Chapter 27

December 13, 2012

Kurt released Blaine from his grip with a laugh. "Way to ruin a moment, Blaine," he choked out and wiped his tears.

"I'm sorry but I don't think you would appreciate some snot on your clothes," the other boy responded with a wary smile, tensing again now that they were in front of each other.

"You are right, I wouldn't want that," the teen said and carefully went to the kitchen counter to get some paper towel for Blaine. "Here, you can use this."

"Thank you," the slave boy said and took the paper towel. After drying off his face he blew his nose forcefully and when he lifted the wet paper they both saw blood on it. "Oh..."

"Shit," Kurt cursed, grabbed more paper towel, and seconds later was by Blaine's side. "Cover your nose and I will get something cold."

Blaine took the paper towel from Kurt and placed it by his left nostril from which the blood was flowing. He stood there with his head tilted back waiting until the teen came back with a single ice cube.

"Let's get you to the living room, it will be more comfortable," Kurt said and Blaine was about to take the first step when he realised something. "Stop! I totally forgot the shatters..."

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry! I'll clean them," Blaine said and lowered his head just to feel dizziness.

"Tilt your head back and stay here," Kurt instructed and went to collect the big pieces of the plate, only taking the ones that were in Blaine's way since the others could wait until he was done treating the slave's nose.

"I'm really sorry, Kurt," the boy spoke again, following Kurt's instructions no matter how much his body ached to go and help him. "I'm sorry for breaking your plate and yelling at you, and causing all this trouble, and–"

"You have nothing to apologise for," Kurt said and went to throw away the pieces. "This plate was really distasteful so no harm in getting rid of it. I didn't mind being yelled at by you because I was starting to think you were a robot so it was nice to see some emotions from you for a change. I mean, I wouldn't want it to happen all the time but I know from experience that bottling things up can be destructive. And honestly, you are not causing any trouble. We love having you here."

"You spent so much money on medicine for me and you have to miss school–"

Kurt took Blaine's hand and walked him to the living room. "Those pills didn't cost much and Noah brings my assignments for me every day. It's not like I enjoy going to school anyway..."

"I miss school," the curly-haired boy said when Kurt helped him to sit down on the couch. He hesitated for a moment before speaking again. "Puck lent me his textbooks and I read them. In a place where I lived there were some tables and I pretended I was at school and a teacher told me to read out loud or solve a maths problem. I miss it, being a student..."

"I'm so sorry this happened to you," Kurt said, another tear escaping his eyes. "It's so unfair..."

"It could be worse," Blaine managed a small smile with his blood covered lips. "And some people do have it worse. And... I'm happy I met you."

"You already told me what you were happy about this morning," Kurt reminded him. After breakfast the boy told him he was happy to be able to fill up his stomach during every meal and put a small cross next to his rule.

Blaine shrugged and let Kurt swap the bloody paper towel with the new one. "Just felt like sharing. Don't worry, I'm a good slave, I remember my rules."

"No, no, no, not a slave, I'm sorry, I have no filter... I just... I didn't mean it," the teen tried to explain his stupid slip-up. He should have just thanked Blaine or told him he felt the same way but no, he just had to mention the rules...

"It's okay, I was kind of joking," the slave smiled.

"Oh, okay... Just know that I'm happy too, happy that we met," he said somewhat awkwardly and pressed the melting ice cube on the bridge of Blaine's nose. "This should help. Just keep your head up."

"Thank you," the boy said and closed his eyes revelling at the cold sensation, "for everything. What I said about dying... I didn't really mean that. At least not right now."

"Have you ever..." Kurt trailed off, unable to finish his thought.

Blaine blushed despite the fact that he was currently bleeding and stuttered, "I... um, we should... we should go back to making lunch. If your dad comes back there will be nothing for him to eat, it's not good. Yeah, we should go."

"Wait, no, I'm sorry for pushing you, you don't have to tell me anything," the teenager placed his free hand on Blaine's shoulder to make sure the other boy didn't move. "You are still bleeding, you shouldn't be moving."

"Um, yeah, sorry," Blaine uttered and relaxed a little bit.

"Don't apologise," Kurt said gently wiping the water off Blaine's nose and pressing the ice cube to his nose bridge again. "It's me who should be apologising. I'm trying to help but honestly, I have no idea what I'm doing. I try to make things better but in the end I just ruin everything. Be patient with me, please?"

"I guess we need to be patient with each other then, huh?" Blaine said and checked the paper. "I think the bleeding is going to end soon," he said and covered his nostril again.

"That's great. Do you feel weak or dizzy, or anything?"

"No, I think I'm okay. I didn't lose too much blood thanks to you," he said and checked the paper again. "I think it stopped. I'll go clean the kitchen."

Blaine made a move to stand up but Kurt's firm hold kept him on the couch. "No moving, mister. You need to lie down for a bit."

"But, Kuuurt, I've been lying around for days now," the boy whined, giving him big puppy eyes. "I want to help you more. And since I made that mess, I should go and clean it."

"The bleeding has just stopped and if you keep your head down it will start again," Kurt explained as he dried the last drops of water off Blaine's face. "You lie down and I'll go clean the kitchen and make us some sandwiches. It would take too long to make that soup now..."

"I'm sorry–"

"One day you will stop apologising for everything..." Kurt teased him and left the room.

He came back fifteen minutes later with a plate of sandwiches and one mug of tea. "I thought we could have lunch in the living room. Have you watched Friends today?"

"I have," Blaine said and sat up.

"Do you want to watch some more?"

"I've already watched two episodes."

Kurt placed the plate and the mug on the table and sat down next to Blaine. "We can watch more together if you want. You can always watch more than two episodes a day, you know? Unless you don't like it..."

"I love it!" the slave exclaimed and Kurt went to put the DVD in for them. "Do you want to start with the first episode?"

"Oh, no, I've watched Friends hundreds of times, I can always star mid-season of any season," Kurt said and came back. "Which was the last episode you watched?"

"Episode eight," Blaine said and Kurt went straight to episode nine.

"Let's eat," the teen said and took a bite of a sandwich. "The tea is for you, by the way."

"Is that necessary?" the boy bit his bottom lip.

"I'm not the one with a cold."

Blaine pouted. "But my temperature was only ninety nine and a half... I'm almost healthy and these teas are driving me crazy."

"We can talk about it after your temperature goes back to normal. Until then you will have to drink tea," Kurt said, his words coming out a bit too harsh.

"I'm sorry, Sir," Blaine flinched and grabbed the mug. "I won't argue with you again."

That was it. The teenager could feel he was about to explode. All the emotions he locked up inside for weeks came crashing down on him. The sadness of leaving his old life and friends. The uncertainty of moving and going to a new school. The conflicted feelings being friends with Rachel and Mercedes. The sympathy for Blaine after they first met. The self-hate when Puck pointed out he was not worth Blaine's friendship. The panic when they went looking for the slave and when they found him barely alive. The tension waiting for him to wake up. The shock when the boy tried to jump out of the window. And most of all the fear of fucking up so bad that Blaine would want to leave. For a boy his age it was all too much.

"Fuck, I'm useless," Kurt said and dropped his half eaten sandwich back onto the plate. "I can't do a damn thing right!"

"Kurt?" Blaine looked at him fearfully.

The teen tilted his head up to stop his tears but it was in vain as they started running down his cheeks. "Why can't I think before speaking for once? I know how you may take my words but still I go ahead and say some stupid things. I bet you hate me... I would hate myself if I were you!

"You know, you were right about me. You were the first stray slave I saw and I felt bad for you. I woke up in the middle of a night after a nightmare and went looking for you. But in the end you would have been better off without me because I'm just making everything worse."

"No, Kurt–"

"And I kind of started feeling close to you. Whenever we met I liked you more and more and I thought we were sort of friends. I wanted, I still want to be friends but how could you ever want to be friends with me? I do nothing but scare you... And you said yourself that you don't want to be my friend but look at me – still trying to force you to be my friend... How fucking selfish am I?"

"Kurt, you are not–"

"Of course I am! Here we are, sitting on this couch... You – a slave who lost everything in his life and almost lost his life a few days ago. Then there is me – a stupid boy who has freedom, father, food, house... And look who is fucking crying!"

Blaine reached out for Kurt but the other boy stood up before he could touch him. "I have loads of homework to do," he cried out. "Please, eat your lunch and... you don't have to drink the tea."

With that Kurt left stunned Blaine alone and ran to his bedroom. There he collapsed on his bed in a foetal position and started sobbing into his pillow. It was less than a minute later that the door to his bedroom opened and he felt a body pressed to his back as Blaine spooned him from behind.

"I'm sorry, so sorry," Kurt kept muttering even though neither of them knew why he was apologising.

Blaine said nothing, just held him and let him cry until there were no tears left in him. It felt good to let it out. Just like he had told Blaine, it was dangerous to bottle things up for a long time and it had been a few stressful days, weeks even, for him, for all of them. He was meant to break down at some point, he just hoped it would be at night when nobody was there to see, not in front of someone else, especially not in front of Blaine.

"You are my friend, Kurt, you are..." Blaine whispered and kissed the back of his neck.