"Hey, hey, hey Kurt. Hey! Hey, hey, hey-"

"What Blaine!" Kurt said briskly, tearing his eyes away from the page and looking over to where Blaine was situated on his bed, lying on his stomach and staring at him with his adorable puppy eyes.

"Did I ever tell you that I love you?"

Kurt sighed. "Yes, Blaine. A million times."

Blaine rolled onto his back on the bed so his head was hanging off the edge. He continued to watch Kurt, blinking a few times as his vision adjusted to the odd angle and thought to himself "Gee, how did I get this lucky?"

Kurt was sitting on the floor facing Blaine's bed, his nose buried somewhere in the book held between his hands. He looked up briefly again to see Blaine lying there, curls hanging down towards the floor and mouth open. As Kurt met his eyes, the corners of his lips turned upwards in an upside down smile and he winked, a mischievous grin giving him the appearance of some kind of wicked, yet completely adorable, creature.

Blaine was sure that Kurt couldn't stay serious after that. Blaine could always crack him.

Not this time.

"Puppy," Kurt said under his breath, ignoring Blaine's attempts to be alluring and turning back to his book.

Kurt furrowed his brow as he obviously tried to concentrate on the words on the page in front of him. He didn't even look up when Blaine whimpered, pretending to be offended by Kurt's evident lack of enthusiasm towards him.

Blaine frowned. This wasn't how it was supposed to go! Normally Kurt would try to stay composed, before failing miserably and breaking out into pure, joyous laughter. He'd set aside whatever he was doing and he'd crawl over to wherever Blaine was situated, waiting with a smile and lustful eyes. So what was different this time?

Blaine really was hurt now.

Why this sudden change?

Blaine got off the bed swiftly and silently, crawling over to where Kurt was sitting on the other side of the room. Seeing Kurt give him a rather disapproving look, he stopped halfway, sitting cross-legged on the soft carpet and watching Kurt with cautious eyes.

After five minutes of neither of them moving, Blaine crept forward a little more.

And a little more.

And just a little more.

He ended up sitting right in front of Kurt, his head on his knees and his arms wrapped around his legs.

Kurt couldn't ignore him any longer.

"What do you want Blaine?" He asked, sounding exasperated.

He realised he had sounded horrible, and regretted saying anything at all when he saw the pain clearly in his boyfriend's eyes.

Pain quickly turned to tears.

"Blaine, no, wait. I didn't mean it to sound like that!" Kurt told Blaine's hands, which were now covering his face.

Blaine was hiding his tears from Kurt. Why was he being so mean?

Kurt placed his book beside him and reached out an arm to Blaine's shoulder. As soon as contact was made, Blaine flinched. He scrambled up, briefly exposing his tear stained face before sprinting across the room and flinging himself onto his bed, burying his face in his pillow and curling into a ball.

"Blaaaaiine," Kurt drawled, mentally kicking himself for making Blaine cry.

He hadn't meant to! He had just been really stressed lately from his school work and he really needed to get this book read for his assignment. Well, he could've just told Blaine that, now couldn't he?

But no. He had to go and screw everything up. And now Blaine was crying and probably wouldn't want to talk to him ever again.

"Blaine," Kurt said again, settling himself on the edge of Blaine's bed, "I'm sorry."

"Go awaaayyy…" Blaine said, though Kurt only heard some kind of muffled noise coming out from Blaine's pillow.

"Blaine, look, I was mean. I know I was and I'm so sorry. I'm just really stressed at the moment and-"

Blaine whipped around to face Kurt, face red and wet, though trying to remain strong. "But you didn't have to be so meeeaaaaan."

Blaine looked at Kurt defiantly, trying to act brave, but his bottom lip trembled violently and he sniffed.

His act of bravery didn't last long.

As Kurt opened his mouth to say something, Blaine broke. His face crumpled and a strangled sob escaped his lips before he threw himself facedown onto his bed once again.

This time he couldn't contain his sadness. His body shook and his breath caught in his chest as he openly bawled, soaking his pillow with tears.

It broke Kurt's heart to see Blaine break down like this. He didn't know what to do as Blaine whimpered and wailed and moaned. It broke his heart to see him so vulnerable.

So exposed.

So fragile.

Kurt was scared. Where had strong, independent, spirited Blaine gone? Where was the courageous boy Kurt had known for so long?

He didn't have the answer, so he waited, and waited, and waited until Blaine had stopped crying and was just lying there, staring blankly in the opposite direction of where Kurt was sitting.

Kurt put his hand on Blaine's shoulder uncertainly, relaxing just a little when Blaine didn't shy away from his touch this time. He waited a few more minutes, not wanting to rush anything, before softly leaning down so his lips were right next to Blaine's ear.

"Blaine," Kurt breathed, "You have to talk to me."

Blaine just whimpered softly.

"Please Blaine? I'll beg if I have to."

"NO!" Blaine shot up and looked Kurt in the eye, his own bloodshot and misty.

Well, Kurt hadn't expected that kind of reaction.

This time Blaine didn't go back to hiding. He kept looking at Kurt, his eyes alight with some kind of emotion that Kurt couldn't quite place. It was anger, mixed with fear, pain and determination.

"Just, don't beg Kurt. Never, ever, beg me for anything," Blaine said through gritted teeth.

"But…I don't understand," Kurt said, thoroughly confused.

Why was Blaine so adamant about not letting him beg, even if it was for Blaine to simply talk to him?

"I just…I've had some bad experiences Kurt, and I never want to hear someone beg for anything ever again."

"But why?"

"Kurt, does it really matter?"

Blaine looked like he was about to continue but Kurt cut him off. "Yes."

Their eyes locked in a kind of silent standoff. Kurt wasn't going to let this go. There was obviously something important that Blaine wasn't telling him.

After what seemed like an eternity, Blaine broke eye contact, looking down to his hands.

"Kurt—"

"And I want the truth Blaine, all of it," Kurt quickly added before Blaine could brush him off somehow.

Blaine sighed, defeated. "Fine. Well, uh, when I came out to my parents they weren't as…understanding, let's say, as your parents were. My dad…he…he hit me. Hard. And I would beg him to stop. I'd tell him that I'd do anything, anything, just as long as the pain stopped."

At this point, Blaine lifted up his shirt to show Kurt a large scar on the right side of his torso.

"I got this when he threw a glass vase at me. He'd already thrown some glasses at my face and missed…I guess he just thought he'd have a better chance of hitting me if he used something larger. Well, he was right, wasn't he? I'd beg my mom to help me, to tell dad to stop. She never did. She'd just watch as my father would give me yet another bruise. Yet another cut. Leaving me with yet another story to make up about where they were all coming from. He could hide most of them, but when it came to black eyes and bruised jaws, well, they weren't as easy."

Blaine paused and Kurt realised that he himself was crying.

"And no matter how much I begged, no matter how many times I pleaded with them to leave me alone, they never did. So I ran away. I could've dealt with the bullies no sweat, but when your own parents turn against you, telling you that you should die and that you're a fag and you don't deserve to be their son, well…that really, really hurts, so I moved in with my aunt. She accepts me. I admit that I overreacted earlier, I understand you're stressed. It just really gets to me now a days when people are mean, even if it's unintentional or if they have a reason to. So I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, but just promise me you won't ever beg me for anything?"

Blaine had finally met his gaze again and his eyes were so sad that Kurt felt as if his heart was shattering all over again.

"I promise."

And with that, they fell into a tight embrace, a million unsaid things swimming in their heads. But they could all wait for later, for now they were happy just to be safe and warm in each other's arms.