Blaine sat on his bed working on a project that had been assigned on Friday for his psychology class. Everyone was given a profile on a person and they had to write a paper psychoanalyzing them. It really was an interesting class, and one that Blaine enjoyed immensely. He was in the middle of a paragraph when his phone rang next to him. He was extremely surprised, in a good way, to see a text from Kurt. Blaine, need some help with the homework. Meet me at the park in 15? The big tree by the swing set. -Kurt

He could take a break from this, definitely. It wasn’t due for a few weeks anyway. He replied no problem. Be right there. He put his shoes on and ran downstairs. There was no one else home so he grabbed a piece of paper and wrote out a note. In near illegible handwriting, he scribbled Went to the park to help out a friend. Won’t be long. -Blaine

He placed the note on the kitchen table and went out to his car. He lived close enough to the park that it didn’t take him long to get there. He saw Kurt as soon as he pulled into the parking lot, sitting right where he said he’d be. He parked his car and walked down the hill towards him. Kurt’s gaze met his as his sat down under the tree.

“Hey.” He smiled at Kurt, and got a smile in return for the first time.

“Hi.”

“So, what do you need help with?”

“This substitution thing. It doesn’t make any sense. I think I’m doing it right, but it never comes out right when I check it.”

“Yeah. That happens a lot. Mostly it’s a little mistake you don’t even notice.”

“Ah.” Kurt just looked down at his paper.

“Kurt.” He looked up at Blaine. “This isn’t about the math homework, is it?” Kurt looked at Blaine for a second, then started packing up his stuff.

“I gotta go,” he said as he rushed to pack up his work.

“Kurt, come on. You can tell me.”

“There’s nothing to tell.” And with that, he left. Blaine watched as he climbed into his car and drove off. Blaine sighed and leaned against the tree, feeling the rough bark scrape his back. He could tell there was something going on. He may not be the most observant person, but he knew what he was seeing. Because he had seen it before.

He thought about back when he was a kid, watching his parents fight. He remembered crying every time he saw his mother afterward, using her makeup to cover the bruises, not knowing that her six year old son was watching. That was before his mom woke him up one night and told him to stay quiet, that they were leaving. He remembered sneaking out to the car. He must’ve fallen asleep, because the next thing he knew he was in a hotel room. His mom took him swimming in the hotel pool that day, and he saw all the bruises uncovered for the first time.

He was suddenly pulled from the memory by the sound of footsteps headed towards him. He looked up to see an irritated Kurt almost stomping toward him. Blaine went to open his mouth but he was cut off. “This is not for or about you, Anderson. I just forgot my phone.” Kurt said reaching down and grabbing the iPhone from the grass next to Blaine. When Kurt went to pull back Blaine grabbed the pale teen’s wrist making Kurt flinch and look at Blaine with cautious eyes.

“Kurt…if anything is happening please tell me.” Blaine said looking at Kurt with sad and worried eyes and Kurt couldn’t help but feel a pang of regret and guilt looking into Blaine’s golden puppy dog eyes. He stood there for a moment before pulling his arm away from Blaine and walking off, feeling his chest ache…he had just passed up what would probably have been his only chance of help…

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Monday morning, Blaine went to Coach Sylvester and made up something about how well Friday’s session had gone and how quickly Kurt was catching on. Thankfully she didn’t ask for too many details, because Blaine simply didn’t have them. He was too wrapped up in what he saw in Kurt. Kurt was scared and angry, but he wouldn’t open up. Especially not to Blaine.

It was second period and Blaine was sitting in his psychology class taking a test. The teacher was sitting at her desk grading papers when her computer announced in no uncertain terms that she had an email. A few minutes later, as Blaine was turning in his test, she stopped him before he walked back to his seat.

“Hey, could you take this up to room 303 for me? I have to get this papers graded. They’re closing the semester today.”

“Sure.” He gave her a smile as he took the paper from her hands and turned to go out the door. He shut it quietly behind him to try not to disturb his classmates.

He walked up the flight of steps leading to the third floor and into the classroom. What he saw immediately disturbed him. On one side of the room was David and a bunch of his friends laughing and making jokes, and on the other side of the room, right by where Blaine was standing, was Kurt, hunched over his work. His body was tense.

Suddenly, Blaine remembered why he was there and walked over to the teacher sitting at his desk. Blaine handed him the paper he had been given with a smile and started to leave the room. He took one last look at Kurt. He looked really uncomfortable, and hearing some of the jokes that Karofsky and his friends were making, most of them at Kurt’s expense, he wasn’t surprised. Now Blaine understood why Kurt couldn’t pay attention in math.