Blaine falls back on the pillows, panting for breath, sweat cooling over his body. Kurt holds himself up for another moment before he releases Blaine’s legs and lets them settle to the side. He leans down into Blaine’s arms and kisses him sloppily before rolling to the side, tangling their legs together.

“So that’s why Sebastian kept you,” Kurt says dryly, drawing his fingers idly through the come Blaine had spilled onto his own stomach halfway through being thoroughly fucked by an enthusiastic, curious Kurt. All it had taken was the shy proposal that Kurt learn what it’s like from the top to better his technique, and Blaine had crumbled.

Blaine had woken and hastily pieced together a resolve to end things where they had begun, scared of the consequences, but it had lasted all of ten seconds, especially when Kurt had approached him so hesitantly, as though afraid that Blaine hadn’t already imagined Kurt filling him up a hundred times. And then, in the privacy of Blaine’s room, Kurt had kissed him, and Blaine couldn’t turn back.

It was one thing to think that in the heat of the moment, the night before, but he is still feeling it the next day, with a little distance and time and worry between himself and the intensity of being so intimate with Kurt. His heart still swells, his face still breaks into a grin in response to Kurt’s own, and he still aches to hold Kurt every day for the rest of his life.

Frankly, he’s in love. It’s terrifying, and difficult to come to terms with, but Kurt’s bravery in telling him his own feelings last night had tipped the scales. Blaine knows his own heart, no matter how hard he tries to deny it, no matter what he’d thought he could hold back. Kurt is absolutely everything he wants. Their time together is limited to the whims of a capricious master, both in the short term and the long term. Even if they could have all the time in the world together here, there’s no telling when one of them will be sold. But Blaine wants this, wants it so badly it hurts. His heart decided without his consent--after consummating the feelings, after letting himself open up, it’s impossible to deny. He dove headlong into this torrent, and now all he can do is try to stay afloat.

It’s how he ended up in bed with Kurt for the second night in a row, and hopefully only the second of many. The other boys had long since gone to bed, and it had been simple enough to sneak into Kurt’s room, even with the slick emptiness left after he’d stretched himself out to pass the time. He’d let Kurt throw him down and fuck him hard, his hips quickly picking up the patterns that Blaine liked best.

And now Blaine lies in his afterglow, allowing Kurt to play with the come on his stomach until he grimaces, pulling out his own wipes and cleaning them off half-heartedly, all the while cherishing the deep, sweet ache that sings through his body, tuned to the way that Kurt had folded him up and pushed him into the mattress with every rocking thrust of his truly stunning cock.

“Are you implying that my ass is my only merit?” Blaine asks, smirking over at Kurt and delighting in the fact that Kurt is someone who could actually discuss that merit if he wanted.

“Well...not your only merit.”

Blaine chuckles and kisses Kurt’s neck, nibbling playfully on one of the tendons when Kurt throws his head back.

“Ow, hey,” Kurt protests, smacking Blaine’s shoulder. Blaine laughs again, kissing the spot in apology before moving to Kurt’s mouth, sliding his tongue along Kurt’s soft, soft lips.

“Do you have to go?” Kurt asks after a moment, his hands still wandering over Blaine’s body like he’s getting all he can while he can.

“Not yet,” Blaine says, turning on his side and holding Kurt close, rubbing their noses together. “We have to talk first.”

“Okay,” Kurt says, worry filling his tone. “What about?”

Blaine takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, ashamed of what he has to say, and upset at having to end their idyllic moment.

“I don’t think I can hold Sebastian back for much longer,” he admits. “He’ll want you soon, and...I’m doing my best to stall him, but I need to be honest. It won’t last forever, and I--”

“Blaine--”

“No, I...I need you to hear me,” Blaine says. “You...you’re special, Kurt. You’re different than the others. Sebastian was very clear that I wasn’t to touch you, and...I know what that means.”

“What does it mean?” Kurt asks quietly, brushing at the curls sticking to Blaine’s forehead with the tips of his fingers.

“For the most part, slaves are free to do what we want--you know Nick and Jeff are together. Sebastian knows it too, and he doesn’t care. Hell, he even has them together sometimes. But once in awhile, he has a favorite. And he’s...possessive. He doesn’t like when the favorite is touched, and the consequences are severe. I’m...I’m certain that you’re going to be a favorite.”

Kurt leans up onto his elbow and looks down at Blaine suspiciously, a sweaty strand of hair falling into his face. Blaine reaches up and brushes it back.

“How do you know what the consequences are?”

Kurt’s far too smart for his own good, Blaine decides. He sighs deeply.

Kurt deserves to know. He should understand what they’re risking.

“I was Sebastian’s favorite,” Blaine says. “I was his favorite for a long time. And...I was his favorite when I was with Jeremiah.”

Kurt’s eyes go wide, but he remains quiet, staring down at Blaine as he continues, hands clutching at Kurt and sliding over his fine-grained skin to keep himself calm, to keep himself here.

“We were careless. We didn’t know what Sebastian would do. And we were caught. One day, Sebastian had me sitting with him at dinner, and he brought Jeremiah in.”

“So pretty,” Sebastian murmured, and Blaine waited, peering up at Sebastian curiously. Sebastian just looked down at him, stroking his face and neck and hair, twirling the curls in his fingers.

“Who would know that beneath that pretty face is a traitor.”

It took Blaine a minute to fully understand what Sebastian had said, because his voice had been as fond and mild as ever, a soft smile still on his face.

“Master?”

There was the sound of struggle. Blaine whipped his head around to see, and watched for only a moment as three guards dragged Jeremiah in, fighting their grasp. He immediately turned back to Sebastian and looked up at him through his lashes, doing his best to look appealing and innocent. Sebastian just continued to smile down at him placidly.

“He...Sebastian, he asked me if I loved him, and if he was the only one I loved.”

“And...” Kurt prompts, when Blaine trails off.

Blaine turns his head away in shame.

“I said yes.”

“Do you love me, Blaine?”

Blaine could hear Jeremiah’s labored breathing. And he could almost catch him out of the corner of his eye, if he strained. But he didn’t want to try--he had to do his best to please Sebastian and get them out of this with their lives, if not the skin on their backs.

“Yes, Master.”

Sebastian waited a moment, drawing out the tension. Then he asked,

“Do you love anyone else?”

It might hurt, but there was no other way--they were caught. He took a deep breath.

“No, Master.”

With Kurt out of sight and his gaze on the blank stretch of Kurt’s desk beside the bed, Blaine feels like he has nothing to focus on.

“Then he made me blow him while Jeremiah was whipped.”

“He’s bad for you, Blaine,” Sebastian continued. “And he’ll be whipped and sold for his transgressions. For touching you, and for leading you on to believe that he loved you.”

Blaine began to tremble. He knew his punishment was coming.

“In the meantime, I want you to show me that you are mine,” Sebastian said, unbuttoning his pants and pulling out his cock, already fully erect. “Give me that sweet little mouth, beautiful. Show me you love me.”

Blaine did his best to smile up at Sebastian as he leant forward and opened his mouth, taking Sebastian’s cock in and sucking enthusiastically.

“Good boy,” Sebastian breathed. There was a movement above Blaine’s head, and then he heard a faint whistle followed by a scream.

“Oh, Blaine--”

“It didn’t end there,” Blaine says, his eyes clouding as he falls into the memories that he spends most of his time trying to deny.

Every cry ripped through him, flying to the guilt roiling in his gut unerringly. It was his fault Sebastian was doing this, he’d been the one to approach Jeremiah, he’d been the one to assure that Sebastian wouldn’t take things this far, he’d been the one that couldn’t keep his mouth shut during a fucking blow job...

Sebastian only seemed to get enjoyment from the spectacle, though. Every time the whip fell, he sighed in satisfaction, petting Blaine’s head encouragingly and thrusting up eagerly until finally, ten lashes later, he came, spurting into Blaine’s throat as he held Blaine’s head all the way down, grinding up through his release.

Blaine swallowed, panting when Sebastian pulled back.

“Good boy,” he said. Blaine looked up at him, catching him waving away the guards and Jeremiah behind him. “Now. We’re going to go to my rooms. And you’re going to stay there with me until we can get that boy out of your memory, all right?”

Blaine nodded. There was nothing else he could do.

“Sebastian took me to his room. And I didn’t leave for three days.”

“What happened? What did he do to you?” Kurt’s voice is barely a breath on his cheek.

“He...used me. Claimed me. Three days of...pretty much what you saw the other day. Bite marks and bruises. He had to bring in a doctor to see me afterward--and paid him off to keep quiet, too, I’m sure. I couldn’t move. He’d kept me handcuffed, so my shoulders were strained, and I had some deep bruising that needed attention. And...I was pretty torn up. One mercy was that he couldn’t touch me for weeks after while I healed. But I stayed in my bed, and I had nothing to do in there but think of what he’d done, and everything he’d said to me.”

“This boy is a bad influence,” Sebastian whispered, tendrils of doubt winding slick and sibilant into Blaine’s heart. “He breaks my rules and he toys with you. He doesn’t love you, Blaine. He knows he wasn’t supposed to touch you, and he did anyway. He liked the thrill. You know he’s been caught with others before you.”

“What did he say?”

“You’re mine, Blaine.” Sebastian’s words were accompanied by a symphony--the high strains of a bed frame creaking, the percussion of the headboard rhythmically pounding the wall, his own cries of pain and Sebastian’s intermittent grunts adding arpeggios and staccato harmonies to the swell of sliding skin. It’s a composition that Blaine never wants to hear again. “Mine alone. You can’t have anyone but me.”

“Just that I was his. That no one else would ever touch me...because he was the only love I’d ever have.”

There is wetness on his cheeks, and the sensation brings him back to himself. He’s crying, and Kurt is wiping away the tears from his cheeks, disregarding his own.

“It’s not true,” Kurt says, kissing his cheeks and the corners of his eyes, hands cupping his jaw so carefully. “It’s not true, Blaine. I love you. You’ll always have my love, and he can’t take that away--”

“He can, Kurt,” Blaine interrupts, his voice high and panicked. “That’s exactly what I’m trying to tell you. He can take it all away in a flash. If he finds out about us, I’m afraid he’ll do to you what he did to me, and I can’t...I can’t let him hurt you like that.”

“You’re the one who told me that I get to choose who I let in,” Kurt insists, holding Blaine’s face firm and forcing him to look into his eyes. “You said he couldn’t touch me if I didn’t let him. Well, I won’t. He can’t touch us. Or what we have.”

Blaine shivers and leans his forehead up against Kurt’s, pulling Kurt closer.

“What did I do to deserve you?” Blaine asks. “I wasn’t even looking for you.”

“I must have been looking for you,” Kurt says simply. “If you’re in, I’m in. I want this. I don’t care about Sebastian. We can keep quiet, we can be together. It’s worth it to me.”

“You know what could happen--”

“Is it worth it to you?”

“Not your pain,” Blaine says. “I would rather give you up than let you be hurt--”

“That’s my decision.” Kurt looks down at him seriously. “I’m willing to risk it. I won’t ask you to risk yourself, though.”

There’s no way this can end well, Blaine thinks. As long as they’re with Sebastian--

Wait.

“Kurt,” Blaine says, freezing as his head fills with thoughts that had, until now, been hidden, half-formed in the back of his mind. “I think...there might be a way.”

Kurt blinks down at him, scoffing impatiently when Blaine doesn’t elaborate.

“Are you going to tell me--”

“From what you said, there’s no way your father or someone with legal power over you could have sold you. Am I right?”

“Yes,” Kurt says. “Dad was in the hospital, he couldn’t have sold me--”

“And he wasn’t in debt to anyone? No other family members were around?”

“No,” Kurt says. “Blaine, what’s this about--”

“Kurt, I’ve been with Sebastian a long time,” Blaine explains. “I’ve seen him do things that a lot of people would be very interested to know about. Like kidnapping slaves who had no legal right to be sold.”

Kurt stares.

“If I’m right, you are legally not a slave.”

“This whole time?” Kurt asks, his voice deadly quiet. “I’ve...I’ve been here illegally this whole time?”

“There was nothing we could do about it before,” Blaine says. “But if...if you can keep Sebastian happy and distracted...I might be able to sneak into his office and get his files. I might be able to get him shut down.”

“Why haven’t you done it before?” Kurt asks.

“Kurt, I’m a slave,” Blaine says. “I don’t have any legal rights. I was born a slave, and I’ll die a slave--you know that’s how the farms work. Up til now, Sebastian’s been my only option. But you--you do have rights. And if I’m right, they’ve been violated. You could be the proof needed to take Sebastian down.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Kurt asks, Blaine’s heart breaking at the sadness in his eyes.

“I didn’t want to get your hopes up over nothing,” Blaine replies. “It was hard enough on you to adjust, if you were holding out hope for something that might never happen...it would just hurt you more if the moment never came. Please...forgive me; I only did it to protect you.”

Kurt considers for a moment, studying Blaine’s face, and nods. Blaine whispers a quick thank you and kisses Kurt softly before pulling back, looking up at Kurt seriously.

“If we can do it,” Blaine says, “will you run with me? If Sebastian’s arrested, I’ll just get sold again. If...if I want to be free, if I’m to stay with you...I can’t just stick around. If I ran, would you come with me?”

Kurt’s lip trembles and he nods before throwing himself down into Blaine’s arms, clinging tight and burying his face in Blaine’s chest. Blaine surrounds him, holding him tight and kissing his hair.

“Of course I will,” he whispers. “I’ll do whatever you need.”

They lie in silence, holding each other close for long minutes before Kurt looks up, breathing Blaine in.

“We’ll need time, yes?”

Blaine smiles sadly.

“Yes.”

Kurt nods.

“Okay,” he says evenly. “Then we should start as soon as we can. I’m ready to go to Sebastian, and I want you to tell him that tomorrow.”

“Are you sure--”

“I’m not going to let him hurt you anymore, Blaine,” Kurt cuts in. “And if Sebastian’s busy with me, he’ll leave you free to do what you need to do. It’s okay. I’m ready.”

Blaine cranes his neck down to kiss Kurt, his chest tightening with the need to tell Kurt how he feels. But he just smiles when he pulls back.

“Then I think we should get in as much practice as possible in the meantime,” he suggests teasingly, hands drifting low down Kurt’s back. Kurt rises up over Blaine and grabs his hips, guiding Blaine’s legs around his waist before suddenly flipping them, landing on his back with Blaine straddling him.

“I think you need practice,” Kurt counters, reaching to the side for the lube, the fingers of the other hand tracing the swollen, still-damp skin around Blaine’s rim. “I think you’re losing your touch, old man.”

Blaine laughs and takes the lube from Kurt’s hand.

“Let’s see who wears out first, then.”

“I love you, too.”