Blaine's arms tightened around Kurt's neck, just as Kurt's trailed down Blaine's back. Kurt's fingers tugged at the bottom of Blaine's shirt. Blaine nodded absently and continued trailing his mouth down Kurt's neck. Kurt lifted the bottom of Blaine's shirt over his head and let out a gasp. A huge, purple bruise sat between Blaine's shoulder and collar bone. Blaine separated his mouth from Kurt's skin and covered the bruise with his shirt.

"Kurt, it's nothing. Nothing! I swear." Kurt stared at Blaine, not taking that excuse for a second.

Kurt raised an eyebrow, but�Blaine couldn't look at Kurt and lie.

"Just drop it," Blaine took Kurt's hands in his own, "please?"

Kurt closed his eyes and dropped his head on Blaine's shoulder. Blaine dove back into Kurt's neck, but Kurt pushed him away.

"The mood is gone, Blaine," Kurt muttered. Blaine laid back on his bed. Groaning, he put his shirt over his face.

"I want to tell you, but I can't. Can that be enough?" Blaine mumbled through the fabric.

"Call you later," Kurt said before leaving the room and shutting the door after himself.

...

"Dad, can I talk to you?" Kurt asked from the garage doorway.

Burt rolled out from underneath the Chevy and looked up, puzzled.

"Uh, yeah, Kurt. About what?" Burt wiped his greasy hands with a rag beside him.

"It's about Blaine-" Kurt began.

"Hey, if he's pressuring you to do anything-"

"No, no, Dad," Kurt shut his eyes for a second. "I...I think Blaine's dad is abusing him."

Burt stared at Kurt for a moment. He saw the hurt and worry in Kurt's eyes. Kurt wasn't lying.

"Kurt, that's a serious allegation. How do you know?" Burt asked, getting up from the creeper.

"He, uh, he had this big bruise on his shoulder. He wouldn't even talk to me about it."

Burt didn't even want to ask why Blaine's shoulder was exposed. He opened his mouth to speak, but he didn't really know what to say.

"Er, don't be so haste about it. Maybe he just ran into something. His dad isn't the nicest guy, but abuse is a severe claim," Burt insisted, "I'm sorry, Kurt. I don't really think you have a leg to stand on unless Blaine tells you himself."

Kurt raised his eyebrows. Is that really all Burt had to say about the matter? He crossed his arms and left the garage.

...

It was three days later.

It was two weeks until regionals.

New Directions had a spot, as did the Dalton Warblers. Kurt had to compete against his own boyfriend. As if that wasn't stressful enough, Kurt was still worried about Blaine's mysterious bruise.

But there they were. In the same position in Blaine's room from the start.

Kurt nipped in the exact place on Blaine's neck that he knew made Blaine absolutely melt. Blaine let out soft whimpers, trying to restrain himself. His mom was right downstairs, anyways. That seemed to make Kurt even hotter for him.

Kurt wanted to find even more whimpery places. He reached for Blaine's shirt to pull it up, and he got about halfway, but Blaine's eyes shot open and almost bumped heads with Kurt trying to pull his shirt back down.

Kurt frowned and backed away.

"It's just...we can't tonight. My, er, dad, yeah, he'll be home soon. My mom doesn't really care, but..." Blaine trailed off.

Kurt realized what was happening. "Take it off." He pointed at Blaine's shirt.

"Kurt, I said we can't-"

"You know what I mean. Show me." Kurt demanded.

Blaine groaned and pulled off his white tee shirt.

There was the bruise on his shoulder, now fading to a brown.

And a fresh one on his left side.

"Blaine...!" Kurt gasped, even though he expected it.

"It's nothing-"

"Don't give me that! Stop lying to me." Kurt half-shouted.

Blaine's puppy dog eyes saddened on Kurt. "I'm sorry,"

Kurt rubbed his face with his palms. "If you can't tell me, who can you tell?" He asked softly, trying a new approach.

Blaine continued to stare in Kurt's direction.

"If your dad is hitting you," Kurt began softly, "I can help, you just-"

"You think my dad's hitting me?" Blaine retorted.

Kurt was baffled. "He's...not?"

Blaine was smiling now. Actually chuckling. "Oh my god, no. I mean, he's not the most prideful dad of a gay son, but it's not like he beats me."

Kurt felt like he was being ridiculed. "Well, what reason have you given me not to think that?"

Blaine's smile disappeared. "I mean," he thought back for a minute, "yeah, okay. I can see how you'd think that."

Kurt sighed and crossed his arms. "Well?"

"Well what?" Blaine asked as innocently as he could.

Kurt cut his eyes at Blaine.

"You'd never believe me." Blaine said.

"Try me."

"It's completely�inane."

"Tell me."

Blaine exhaled slowly. "I'd have to show you."

"Show me." Kurt said with a final tone.

Blaine laid face down on the bed.�Kurt waited.

He turned his face towards Kurt.

"Okay, Friday. At nine. I'll pick you up." Blaine groaned.

...

Two days. Kurt braced himself to find out where the mystery bruises had come from for two days.

Kurt heard Blaine's pickup screech to a stop outside his house.

"Bye, dad! I'll be back before midnight," Kurt yelled before running out to Blaine's truck. "...hopefully." He added quietly.

Blaine leaned into the passenger seat and opened the door for Kurt.

"What a gentleman." Kurt grinned.

Blaine started driving down the road. Kurt's legs bobbed up and down.

"Wow, you're actually excited for this, aren't you?" Blaine laughed.

Kurt shrugged, trying to hide his smile.

Blaine glanced at Kurt's Marc Jacob's sweater, leggings, and Doc Martens. "Is that what you're wearing?"

"Well...this is casual for me! And I've got a tee shirt underneath this." Kurt defended.

Kurt then saw what Blaine was wearing. A Dalton letterman, a white V-neck shirt, basketball shorts, and trainers.

"Are we going to play basketball or something?" Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"You'll see. But I don't want you to join anyways."

Kurt shot an offended look at Blaine. "So, I'm not athletic enough or something?"

Blaine tried to stay concentrated on the road. "No, I'm just saying...I don't want you to get hurt. You bruise easier than me and look what I've got."

Kurt still felt insulted. He ceased his questions after a few minutes, because every time Blaine's answer was "You'll see."

Twenty minutes later they arrived in the parking lot of Dalton Academy.

Kurt decided not to even ask. He stepped out of the car and followed Blaine to the Warbler's choir room.

He opened the large wooden doors to find a spotlight on a circle of guys in the middle of the room, wait, those were the Warblers! Sweaty, shirtless, swollen Warblers, but definitely Warblers.

All the furniture had been moved to the side of the room and two guys stood in the middle of the circle. Jeff and David.

David sent a hit at Jeff's stomach and Jeff went down on his knees.

Kurt let out an audible gasp. The whole group turned to face them in the doorway.

Wes stepped forward with a glare.

"Wes, I can explain," Blaine sputtered. He stepped off to the side with Wes. Kurt stood awkwardly by the door, catching occasional parts of the conversation.

"...found the bruise..."

"...couldn't just keep lying..."

"...yeah, I know the rule..."

Wes made exaggerated hand gestures and finally stopped whisper-yelling at Blaine. He motioned for Kurt to join them.

"Kurt, before we let you join-"

"Join? I don't want him to join! I just wanted to show him." Blaine protested.

"He doesn't have to fight, but he's seen us. He has to join." Wes stated.

Blaine sighed. "Okay, I'll explain it, then.

"This is the Dalton Fight Club. I know it sounds ridiculous, but this is a fifteen year tradition with the Dalton Warblers. A couple weeks before a competition we do this. It's just to pump us up and, you know, bring us more together as a group."

Kurt was definitely not prepared for this. "So how come I never knew about this?"

"You generally have be here for at least a year for us to recruit you," Wes interrupted.

"Now, there's only one rule," Blaine continued.

"You don't talk about fight club," the entire group chorused.

"Oh, and no hits above the neck," Nick added. "or crotch shots."

Kurt burst out laughing. The group gaped at him.

"I'm-I'm sorry," Kurt stopped his giggling. "this is just completely absurd."

"Told you," Blaine nudged. "are you in?"

Kurt exhaled. "Yeah."

"Alright!" Jeff cheered. He was sitting in a chair with an ice pack over his stomach. "Once a Warbler, always a Warbler."

Kurt smiled stiffly and stood off to the side of the room.

"Who wants to fight the best?" Blaine bellowed.

"But how can I fight myself?" Wes retorted.

"I'll accept that as a challenge!"

Blaine stripped off his jacket and shirt.

Blaine leaned close to Kurt and whispered, "Don't worry, I'll be fine. And don't step in, no matter what."

Blaine and Wes stepped into the center and the other guys clapped and whistled.

A beat that Kurt didn't recognize boomed from a concealed speaker.

The two guys circled around each other, hopping lightly from foot to foot.

Wes made the first punch for Blaine's stomach, but Blaine anticipated it and blocked it with his thigh. Kurt sucked in a breath. Stay calm.

Blaine spent no time waiting for Wes' next hit. His fist brushed past Wes' ribs as Wes jumped to the side, losing his footing. Blaine used this rare moment to send a blow to Wes' stomach as well, knocking him to the ground. Blaine revealed a toothy grin and raised his arms in victory, but fell to the ground with an "umph" at Wes' kick to the back of his knees.

Kurt stood up from the chair, but didn't yell out. He only moved closer to the circle.

Wes got up and reached a hand out to Blaine, still lying on the ground.

Blaine grabbed it and heaved himself up. "Okay, okay, nice one." They shared the Warblers secret handshake; that roughly consisted of a firework fist bump, which turned into a waggling finger and a three note whistle. Kurt had to learn it within a week when he joined the Warblers.

The other Warblers clapped again and "Meatbox" stepped in to continue boxing with Wes. Blaine stumbled out of the circle and got a damp rag and water bottle from a bucket off to the side. He looked around and found Kurt.

"So," Blaine began, taking a swig of water, "what do you think?"

Kurt was completely awestruck. "You're really sweaty," was all he could think to say.

"Yeah, that happens." Blaine said, wiping off his chest with the rag. "You wanna go a round?"

Kurt laughed. "You'll have to show me some moves first."

"Definitely," Blaine winked.

Kurt wrapped his arms around Blaine. Blaine leaned up and kissed Kurt, his tongue flicking against Kurt's teeth. Kurt could taste the sweat on Blaine's lip.

"Come on, no making out in the Brawl Zone!" Nick yelled. The guys wolf-whistled at Kurt and Blaine, but Kurt just stuck a tongue out at them.

They moved into the more shadowed area and settled into a chair together, watching the fights go on for another hour. Blaine stepped in a few times, and Kurt liked how sweaty Blaine got when he did.

You know, for a fight club, it was quite a bonding experience.