It took several hours for me to truly calm down. Charlotte and Kurt each took it upon themselves to help bring me back down to Earth – Kurt pressed soft kisses to my temple and played with my hair whilst Charlotte just wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tight.
Mom, Dad and my other siblings left us to it. Charlotte was fine around Kurt and I, they said, so they didn’t see any harm in doing so. The rest of the day didn’t really have any purpose at all – we just sat and talked quietly about insignificant things, not one of us wanting to begin yet another conversation based on a situation so horrible it was unfathomable.
Kurt and I, once again, slept in Charlotte’s room that night. She drifted off a lot quicker than expected, and though we’d hear sheets rustling as she kicked them around and shifted in her bed, she never once woke, sweaty and bothered, like she had the previous nights. We didn’t sleep ourselves, instead choosing to take the rare opportunity for a moment alone to talk.
“Blaine?” Kurt whispered, rolling over on our air mattress to face me, resting his head in his hand.
“Yeah?”
“Are you okay?”
Kurt’s tone implied a lot more than the generic “are you okay” you’d hear from almost anybody. He almost sounded as if he were hurting too. I turned to face him, resting my head in the crook of my elbow and reaching out with my other arm to pull Kurt in by the waist reassuringly.
“I’m not great, I suppose,” I said, trying to be as honest as possible. “I think it’s all just so surreal, but so horrific at the same time.”
“I feel the same.”
“Yeah?”
“Of course,” Kurt reached forward with his free hand and clutched to my waist as I had done to him not a minute before. “Charlotte’s like my sister too, now.”
I smiled. “I’m sure she’d love to hear that.”
“I’d be happy to say it anytime.”
The room fell silent again, but it wasn’t an awkward, prolonged pause. It was thoughtful, as if Kurt and I were reeling through a thousand different thoughts simultaneously. It was peaceful and quiet until I just had to say something aloud.
“I wish I could get my hand on Josh’s dad,” I blurted, still quiet enough so as not to disturb Charlotte but loud enough for Kurt to understand how I felt.
“Don’t we all?” Kurt responded, pulling me in by the waist once more.
“But I just… how would he even know about Charlotte? Or Dyl or Don for that matter? How would he know?”
“Well, wouldn’t he know something from your relationship with Josh?” Kurt suggested thoughtfully, but in a way that was far from accusatory.
“No,” I shook my head immediately. “The finer details, like family and hell, even personality weren’t shared in that relationship, if you can even call it that.”
“But still, he could have done research or something.”
“I don’t know. His son’s a dickhead, so I suppose Josh had to get it from somewhere.”
Kurt snorted, “Too right.”
“I just… eugh. You know when Josh kept calling and basically stalking me? Not too long ago?”
“And then he turned up at Dalton and you went five thousand shades of green and puce? Yeah. I do.”
“All of these emotions just kept boiling to the surface. It was like… I could barely control it myself, you know? But I just couldn’t vocalise it all.”
“Josh did a lot of pretty horrible things…” Kurt trailed off, pressing a kiss to my cheek and brushing a stray curl from my forehead in a comforting manner.
“The last time we saw him… his explanation didn’t even make sense! He was stalking me and hurting me because he wanted to get close to me to apologise?”
“Hmmm…”
“All because his dad died and he didn’t want to be like him. What a pile of bullshit.”
There was a moment of silence before Kurt shot up, sitting up on the mattress with his hand clasped to his mouth.
“What, baby?” I asked, concerned.
“You just said… shit. You said it. Josh told us his dad died when he came to Dalton.”
“Right…” I was missing the connection, and felt really stupid given how pale Kurt looked.
“…and Josh called you today and told you what?”
“That he saw his Dad in the- shit!” I sat up faster than Kurt, stripped the sheets off and stood, pacing the room.
“Yes! See?”
“So he lied?”
“There’s two things he could have lied about, and for his sake, I sincerely hope it’s the first.”
“Knowing him, it’s fucking everything!” I said in my normal speaking voice.
“Shh!” Kurt warned, pressing a finger to his lips, “You’ll wake her!”
“Come out here, then!” I whispered, gesturing to the hall. Kurt leapt out of bed, took one look at Charlotte to make sure she was still sleeping, and followed me out into the hall. We closed her door softly, before choosing to stand just outside her room in case she woke and needed us.
“I can’t fucking believe it,” I said, wiping my face with my hands.
“Shh, honey, it’s okay,” Kurt said, reaching forward to take my face in his hands and look straight into my eyes. “It’ll all work out. We’ll find Josh and get him put away. It’s okay.”
“But what he did to Charlotte-“ I stopped, unable to find the proper words as I began to lose myself for a moment and cry.
“I know,” Kurt wrapped his arms around me and squeezed tight.
“It doesn’t even make sense! He told her that being gay was wrong? What the fuck is he? He’s gay!”
Kurt stood there, holding me close and listening to me vent and curse until I’d finally had enough. I was just there, crying into the shirt of my boyfriend as he consoled me. It took me a minute to realise what I was doing and regain some composure.
I took a step back and took Kurt’s hands in mine.
“I’m sorry,” I apologised, “I’ve been a real mess lately and this hasn’t been fair on you at all.”
“Oh, shut up,” Kurt scoffed. “Like you wouldn’t do it for me?”
“…Still. This hasn’t been easy on any of us, and you just kinda took it upon yourself to- to help out, in any way, shape or form and that’s just been above and behind the call of duty.”
Kurt pressed a quick kiss to my lips before staring me down.
“Blaine Anderson. You are my boyfriend and I love you. I love you more than anything or anyone in this world.”
“You can’t say you love me more than Burt,” I teased, wiping a tear from my cheek before intertwining my fingers with Kurt’s once more.
Kurt pondered for a second. “No. But I love you both in very different ways, so as much as I love him as a father, I love you as a boyfriend and as my other half.”
I sighed. “I love you, Kurt Hummel.”
“I love you too, Blaine.”
“No. I don’t think you understand. I really fucking love you.”
Kurt kissed me once more, with more meaning this time. Our lips parted and Kurt’s hands dropped mine to cup my face gently. The kiss was soft and slow, with passion but more love than anything else.
“Well I love you more than Snape secretly loved Lily Potter. So there you go,” Kurt whispered with his forehead resting against mine.
“You sneaky bastard, using my love of all things Potter against me.”
“You know you love me,” Kurt teased.
“Yeah. I do.”
We kissed once more and went back to bed, hand in hand. Charlotte didn’t wake once, which was a welcome surprise, and a comfort to us as we managed to drift off.
I didn’t expect to have nightmares of my own, though.
Xxx
“Blaine!”
“Why would you apologise now? What the hell made you come to this decision?”
“My dad died, okay? He died. He was a sour, disgusting man. I hated him. And when he died and I was at his funeral I couldn’t help but think that that’s what I was going to be. I didn’t want to be that person and despite all the shit I’ve put everyone through I think I deserve a second chance.”
“…Blaine?!”
“Your sister and two other girls were unconscious, lying on the pool table... the men, I guess they’re Dad’s friends, were stabbing their cigarette butts into their arms and betting on which one would—“
“Would what, Josh?!”
“...which one would scream the most...”
“BLAINE!”
I felt strong, forceful hands shaking and shoving me until I opened my eyes. Kurt, Dad and Donovan were hovering over me, Charlotte clutching Kurt’s leg as if it were a lifeline.
I rubbed my eyes and sat up slowly. “What happened?” I tried to feign oblivion, knowing that if I were to reveal what my dreams entailed it could upset Charlotte.
“Nightmare, son,” Dad said, clapping a hand to my shoulder with a worried look. “You wanna talk about it?”
I gave him a quick look, hoping he’d understand what I was actually trying to say. “Nah, but can I talk to you in the hall for a sec? It’s about this Dalton retreat thing…” I made a point of emphasising the words ‘talk’ and ‘hall’ in the hope that he’d get the message.
He did.
“Sure. Hey Don, sit with Kurt and Char for me?”
“Sure, Dad,” Donovan said, throwing a worried look my way before hoisting Charlotte up onto his shoulder and hugging her. I saw the briefest smile on Char’s face and knew she’d eventually be okay, but for the time being I needed to sort out the whole Josh issue –and make sure he got his comeuppance for what he’d done to my sister.
Dad shut the door behind him and as I was about to speak, he put a hand on my shoulder.
“Not here, they could still hear us. Let’s go to my study, hey?”
Dad’s voice was warm and comforting, softer than I’d ever heard him speak before. He was usually so gruff and –for lack of a better word- manly. It was unusual seeing this gentle side of him, but I supposed that was inevitable when something as serious as this happens.
I followed Dad into his study and sat in the leather chair he pointed me towards. He shut the door of his study and sat across from me, behind his desk, and clasped his hands together as if he were ready for a round of shop talk.
“What is it, son?”
“Well, I’m assuming you’ve been told that it was the father of my ex, Josh, who… who did that to Char?”
Dad nodded, lips pressed together into a thin line and whitening from the pressure.
“Josh had come to Dalton not too long before then and… he made a point of saying that his father had died.”
Dad’s face was almost translucent in a matter of seconds. His hands moved to grip the edge of his desk and his expression hardened.
“You’re sure of this?”
“Well I don’t know if anything he says is true,” I said truthfully, “He’s a liar. I know that much.”
“The police should know that though, right?” Dad asked.
“Well, they should, given they’re the freaking police. That doesn’t explain why Josh himself isn’t in prison right now.”
“You think he should be?”
“Well if it wasn’t his father, he certainly gave me a lot of visuals to think about. He’s not that creative, Dad, so I’m assuming there’s some truth in that.”
Dad was silent for a few seconds, before taking a few deep breaths and finally looking up at me.
“I’m proud of you, Blaine. You love your sister so much, you’d do anything for her.”
“Of course. She’s my honeybee.”
The smallest of smiles played on Dad’s lips before he remembered what he was thinking just a few seconds prior. He stood and tied his dressing gown before gesturing towards the door.
“You don’t mind, do you? I have a few calls to make.”
I knew he was going to call the cops and give them a piece of his mind, so I just nodded and let myself out. I trudged down the hall and re-entered Charlotte’s room to find a massive pillow-fight happening.
“What’s going on in here?” I laughed in spite of myself and the conversation I’d just been part of.
“PILLOW FIGHT!” Kurt and Charlotte screamed before Donovan tossed a pillow at me.
“Defend yourself, bro!” he yelled, before hitting Charlotte gently with his pillow, but still hard enough to knock a little wind out of her.
“Bring it!”
xxxx
Lunch that day consisted of various cops questioning Charlotte and each one of us for as much information as we could give. I felt good knowing that something was happening, but I knew I wouldn’t feel satisfied until Josh was locked up.
Once the cops left, and we were finally able to eat our chicken and celery sandwiches so lovingly made by Kurt and Mom, Kurt took me into the hall.
“I have some bad news,” he said, reaching for my hands.
“Oh god, what?” I said, immediately thinking the worst.
“Calm down, it’s nothing, I just… I have to go home.”
I suddenly felt so guilty for keeping Kurt with me for so long. I’d been excused from school, and so had he after he stormed the head of year’s office. But to keep him from Burt and Carole and Finn was really selfish.
“Of course, you should’ve been home a lot sooner.”
“Shh, I wanted to be here,” Kurt said, pressing small kisses to my cheeks and to the tip of my nose.
“I know, but still… it was selfish of me to ask you in the first place.”
“Oh shut up, you’re being irrational. I wouldn’t have stayed if it weren’t the right thing to do.”
“I suppose you’re right… When are you leaving?” I asked, resigned.
“Tonight, after dinner. I’m taking you out, by the way.”
My mouth fell open. “You’re taking me out?”
“Yup,” Kurt nodded enthusiastically.
“Why?”
“Blaine. We haven’t had a date in a long time, and now that Charlotte’s home, we need to get out and do something.”
“But I-“
“Shut up. We’re going out.”
“Okay.”
Kurt kissed me once more before leading me back into the dining room to join the others.
“Why do you look so red, Blaine?” Charlotte asked.
I grinned. “I just have the best boyfriend in the world, that’s all.”