“Now,” He started. “Blaine told us everything that happened when we got home. He ended up crying himself to sleep.” Richard said with a concerned frown.

“Again?” Kurt asked, his voice seeping with concern.

“We made up the sofa bed in the front room so he wouldn’t have to be going up and down the stairs. That’s where he is now. You two can go on in; Cristina decided she wanted to make something for dessert.” Richard informed them as they walked down the hallway towards were Blaine was still sleeping.

...

As they entered the room, Kurt took in the peaceful look on his boyfriend’s face and sighed. Why did people in Ohio have to be so homophobic, and why did everyone insist on punish people like himself and Blaine for living how they were born. Santana caught Kurt’s hand in her own, and gently guided him over to the sofa bed where Blaine was still sleeping, and sat him down on the edge.

“Kurt,” she started, “you know you’re not going through this alone, right? I care about Blaine so much; I know what you’re going through right now too.” She said with the warm look in her eyes Kurt had become familiar with over the past couple of days. “Blaine still needs us, but I need you too, and I think you need me just as much.” She continued with a small smile.

“I know,” Kurt answered looking over at Blaine, “I just feel like I need to be strong for him, you know?” he turned to look at her again as she nodded in reply. “But thank you. I know you’re here for both of us, and I am here for you too.” He finished with a small smile as he gathered her up into a hug.

For the next five minutes the pair of them sat beside Blaine, trying to figure out what they were going to say at school tomorrow, when Blaine began to wake up. Yawning and blinking the sleep from his eyes, he smiled taking in the two people next to him.

“Hey, how long have you been here?” he yawned.

“Not long.” Kurt answered smiling and leaning in to kiss Blaine chastely on the lips. “Your dad told us what happened when you got back, do you want to talk about it?” Kurt asked cautiously.

“Not right now, no.” Blaine said looking slightly uncomfortable. Glancing to his side Blaine saw what he was looking for. “Urm, Santana, can you pass me two of the pills from that bottle and the glass of water?” he asked gesturing to the items on the small table opposite from her.

“Of course,” she said smiling. “Do you need help sitting up a bit?” she asked moving forward as he gave a small nod.

After he was in a more comfortable position and had taken the pain medication, Blaine spoke up from the silence where his boyfriend and best friend had been staring at him with worried expressions on their faces.

“Honestly guys, I’m fine. I’d tell you if I wasn’t.” He stated, slightly annoyed by the looks everyone had been giving him since he’d left the hospital. The two nodded silently, a little taken aback by Blaine’s sudden snippy attitude.

“Anyway,” he said breaking the awkward silence that was starting to form in the front room. “How was school this afternoon?” he asked, looking genuinely interested.

“Oh, urm, we didn’t go.” Santana answered after a quick glance a Kurt. “Not long after you left, we kind of fell asleep on Kurt’s couch.”

“Hey, we were worried about you; we wanted to be at home just in case you needed us.” Kurt spoke up as Blaine gave them an unimpressed look. After another pregnant pause, Kurt spoke up again.
“Blaine, urm, tomorrow at school, Santana and I talked about it, we want to tell the New Directions.” Kurt said trailing off at the end.

“We all care about you Blaine. Finn told us he just said Kurt was ill today. We won’t tell them if you don’t want us to, it’s just we think they’d like to know.” Santana added, as Blaine was yet to speak.

“I-I don’t know.” He stuttered. “I, they’ll think I’m weak. I should have prevented this. This shouldn’t have happened.” Blaine began to ramble as tears formed in his eyes.

“Blaine. Look at me.” Kurt said grasping his hands. “No one and I mean no one, is going to think you’re weak Blaine. And we both know that there is nothing any one could have done to prevent this from happening. I wish we could have but we can’t. Ok?” Kurt asked silently pleading that what he was saying would get through to his boyfriend.

“Did my dad tell you that just after I told them what happened, the police called to say they’ve arrested the guys who did this to me? They said they have enough evidence to convict them without me even needing to testify or anything. They already had my statement from the hospital.” Blaine said as he nodded at Kurt’s words.

“That’s great Blaine!” Kurt exclaimed. “That means you don’t have to flinch every time you hear a loud noise, or someone comes up behind you. I noticed you flinch this morning when Carol came to say goodbye this morning.” Kurt added at Blaine’s confused expression when he mentioned people coming up behind him.

“Blaine, this means you can start to move on from it.” Santana said with a small smile.

“I know.” Blaine stated. “We decided I should get therapy, just for a little while, until I’m back on my feet properly.” He said looking at his hands on his lap. “I’ve also been thinking.” Blaine said pausing to take a look at both Kurt and Santana. “I’m a coward, and I’m tired of running away from everything. I ran to Dalton because of what happened at the Sadie Hawkins dance, and I’m just tired of running from every bad thing in my life, because there’s good in my life now. I have you two.” He said as a tear rolled down his cheek.

Santana took one of his hands from Kurt and gave it a comforting squeeze as Kurt tightened his grip on the other.

“I think I want to transfer to McKinley.” Blaine said in one breath.

“Blaine, neither of us thinks you’re a coward. You went to Dalton because you weren’t safe at your old school.” Kurt said with an unreadable expression on his face. “But, I’m not going to lie; I’d love if you came to McKinley. You wouldn’t be at a boarding school two hours from your home, and that would mean we wouldn’t have to drive two hours to visit each other on a weeknight.” He said with a smile.

Santana nodded “And I’d love to have my best friend at school with me.” She smiled. “But, this is a huge decision, and neither of us will think any less of you if you change your mind Blaine.”

“I’ve actually been thinking about it for a while now, since before this happened.” He said gesturing to his bruised face. “I want our senior year to be as perfect as possible next year, and that to me means facing my demons and getting to spend as much of it as I can with my two best friends.” He said smiling slightly. “And if you really want to you can tell the New Directions, I told Wes and David earlier today anyway.”

...

The rest of the evening was spent cuddled up on the sofa bed in the front room, where they ate the Chinese takeout they had ordered and the delicious chocolate tart Cristina had made for them while they watched old movies on one of the channels on Blaine’s television.