Chapter 7:

"Blaine! Blaine, wait!" Kurt yelled after the curly haired boy that was quickly rounding the corner, avoiding his the calls of his name.

Kurt quickened the movement of his legs even more, trying to catch up with him. For someone shorter than me, he's really fucking fast.

When Kurt rounded the corner, he saw Blaine open a door and climb up a flight of stairs. He frowned as he was still trying to keep up. Where's he going?

Once he reached the top, he opened the door he saw Blaine disappear through, and found himself on the roof.

It was a very wide, vast space with what seemed to be a little makeshift tent on the back corner. A tent on a roof. Not weird at all.

Kurt approached the tent and peeked inside, only to find Blaine curled up against some blankets and pillows crying. Kurt's heart clenched so hard at the site that he almost stumbled and fell on top of the small, shaking figure that was Blaine.

"Blaine? What's wrong?" Kurt whispered almost urgently as he tentatively approached Blaine.

Blaine looked up from his pool of blankets and pillows, his eyes red-rimmed, his face wet from the tears, and stared helplessly at Kurt.

"Oh, Blaine…" Kurt reached out to pull the crying boy into his arms, half-expecting Blaine to pull away or perhaps snap at him, but was shocked to see him practically leap into his open arms. The curly haired boy buried his head in the crook of Kurt's neck, and began to sob.

"I-I don't h-hate y-you, a-and that's w-what scares m-me." Blaine whispered into his neck.

Kurt didn't know what to say. He had so many questions he wanted to ask Blaine, but they could wait until he calmed down a bit. He didn't want Blaine snapping at him.

After about 20 minutes or so, Blaine's sobs subsided and he jerkily pulled back, making Kurt jump a little at the sudden movement. When Kurt looked at Blaine's face, he saw that his eyes were hard, and his whole body was tense.

He asked Kurt in a hard, slightly insecure voice, "Why did you follow me?"

Kurt sighed. He was so sick of Blaine's sudden mood swings. One second he was nice, the next he was an asshole, the next he was the most vulnerable, broken boy Kurt has ever seen. If he's going to keep doing this, I honestly don't think I can deal anymore. He ignored the question and began to crawl out of the tent, until he felt a hand clasp his wrist tightly. Kurt turned his head to see Blaine looking almost desperate. "Please just… Just don't leave right now."

"Blaine…"

"Please, Kurt. I'll… I'll explain everything you want to know." The curly haired boy pleaded, tugging slightly on Kurt's wrist.

Kurt tentatively crawled back next to Blaine, careful to keep a good distance between them. He could see Blaine notice how Kurt sat purposefully a little far, but said nothing about it, and instead turned his body around to fully face Kurt.

The countertenor took in Blaine's appearance. His face was puffy and blotchy from all the crying, his uniform was wet at the collar and crinkled, and Blaine's entire frame was shaking slightly. Kurt felt the urge to hold Blaine close again, to promise him that everything would be okay. Ironic, isn't it? That I want to comfort the person that has done nothing but hurt me since the second I got here?

"I know I've been nothing but… mean to you since you got here. It's just… I'm scared." Blaine said insecurely.

"Of what?"

Blaine looked down and said nothing for a long time that Kurt was about to ask again, but then he saw a lone tear fall to the ground and heard the sound of his broken voice. "Of getting hurt, again."

Kurt thought he could just burst into tears at the site of Blaine. He was like a completely different person than the one he'd met on his first day here only a few weeks ago.

Kurt whispered back, "Again?"

The hazel eyed boy sighed and got into a more comfortable position before he began his explanation. "I'm guessing the Warden didn't let you change rooms because you're not allowed to be in a room alone, and that you're wondering how I was alone before you came?" At Kurt's nod, he continued. "Well… My old r-roommate… He…"

Kurt reached out and took Blaine's trembling hand in his, encouraging him.

The broken boy looked at Kurt gratefully and squeezed his hand before continuing in a broken whisper. "His n-name w-was Scott. Scott was my… Scott was my everything." He sniffed, trying to stop the tears threatening to escape his eyes. "I wasn't only sent here for drugs… You see, I have a pretty fucked up family." Blaine smiled sadly. "My mom is practically the biggest bitch in existence. She married some filthy rich guy literally a month after my father passed away."

A lone tear escaped. Kurt squeezed his hand. "I wasn't always this fucked up. Everything went downhill when my dad passed away. He was my best friend. When I told him I was gay, he was so supportive. He told me that he would always love me no matter what I was." Blaine smiled at the memory of how loving and caring his dad had always been.

The smile faded, however, once he said the next part. "Suddenly, I get called into the principle's office one day while in school, and they tell me that he… that he died in a car crash."

Kurt took his chances and pulled Blaine against him to hold him tight while he explained. Blaine looked up at him gratefully before he continued in a shaky voice. "My mom was so indifferent about the death, it was practically disgusting to even look at her. Of course she's a gold digger, so she married that rich guy. The guy already had a son that's probably 18 now, and a daughter that's 15, I think. The entire 'family' always treated me like shit. Whenever I would come home, they'd say stuff like 'Oh look, the homo's back.'

Then one day, I was taking a nap in my room, when my step-brother came in and took the bag I kept the pills that I used to take in. I went to his room when I figured it was missing and found him crushing them all, so I yelled at him for taking my shit. He completely ignored me so I walked up to him to yell right at his face when he…" Blaine's fists clenched tight. "He punched me in the gut and pushed me onto the floor. Then out of the fucking blue, the guy grabbed the baseball bat that he had in his room and hit himself. He fucking hit himself! Who does that? So I freaked out and tried to stop him by getting up and grabbing the it. I mean really, what the fuck was he doing? Then… He suddenly screamed really loud and my step-dad came barging in like two seconds later, and that's when I realized what he was trying to do. He had hit himself on purpose, knowing that I would try to stop him and take the bat away, and that his dad would come barging in the moment he screamed. He knew what his dad would see. He would see his step-son holding a baseball bat, and his son full of bruises. I tried to explain, but the evidence just turned against me. And so, I ended up in this shit hole."

Kurt was speechless. He honestly didn't know what to say. How could someone do that? Did they hate Blaine that much that the son literally hit himself to make it seem like it was Blaine? What kind of a fucked up people are they? "I just… I don't know what to say…"

Blaine laughed bitterly and pulled away slightly, though he was still in Kurt's embrace.

"I'm so sorry, Blaine."

Blaine snorted. "Shit happens. Nothing we can do about it other than accept it."

Kurt nodded absentmindedly, his mind still racing with questions about Scott, and that's when he remembered that Blaine still hadn't said anything about him. "What about… What about Scott?"

The curly haired boy tensed slightly, but then relaxed and released a defeated sigh. "Damn. I thought with this dramatic confession, you'd forget about him." At Kurt's dubious stare, he chuckled softly. "You really are something else, aren't you?"

Kurt smiled slightly and pulled Blaine against him once again. His heart was still aching over the story about Blaine's family and how he ended up here, but his brain was just nagging at him about what happened to Scott. "So tell me… What happened?" He asked tentatively, still not wanting to cross any boundaries. For all he knew, Blaine could snap at him any second now.

Blaine sagged against him with a soft sigh, and began the story that had been plaguing Kurt's mind for ages. "So when I got here, I was a mess. There was all this anger in me from having my so-called family do that to me, that I would beat up anyone who remotely said anything to me. I practically beat my old roommate up to a pulp just because he called me an asshole, so they moved me to a new room and put me on probation. I wasn't allowed down to dinner, wasn't allowed outside of my room aside from classes, wasn't allowed to even talk to anyone since they took my phone and laptop, and I had no friends, so that was pretty pointless. So when they moved me to the new room… I met Scott." Blaine smiled slightly.

"At first, I kept lashing out at him whenever he talked to me. I would throw stuff across the room whenever he approached me and would call him horrible names, and yet, he wouldn't stop trying to talk to me. So eventually, I gave up the fight and decided to let him in step by step. Of course, I still lashed out and threw a punch every now and then, but he was always patient. Always. And he never even got mad at me for it. So with time, I broke down my walls, and let him in fully. Next thing I knew, he was the love of my life. My anchor, my rock, my joy, my everything. Whenever I was with him, all my worries would just disappear." A few tears escaped Blaine's watery eyes. "Then after that, Scott introduced me to the guys that are practically my best friends now,"

Kurt felt a little jealousy bubble up in him at the way Blaine talked about how amazing Scott was and about how much he loved him, but he buried it deep down quickly. Now is definitely not the time to get jealous.

Blaine continued, "Scott even told me he wanted to be with me forever. We spent practically every hour of everyday with each other." He looked around the tent they were sitting in. "This was our secret spot. No one ever came up here, so we decided to put a tent up and hang out. It was like our little world. With time, we both got into heroine and this was the place to use it. If we ever did it in our dorm room, the drug-dog would sniff it out and we'd be fucked. Sometimes we would just lay here with each other and do nothing. One day, though, he randomly promised me something when we were cuddling here."

Blaine's smile faded at this, and his eyes shone with a new wave of tears. His voice was shaky when he continued. "He… He promised me t-that he would always be there for me. H-He promised me that he would never leave me. That he would never let anything or anyone hurt me ever again."

Kurt was frowning at Blaine's solemn and angry expression. Isn't it a good thing when someone promises to never let you get hurt again?

When Blaine continued, he finally found out why. "The next day, I found him in our dorm room when I came back to class… dead. H-He overdosed. He killed himself." At this point, Blaine was practically bawling against Kurt's chest.

Even Kurt couldn't hold back the tears that were pooling in his eyes.

Blaine continued, "The day after he promised he would never leave me, he killed himself. I begged for him to wake up. I begged him to come back to me. I begged, I screamed, I demanded him to tell me why. Just, why? Why would he do this to me?"

Kurt didn't know what to do other than whisper soothing words in Blaine's ears and rock his convulsing body back and forth.

They stayed in that position for what Kurt guessed was over an hour. None of them said anything, and none of them caring that they had missed curfew.

Kurt had his eyes closed and his nose pressed against Blaine's soft, curly hair. "I'm so, so sorry." He whispered before placing a soft kiss on his hair. He heard Blaine sniff and move before he suddenly felt soft lips moving languidly against his. Kurt was a little surprised but still kept his eyes closed as he gently cupped Blaine's tear-filled face with one hand while his other hand found Blaine's. He intertwined their hands that seemed to be made for each other. The kiss was slow and tender, filled with a gentleness Kurt didn't know Blaine possessed. After a while, they both pulled back.

Blaine let his eyes fall downcast shyly and his cheeks were slightly pink. Kurt couldn't breathe for a second as he marveled at Blaine's beauty. He asked himself for a moment if this was really the same Blaine he had met on his first day here, or if the Blaine he had met on the first day had a twin that was the complete opposite.

No, this was the real Blaine. This was the Blaine Kurt was starting to fall in love with.

He stroked Blaine's cheek softly with his thumb and pulled his other hand out of Blaine's to lift his chin up so he could look at him. "I really hope you're not going to flip out on me now…" He said insecurely. He really wasn't prepared for another one of Blaine's sudden outbursts.

Blaine chuckled softly, his expression guilty. He looked into Kurt's eyes and said, "The reason why I kept trying to push you away was because I kept feeling the same feelings I used to feel when I was around Scott. I don't know what it is about you, but it's like you're just- you have this power that just makes me feel…" He stammered, trying to find the right words.

Kurt chuckled at his cute, nervous state. "You make me feel the same way." He confessed. "I never told anyone everything that happened that night of the… the night I… the night I killed him. But with you it was just like my walls just crashed down and before I knew it, I was spilling it all out. I know we've only known each other for a few weeks, most of which we sort of hated each other, but there's something about you that I just…" Kurt left the last sentence hanging, his eyes searching Blaine's gorgeous hazel ones.

"...can't stay away no matter how much I convince myself that I don't want to be around you? Yeah, that's how I feel." Blaine finished for him with a smile.

Kurt smiled as well and pecked Blaine's lips chastely. "Exactly. And Blaine?"

At Blaine's questioning stare, he continued. "I know you're scared that… that you'll get hurt again." Blaine cast his eyes downcast and started to move away, as if suddenly remembering the reason he tried to stay away from Kurt in the first place, but Kurt held him still. "No, I want you to look at me when I tell you this." He said softly, yet a little firmly.

Blaine looked up at him again.

For a second, Kurt forgot what he wanted to say when he looked into Blaine's eyes. How can someone with eyes like these exist?

He shook his head and continued, "I know you're scared. I'm scared, too. I'm not saying we need to jump into anything… I'm just saying that you can't keep pushing yourself away from anyone who tries to get too close to you. Look, I know you're probably thinking 'What does he know? He didn't go through what I went through.' And you're right, I didn't go through what you went through, but I do care about you, Blaine. I know it sounds lame that I'm saying this when we don't really know each other, but it's true. I know the asshole you act like isn't really you. I know you do it to push people away, and I don't blame you.

I'm not saying we should be in a relationship. Although I want to be in one with you, I would never force you into anything like that. All I want you to know is that I would never hurt you like that, regardless of the fact that you do or don't believe me, it's true. And the last thing I want is to see you hurting over this."

Blaine hadn't so much as moved during Kurt's little speech. He was just staring into Kurt's eyes with such an intensity that Kurt had to look away.

Suddenly, he heard Blaine's almost inaudible voice. "How do you exist?"

Kurt was so taken aback by the random question that he actually laughed slightly. "Well you see… My mom and dad decided to have me so-" He started, but was interrupted by Blaine's mouth on his. Kurt melted into the kiss, wrapping his arms around Blaine's neck and humming softly against Blaine's lips.

When Blaine pulled away, he kept his face close to Kurt's. "You really are something else." Kurt smiled and leaned in for another kiss.

Kurt was drowning. He was drowning in the sent of Blaine, in the taste of Blaine, in the grasp of Blaine. Everything was Blaine, and absolutely nothing hurt. Kurt knew he was probably being silly and melodramatic, but he felt like there was nowhere else he'd rather be than in Blaine's arms.

After Blaine pulled away, he pulled Kurt down onto the blankets and against him. He wrapped his arms around Kurt's waist and held him securely, and Kurt had never felt safer than in Blaine's arms.

The chestnut haired boy was purposefully ignoring the nagging part in his mind that kept asking if this meant Blaine was officially his, when suddenly Blaine spoke, as if reading his mind.

"So I guess this means we're boyfriends now?"

Kurt smiled and snuggled closer into the curly haired boy's body. "Only if you want us to be. I told you, I don't want to push you into anything you don't want."

"I'd be lying to myself and to you if I said I didn't want this."

Kurt's lips tilted upwards and he shut his eyes slowly and whispered, "Well then, I guess we are boyfriends."