"Aww! You big baby," Carole crooned as she looked over Kurt's wounds a few hours later. "These are mostly surface bruises. It probably hurts so much because you didn't do anything about it last night. It's mostly stiff muscles from the shock. It'll be sensitive for a while and you're going to want to be careful for at least a week, but it should all heal up just fine."

            "Oh, thank god," Blaine murmured, pressing a hand over his eyes and sighing.

            "Yeah, but what about the big gash? Are we seriously saying he's just okay?" Puck asked from his perch over the back of Kurt's desk chair.

            Puck had come over with Kurt's homework at Rachel's request while she and Finn went to the doctor to have her nose looked at. Puck had shown up at the house and made it upstairs to Kurt's room just as Carole was getting set up to help Kurt take his shirt off and deal with his injuries. One look at the bruises and Puck threw all of Kurt's papers and books down on the floor and demanded to know what was going on.

            "It was my fault," Blaine had admitted.

"How did you get into my locker?" Kurt asked, but Puck didn't even bother to respond. It only took two steps for him to walk over and grab Blaine by his collar.

            "What the fuck did you do?!" Puck yelled. Burt jumped off the couch downstairs and headed up at the sound. "You think it's okay to just beat up on my boy? You fuckin-"

            "Puck!" Kurt stood up and grabbed both of their arms at the wrist. Blaine had reached up defensively and now they were locked in a vice-grip. "Puckerman, stop! It was an accident!"

            "That's fucking not an accident!" he yelled, shaking Blaine.

            "It was! I'm fine, please!" Kurt begged, unable to move enough to even attempt to pull them apart.

            Carole whistled sharply and they all froze and looked at her. "Okay, knock it off, boys. Kurt, sit down and I'll happily tell everyone how bad it is. Puck, what are you even doing here?"

            Puck dropped Blaine, who stayed silent and didn't respond when Kurt touched his hip and tried to look in his eyes to see if he was okay. "I came because Rachel Berry got her nose smashed and she wanted me to bring my boy his homework. Good thing I did! She's way too small to be dealing out justice!" Puck turned back to Blaine.

            "Rachel's nose got smashed?" Kurt asked, shocked.

            "Yeah, Finn hit her in the face. But that's not what's important..."

            "Alright, Puck, sit down in the chair," Carole said, motioning to the desk chair. "Boys? Back on the bed. We're going to clean Kurt up, get a good explanation and then order something for dinner because there was less salad left over than I thought and I'm both starving and exhausted."

            Puck sat in the chair and asked if he could stay for dinner, and Carole said it would be fine. After they'd all settled down and Kurt was disrobed self-consciously, she poked and pressed at the bruises, looking Kurt over and checking his shoulders to make sure they were working right and that his spine hadn't slipped a disk. Kurt winced and made faces until finally Blaine couldn't take it anymore, scooted closer, and pulled Kurt's head down to his shoulder to cradle it.

            Kurt sighed against Blaine's neck and Puck snorted. "So what happened anyway?" he asked.

            "Just stuff," Kurt said shortly. "I poked around where I shouldn't have."

            Blaine cut in, shaking his head. "No. It was me. I reacted badly. I just... when I get upset I just... I lose focus. I was... I sort of flashed back, didn't know where I was. It's not an excuse. I got violent. I didn't... I didn't know it was Kurt. I didn't mean to. I sort of threw him..."

            "Yeah, that is no excuse. But... You must throw pretty hard. For a gay munchkin. How much do you bench?"

            "Puck..." Kurt warned.

            "What? So everyone thinks it's okay that Blaine gets violent when he's angry?"

            "You are kinda like The Hulk. Kurt's been pushed into lockers before, and this kid bruises like a peach," Carole said, patting Kurt's arm below the bruise, "But looking at this, Blaine, you must be pretty strong."

            Blaine leaned his head against Kurt's. "It's not like that's a good thing. I'm so sorry, Kurt."

            "Stop apologizing." Kurt rubbed his thumb against Blaine's knee and asked, "Who's The Hulk?"

            "Dude! Seriously? He's the one who gets all big and green when he's angry. There's no way you don't know him!" Puck insisted.

            Blaine shrugged, but from the doorway Burt stepped in. "I know who it is. Kurt never liked superheroes."

Kurt whispered, "Spandex," and shuddered.

"But seriously, Carole, how bad?"

            Just then Carole touched a particularly sensitive spot and Kurt hissed with pain. She called him a baby and began to assess the injuries. "Mostly surface bruises..."

            "What about the big gash? Are we seriously saying he's just okay?" Puck snapped, glaring at Blaine.

            "Probably the only reason the skin broke like this is because you're so skinny, honey," Carole explained to Kurt, who sat up and was trying to crane his head in such a way that it didn't hurt so he could watch what she was doing. "You lost a lot of weight before winter break and you never really gained it back. Your shoulder blade just hit that locker wrong."

            "So, it's not Blaine's fault?" Kurt asked.

            "It's still my fault," Blaine insisted.

            "Yeah, so what are you going to do about it?" Puck asked. "You can't stop dating. That didn't work so well last time."

            "Last time?" Burt asked.

            Kurt just shook his head and hissed again when Carole started cleaning the gash.

            "Well... anyway," Puck continued, "Blaine? I should beat the shit out of you."

            "Let's watch our language," Burt said calmly from the door. Kurt once against rubbed his thumb against Blaine's knee and then took his hand and squeezed it.

            Puck continued. "But Kurt likes you, so I like you. But I didn't beat Karofsky's face in and cheer when he shipped himself off to another school just so I could watch Kurt get his ass kicked by his own fuck-buddy."

            "Boyfriend," Kurt corrected quickly. "And I appreciate it, Puck, but Blaine isn't going to hurt me. I know not to follow him when he tells me not to now, I know he needs space, and we're going to work through this. It won't happen again."

            "What if it does?" Burt asked.

            Kurt looked up at his dad with pleading eyes. Blaine spoke up, "It won't. I would leave before I hurt Kurt again."

            "Even if a circumstance like this one?" Burt asked.

            "Man. You do that and you're gonna wish you knew where your face was," Puck said, shaking his head.

            "It won't," Kurt repeated.

            "I'm going back to therapy. I'm getting back on medication, trying some new things..." Blaine pressed his body closer to Kurt. "The whole reason it got this bad in the first place is because I decided to avoid my problems rather than deal with them the first time around. So I'm going to do that. Boxing and music are good, but I'm going to find a more permanent solution."

            "Blaine and I were talking before and I'm going to help him. I don't think I'll take up boxing or anything like that, but we'll figure out something. I'm going to learn how to take care of him, so we can get through this together." Kurt smiled, "You helped me to be brave, Blaine, you swept in with your cute little smile and pulled me out of my melancholy, so at least I can do the same."

            It was silent for a long time while Carole carefully applied butterfly stitches to the wound. Blaine smiled and he and Kurt glanced at each other, the promise sweeping between them, making it awkward for everyone else in the room. Kurt blushed almost immediately and looked away.

            "Well," Burt said slowly. "I know if Kurt's put his mind to it, there's nothing I can do to stop it."

            "You're all set!" Carole said loudly, breaking the solemnity with her chipper outburst. "Take it easy for the rest of today, but you're going to want to try to move around more than you think you can after that so your muscles can loosen up some. If you ice it and we're careful, it should just be a bunch of ugly yellowish marks by the end of the week. Now I'm hungry. Are you hungry, Blaine?"

            Blaine shrunk a little at the question, and let Puck answer for him that they were all hungry and that they'd best get to ordering food.

            When it was time for Blaine to go home later that evening, partly because Puck had resolved to stay until after Blaine had left, and partly because Finn had called to say he'd be home soon, Kurt stopped him at the doorway.

            They didn't speak. Blaine turned squarely to face Kurt, took his face in both hands, and raised slightly on his toes to press their lips together. They kissed, and breathed against each other for a lifetime in heartbeats. When Blaine pulled away again, Kurt felt dazed and at peace. He rocked a little on his feet, then stopped Blaine from turning around and kissed him again, smiling against Blaine's lips. He didn't need to say anything. They smiled at each other, then Blaine left, fingertips lingering against each other.

            Wednesday morning, Kurt woke up feeling just as stiff as the day before. He barely rolled himself out of bed, eyes flashing over with tears. At least thinking about it as stiffness made it more pathetic and less painful. He'd been asked to skip taking a shower for the day just to avoid knocking off the butterfly stitches so his back could heal, and he found that washing his hair and taking a sponge bath involved way more movement than he'd anticipated and was deeply in pain by the time he managed to brush his teeth, wash his face, put on clothes that matched Blaine's scarf, and look presentable. He added a hat to the ensemble in order to avoid having to do anything more with his hair.

            By the time he got downstairs and medicated it was at least fifteen minutes later than his normal routine accounted for, and was almost time to rush off to school.

            Finn was waiting for him at the counter, finishing his second bowl of cereal. They hadn't spoken the night before, but Kurt would be surprised if Puck hadn't filled Finn in. They eyed each other warily as Kurt slipped two slices of whole wheat toast into the toaster. Finn opened his mouth after he'd swallowed his last bite, but Kurt beat him to the punch.

            "I heard you punched Rachel in the face."

            "I heard Blaine mauled you in the back," Finn countered.

            "Actually, threw me into lockers as an impulse reaction to fear. What's your excuse?"

            They both stayed silent after that. The ride to school was exceptionally awkward, but unavoidable since Kurt's car was still at the McKinley.

            When he reached his locker, Mercedes engulfed him in a particularly gentle hug. "Puck is telling crazy stories that I should have gotten a call about last night," she said, glaring at him. "Or the day before!"

            She had a point. "Sorry, Mercedes. But I'm fine. Blaine's fine. We're fine. Whatever Puck's been saying-"

            "You okay, Kurt?" Santana approached, followed closely by Brittney. "I didn't think your pretty little a cappella dreamboat boyfriend was even capable of it. He's like, my height."

            "We heard you had really great sex," Brittney explained. Mercedes turned to Kurt with her eyes wide and a look that said, "If that's true, and I didn't know first, you are so dead."

            "No... Britt," Santana frowned at her, but linked their arms. "We heard you got beat to shit."

            "Oh my god! Kurt!" Tina was running down the hallway now and stopped right in front of him, touching his cheek. "I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" Mike was following after her.

            "I'm fine!" Kurt tried not to yell, but he flinched back toward the lockers to give himself some space. "Could someone please just tell me how Rachel is?"

            "She's fine," the woman herself answered, and Santana and Brittney stepped aside to reveal her. "Just a little worse for wear."

            Honestly, she looked awful. The area around her nose was swollen, both eyes were blackened, and there was unfortunate bruising that was only accentuated by the placement of a bandage over her nose. Kurt made a mental note to thank Blaine for sparing his face.

            "But it was all just an accident because Finn's so big and clumsy."

            "Not to mention an awful dancer," Santana reminded them.

            "I should be just fine and singing again long before Nationals," Rachel said proudly. "But Kurt, what happened with you? Puck and Finn have conflicting stories, and honestly, I think that now they're trying to outdo each other on the violence scale, so I don't know what to believe anymore."

            "It was also an accident, and I'm a little bruised, but I'm just fine. My voice and my fashion sense were completely spared."

            Mercedes giggled. "We're glad to have you back, Kurt. I'm sure you'll be exempt from Booty Camp today."

            "Booty Camp?"

            "Schuester's kicking all our butts," Tina explained. "To get us ready."

            Brittney leaned in and whispered to him, "I think the theme for Nationals is pirates."

            Kurt tugged at the scarf around his neck. "Booty camp is today?"

            "Booty camp is every day," Mercedes said, rolling her eyes. Kurt hadn't counted on that. As appealing as singing and learning the routines was to his still aching back, he had a coffee date with Blaine. With the way Blaine had been acting the day before, and the way he'd kissed him with so much desperation, canceling their date would be the worst thing to do. It would make an exceptionally bad week even worse to disappoint Blaine right now.

            "Maybe I'll just apologize to Schuester and skip Booty Camp for another day," Kurt mumbled as the bell rang.

            "If you're ditching, I want in," Tina mumbled.

            "I should be exempt as well. As you all know there's nothing I can do with my nose in this condition, and besides, I don't actually need the extra practice," Rachel said. "The rest of you, however, need all the help you can get."

            "Shove it, Berry," Santana said as she turned on her heel to go to class.

            "I promised Blaine I'd meet him after school today," Kurt mentioned as he also started toward class.

            "You should go then," Mike said. "You'll be fine, Kurt. I'll teach you the routines later."

            Kurt smiled. "I guess my booty and I will be missing from camp for another day then."

            "Your booty's camp enough," Mercedes teased, as she turned off to go to class. Kurt smiled after her. He was lucky his friends were back to being a calm and understanding force in his life.

            As Mike stopped with Tina to kiss her goodbye outside her classroom and Rachel continued on with Kurt to their first class together. As soon as they were alone she began a rant about all the things that the doctor had told her concerning her nose and he had to stop her at the first mention of plastic surgery. The rest of the day consisted of a lot of Rachel starting to bring up the subject and Kurt shooting her down with a sharp "Barbra Streisand."

            "But just think-"

            "No. Barbra."
            "But..."

            "No!"

            During the course of the day he texted Blaine, Can't wait to see you this afternoon.

            Blaine's response was, And get my scarf back?

            Kurt smiled. Depends. It looks amazing on me.

            Schuester was sympathetic when Kurt told him that he'd be ditching Glee for another day and asked if he wanted to sit down and talk to him about why. Kurt opted to avoid the conversation entirely. Helpful as Schuester was when Kurt was having trouble with Karofsky, he still tended to give useless advice and talk for entirely too long. Kurt stopped in between classes to cut down the time Schuester could be allowed to drone on, and when school ended for the day, he went straight for his car.

            Blaine had texted to ask if Kurt wanted him to pick him up, which was more than appealing, but his baby had been sitting in the high school parking lot for long enough, so Kurt declined and hoisted himself gently into the driver's seat. Tina hadn't managed to sneak out of booty camp-it was probable that she'd never meant to-and Rachel had forced Mercedes to stay also, so Kurt wasn't worried about tagalongs.

He was happy to find driving to be a minimally painful experience. A bruised back was better than a sunburn in that it didn't sting when his clothes touched his skin, but worse because sometimes it just throbbed dully and made him feel pathetic and miserable before suddenly shocking into a painful stabbing pain. He was in the process of unbuckling himself and rolling out of the car when a hand appeared on the door, and another was held out to him.

            Blaine offered Kurt his arm and helped him out of the car, catching him in a low hug as Kurt stumbled out of the car, and then he leaned back to get Kurt's keys out of the ignition for him.

            "Not better?"

            "Much better now," Kurt assured him, smiling.

            Blaine smiled back, and then stepped back so Kurt could clear the door and lock the car behind him, then he tilted his head toward to shop. "Come on. Let me buy you some coffee."

            "My hero. By the way..." Kurt indicated the scarf and raised his eyebrows. "Perfect, don't you think?"

            "I had no doubts."

            "The hat?"

            "A perfect touch."

            Kurt's phone buzzed at him as soon as he'd settled down at a table and Blaine went to order for both of them. Kurt stared after him, deciding to someday get him out of that blazer and into an outfit that properly showed off his rear, as he unlocked his phone and opened his inbox. There were several new messages, the latest from Mercedes.

            You are so lucky you're skipping hell camp. You best call me tonight and let me complain before you let me in on everything that's been going on.

            Most of the rest were from Brittney's phone, but in order went, Kurt, this is Puck. I stole Brittney's phone. I just wanted to let you know that the rumor about Blaine in the mafia did not come from me.

            Actually, I might have said that one.

            I think you need to tell me what you gave Finn that makes him smell so good. I smell like crap.

            I'm so bored I'm going to start punching myself in the gut. Or Rachel.

            Why is she even here?

            Kurt texted, It's called deodorant. I'd be more than happy to get you some. Then Blaine arrived back at the table clutching two paper cups. He set one down in front of Kurt, repeating his order, and Kurt smiled up at him, accepting it.

            Blaine grinned and sat down. He was trying to remember to continue being extra smiley and dapper to make Kurt happy, and he was trying to focus on his scarf wrapped around Kurt's soft, beautiful neck and how it would smell like him with he eventually got it back, rather than the spread of bruises it was covering up.

            "How was your day?" Kurt asked.

            "Lots of making up with the Warblers for skipping yesterday. I guess they were really worried," he shrugged.

            "They sound like great friends."

            "What about yours?" Blaine asked. "Puck still seemed pretty livid when I left yesterday."

            "He just doesn't know any other way to show his affection but with his muscles. He really does like you. You two would probably get along better than he does with Finn, honestly."

            "I'd like that. I'd like to get to know your friends better."

            Kurt raised his eyebrows. That was a good point. "And I should get to know yours..."

            Blaine laughed. "And transfer to Dalton, and wear the blazer!" He tugged at his lapels to show it off better. There was a white fingerless glove on his injured hand.

            Kurt reached across the table and took the hand gingerly. Blaine flinched at first, but let Kurt pull it to the center of the table and examine it.

            "The glove is so I won't mess with the bandage," Blaine explained. "And to make it less obvious."

            "It's still swollen, isn't it?"

            Blaine shook his head. "Not too bad."

            Blaine had tried to hide it yesterday when Carole had her nursing supplies out, but Kurt had insisted she clean up his hand before she looked at his back, so it had been surgically cleaned and rebandaged long before Puckerman showed up. It was probably a good thing she had looked at it, since Blaine's fussing had undone a lot of the work Kurt had put in to cleaning it out initially, but now the good, tight bandages just kept constantly reminding him of what he'd done. He'd carried a small stress ball to class to mess with in order to keep his good hand occupied.

            Kurt ran his thumb across the back of Blaine's hand.

            "I'm seeing my therapist tonight," Blaine supplied.

            Kurt looked up. "Really? When?"

            "After my date with you. At five thirty."

            Kurt tried to smile, but hearing that his boyfriend is going to therapy wasn't something he'd ever expected to be happy about. "That's great, Blaine."

            "It will be," Blaine insisted, trying to sound positive. "I'm going to try everything, do whatever it takes, open all the old wounds... not literally! I'm going to start over, get back to where I should have started and be the man I thought I was in December. When I first asked you to have coffee with me." He looked up and smiled.

            Kurt glanced around the coffee shop, then leaned forward slightly. Blaine stood and leaned over the table to close the distance between them. The kiss was short, and no one else even seemed to notice. Blaine sat back down.

            "I'm glad you did ask me," Kurt said. "I would have never had the nerve to, and then life would just have kept being miserable." He laughed, but Blaine sat silently, staring at his coffee.

            After a moment he said softly, "I'm sorry for being defective."

            "You're not defective." Kurt frowned. It was weird to see this new side of Blaine, this frazzled and unsure, childlike demeanor that needed comfort and reassurance. There had been glimpses of it over the past few months, just little pieces where Blaine would flinch or become easily angered or defensive about small things, but it was always overshadowed by the put-together man who knew what he was doing and who supplied Kurt with courage and encouragement. It was just like the goofy, adorableness full of sunshine that shone through every once and a while. They were just different shades of the same color, and it was a color Kurt wanted to dress to match. "Blaine..."

            "I really will fix this."

            "I know."

            "I'm going to be better. I'll be right for you and make you proud of me-"

            "Blaine." Kurt was squeezing the wrist of his gloved hand. "Stop. Do you not see me being completely in love with you?" Blaine looked up at Kurt, hopefully, then his gaze dropped back to the table and his eyes shot back and forth nervously. "You don't need to get ‘better' because you're already amazing and talented and absolutely gorgeous. So don't even think about self pity now. I'm fine, you're going to be fine, and I only have you for a few more hours today, so let's forget it and talk about how Mr. Schue is going to make me join New Directions Booty Camp as soon as I've recovered, which, first of all I do not need, and secondly is never going to make us all good dancers because we still have Finn on our team."

            Blaine tried to hold in a smile and failed as he agreed. They spent the rest of their date chatting about music and dance routines and sipping their coffee.

            At five o'clock, they got up so Blaine could make his appointment. Outside the sun was clinging to the bottom lip of the horizon.

Blaine walked Kurt to his car and opened the door for him once it was unlocked. Before attempting to scramble in as gracefully as possible, Kurt unwrapped the scarf from his neck and looped it over Blaine's shoulders. He held on to the ends and stared at Blaine's chest as he moved in closer. "Call me when you get done tonight?"

            Blaine placed his hands on Kurt's hips and stretched up to kiss his forehead. "I will."

            Kurt moved both ends of the scarf into one hand and held it up higher. "You know we're okay, right?"

            Blaine's breath hitched. Kurt's voice was serious, but his hips were leaning in close to Blaine's and his grip on the scarf was downright sexy. Kurt had never been sensual before. It was possible that the injuries had mellowed him out, but those green eyes looking through lashes at him, and the weight of the scarf being held around his neck was making standing there uncomfortable for his nether-regions and pressing into Kurt and pinning him against the side of the car was fighting for a place as the best course of action.

He just nodded, trying to stand his ground. He'd bruised Kurt, so he shouldn't get to press into or straddle anything. His brain was short-circuiting as Kurt moved in for a peck on the lips.

            "We wouldn't have fought so hard to be together if it didn't mean something," Kurt said. He moved slowly, remembering what Carole had said about continuing to take it easy for a little while, at least while the gash closed up, and he ran his free hand along the side of Blaine's neck just above the scarf. "Whatever happened, whatever's going on, I'm here for you."

            Blaine couldn't come up with words. He leaned in and accepted a kiss, thankful for the shield of the door and the darkly tinted window of Kurt's car between them and the Lima Bean to keep them covered. "You too," he managed after one more kiss, then Kurt let him go.

            "Don't forget to call."

            Blaine helped Kurt into the front seat of the car and leaned over to buckle him in, another kiss, then he backed away, preparing to shut the door. "I wouldn't forget you."

            He closed it, and waved, then headed to his own car while Kurt checked his messages, which were mostly from Puck and mostly variations on BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORED!

            Blaine had one message on his phone from a number he didn't recognize. He opened it as he slid into his car. A chill shot through his body.

            I want to talk to you. -Finn