "He loves me. It would break his heart."

"Its breaking my heart to see you in such pain, Kurt. If he loved you then why would he treat you this way?" Blaine asked.

"I told you, hes always really sorry. He buys me flowers and gifts to make up for it. He doesnt stop apologising."

"And then he does it all over again. He shouldnt be treating you like this in the first place," Blaine insisted. "I dont want it to get worse. I dont want anything to happen to you."

"Nothings going to happen to me!" said Kurt.

"It might," Blaine said.

"How do you know?" asked Kurt.

Blaine sighed and rubbed the back of neck. "I havent known you long, but I can trust you," Blaine said.

"I... Yes, why do you say that?"

"Because Im going to tell you something and I trust you to keep it between us. Only Wes knows this and it took me months to tell him, and I didnt even mean to. So I can trust you right?" asked Blaine, keeping eye contact with Kurt.

"Yeah, you can trust me," Kurt said. "What is it, Blaine?"

"Let me start by saying that my mom and dad... theyre not my mom and dad," Blaine said.

"What?" asked Kurt.

"Linda and Andrew arent my parents. Well, they are, just not biologically. They adopted me. Theyre Linda and Andrew Adams," explained Blaine.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Youll understand in a minute," Blaine said. He lowered his eyes to his lap before he began to speak. "I have a brother, a real brother, called Cooper. Hes 13 years older than me and works as an actor in LA. When he was about 9, my dad - my real dad that is - started drinking. Quite heavily I believe. Cooper told me he used to come home drunk almost every night and when he was drunk, he got angry. Hed shout at my mom and Cooper. Hed tell them they were worthless, call them horrible things and then hed sleep it off and be apologetic the next day, buying mom flowers and Coop toys to make up for it. After a while, he started getting abusive. He didnt hit Coop, but he hit my mom. He was still apologetic afterwards, but he continued it. My mom would send Cooper to his room as soon as he got home and hed listen to music to drown out the sounds of him yelling.

"He stopped hitting her when she got pregnant with me. Cooper thinks that hed been raping her when he was drunk and felt bad that shed gotten pregnant. He even tried some AA meetings, but after I was born he started drinking again. I used to wake up in the middle of the night to the sounds of banging and yelling and go climb in with Cooper, whod sing me to sleep. The only reason she stayed with him in the first place was because his family were funding Coopers college fund, but when she had me, she knew she had to stay so that she had financial support to look after me. She couldnt cope with it and she started self harming. Coop told me that when I was young, Id see the scars on her arms and ask what was wrong. Shed tell me that mommy hurt herself and Id go to the kitchen to get a band aid for her scars and kiss them better. Cooper left when I was five to move to LA and without him, my mom had to work extra hard to look after me. She managed okay, I guess. I was never hurt. But then came my sixth birthday.

"My sixth birthday is one of my clearest childhood memories. I remember I woke up needing the bathroom. My dad hadnt come home until late the previous night so my mom and I had stayed up drinking hot chocolate and watching Disney movies. So I woke up, needing the bathroom, and super excited because it was my birthday. I jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom and went to go in, but the door was locked. I knocked, but no one answered. I knocked again and again, but still no one answered. I looked around the whole house for my mom, thinking the door might have been stuck, but she was no where. The only place she could have been was the bathroom. I waited until I was completely desperate for the bathroom and she still wasnt answering so I put on my dressing gown and slippers, grabbed her house keys and went and knocked next door.

"A lovely middle aged couple lived next door, Mr and Mrs Jones. They sometimes looked after me if my mom got a bad injury and had to go to hospital. But I went and knocked on their door and explained that my mom was in the bathroom and she wouldnt answer me and I was really desperate. So they let me come in and use their bathroom and Mr Jones got his ladder, climbed over the fence and went to look through the bathroom window. I remember me and Mrs Jones were waiting at the bottom, her arms wrapped around me protectively, and Mr Jones looked down and just shook his head sadly. I was really confused because I thought that he meant she wasnt in there and I got worried that shed ran away.

"Mrs Jones sat me down in their living room with a glass of milk and put on some cartoons whilst Mr Jones talked on the phone. I just wanted to know where my mom was. Police and ambulances showed up and the police man asked me about what had happened that morning. I asked where Cooper was and they said theyd called him and he was booking the next flight, but they wouldnt tell me where my mom was. Finally, a police woman came in and sat next to me and told me my mom had gone to sleep. I remember I told her I know how to wake her up. You just shake her really hard, but the police woman shook her head and told me that mommy wasnt going to wake up.

"I found out when I was older what had happened. It turned out that shed been self harming in the bath and shed cut too deep. She hadnt tried to stop the bleeding or call an ambulance and in the end she died of blood loss. Cooper came home for a month to look after me. Hed given evidence against my dad and I think my dad got done for domestic abuse or something. I didnt see him after that anyway. Cooper had to go back to LA for college so I went into care. For a year I was in and out of care homes until I was fostered at 7 by Linda and Andrew. Then, when I was 8, they adopted me. But thats not why I was telling you this story." For the first time since speaking, Blaine lifted his gaze to look at Kurt. Both boys had tears in their eyes and Kurt lifted a hand to wipe his away. "Im telling you this because I dont want something like that to happen to you. I know your situations are different, but I dont want you to get caught in something and not be able to get out of it. I dont want it to get worse than it is now."

"Blaine..." Kurt whispered, his voice cracking. "I-Im so so sorry." Kurt reached over to wrap his arms around the boy. Blaine accepted the embrace and rested his head on Kurts shoulder.

"Do you see why I worry about you so much?" asked Blaine.

"Yeah, I see. I didnt realise- Im so sorry," Kurt said, squeezing Blaine tightly.

"Dont apologise. Just... please let me help you. Id feel so bad if something happened to you," Blaine replied.

"I-I dont know how you can help me," Kurt admitted. "I dont know how to get out of this."

"Well do this together. We can try," Blaine suggested.

Kurt felt tears falling onto his cheeks at the same time that he felt them pooling on his shoulder. "We can try," he repeated.