It’s all fun and games.

At least, until someone gets hurt

***

Kurt looks up from his seat in the library, his books suddenly forgotten because the urgency he sensed in the hallway.  He cranes his head and squints his eyes to try and see what the commotion was.

Just as he gets up, an alarm rings.

Kurt freezes.  He doesn’t know what that means. He doesn’t quite know all the standards and procedures yet, since he missed the first few weeks of school when they go over all the rules and proceedings.

He glances around, his eyes frantic and scared, searching for someone – anyone – who could possibly help him.  But, really, he’s just searching for Blaine.

He thought that he was done with this, that he didn’t have to worry about not knowing things anymore.  He’d been at Dalton for close to 5 months now.  He should be used to it.

But, as a small, scared whimper escapes Kurt’s throat, he feels like he doesn’t know anything at all.  He sinks back into his seat and curls in on himself, his body shaking and his brain working a thousand miles a minute.

…..

When Blaine hears the alarm, his mind instantly goes into work mode.  He does a quick glance around his room, shoving his covert operations book under his bed, making sure there isn’t anything else suspicious to be found.

The alarm, this specific one, means that there’s someone in the school trying to either a.) find out the truth behind Dalton or b.) searching for a certain individual for reasons unknown.

Once Blaine’s room is clean of any evidence that Dalton is a school for assassins, he grabs his blazer and throws it on before lightly jogging down the hallway, his eyes scanning around corners before turning to make sure the intruder isn’t anywhere near him.

He’s almost to the front doors – since they are instructed to leave the school when the alarm rings – when he remembers something very vital and very important to him.

Kurt.

Blaine swears to himself before taking off towards the library, where he knows Kurt was studying. He swallows the lump in his throat, knowing that he’ll find Kurt trembling and terrified.  It’s hard for him, Blaine knows, since he didn’t grow up going to school here like most of the other students.  He’s still new, still fresh, and everything still doesn’t make sense to him.

He’s about to open the door when he hears voices from the inside.  His heart starts to thump, because he knows Kurt is in there but he doesn’t recognize the voice.

“Tell me what you know,” the voice says.

Blaine’s breath catches, because Kurt hasn’t been trained for this yet, hasn’t been taught how to handle interrogations or what to do if someone’s holding a gun to your head trying to get information out of you.

A vivid image of Kurt, poor, beautiful Kurt, cowering in a corner while a masked man holds a gun to his head forms in Blaine’s mind.  The blood sears in his veins, the anger and rage turning his breathing ragged.

And then he acts on instinct.

Everything he was told not to do – don’t let your heart control you, Blaine, don’t let your feelings affect your work, stay focused, stay professional – goes down the drain when he hears a whimper, one that sounds exactly like the one’s Blaine’s made Kurt make except this one sounds afraid instead of begging.

He quietly opens the door, pressing the emergency button on the phone to alert the teachers and professors that the intruder is nearby and that someone is in danger.

Blaine quickly scans the room before his eyes fall on Kurt.  The boy is sitting in one of the cushion chairs, his knees pulled up to his chest as his whole body trembles.  The man in front of him – completely covered in black, like Blaine predicted – is twirling a gun in his hand, and Blaine can practically feel him smirking at Kurt.

Kurt’s eyes fall on Blaine then, Blaine quickly holding a finger up to his lips. This will only work if he can sneak up on the man.

He watches as Kurt swallows, his Adam’s apple bobbing as his terrified eyes go back to the man.

“You’re new here, I can tell,” the man sneers.  “You’re untrained, unprofessional.” He twirls the gun, taking a few steps closer to Kurt.

“Tell me what you know and I won’t kill you,” the man says, “it’s your choice.”

Kurt whimpers again, and Blaine’s heart breaks for him.  But he can’t deal with that now.  He needs to focus on the man, on getting Kurt out of danger.

He’s directly behind the man now.  Blaine reaches into his blazer pocket and pulls out a small teaser.  He’s always kept one in there, for emergencies, and he’s pretty sure that this classifies as an emergency.

The man is putting the gun closer and closer to Kurt’s head, his small body shaking as his eyes start to well with tears.  And, no, no Kurt can’t cry.  Blaine hates it when he cries, he can’t stand it and his insides literally crumble when he sees the tears in the boy’s eyes.

Just as the man is sneering at Kurt again, Blaine quickly places the teaser to one of the nerves.  The man’s body quivers before he drops to the ground, Blaine soundly placing a kick to his head to knock him out.

“Blaine,” Kurt breathes without moving.  He’s still shaking, his eyes watery and his voice hoarse.  “Blaine, Blaine, Blaine.”

Kurt’s chanting his name, and Blaine quickly steps over the man’s unconscious body and gathers Kurt in his arms.  “You’re fine,” Blaine murmurs, holding him tightly and pressing a soft kiss to his temple.  “You’re fine, Kurt, I’m here.  I’ve got you, I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Kurt whimpers and buries his head in Blaine’s neck, his hands clinging to the lapel of Blaine’s blazer.

“There’s more,” Kurt whispers into Blaine’s neck after a few moments, “he – he said that it wasn’t just him, that his crew was out there.”

“Shit,” Blaine swore, his eyes darting around the library just to be sure.  “We should go.”

Kurt nods and Blaine releases him, grabbing his hand and leading him out of the library.  “We need to leave as quickly as possible,” Blaine whispers, his voice so low. “And – god, Kurt, I’m sorry I never went through any of this with you, I should have told you about the alarm and if I had you would have left instead of staying put and –”

“Blaine, not now okay?” Kurt whispers in reply, squeezing Blaine’s hand.  “For now, let’s just get out of here.”

Blaine nods and continues to run with Kurt down the hallway.  Just a few more turns, and then they’re at the door to the parking lot, then they’re safe and they can drive away and –

And then he hears it.

A loud bang sounds through the building, the chandeliers shaking and the paintings on the walls quivering.

“Blaine,” Kurt says, his voice shaking.  “Blaine that was – it was –”

Blaine squeezes Kurt’s hand again, his eyes trained towards the classroom across the hall where the noise had come from.  As soon as he sees the doorknob turning, Blaine’s pushing Kurt into the alcove, cramming him against the wall with his own body and covering his mouth with his hand. 

He listens as the footsteps fade, waiting until he can no longer hear them before releasing Kurt and running to the abandoned classroom.

He sees the blood before anything else.  It’s splattered on the walls, pooling on the floor around the body.

“Oh my god,” he hears Kurt whisper behind him.  “That’s –”

Blaine nods and looks up at Kurt, knowing that his eyes are dark and stone cold.  Professional.  He has to be, otherwise the sight of Cooper’s broken body on the ground would completely destroy him.

“Help me carry him out,” Blaine says to Kurt, going around to the other side of Cooper.  “The safe house is only twenty minutes away, if we can keep compressions or even find someone…”

Blaine trails off when he sees the headmaster stepping into the room, his eyes dark and cold, a gun held in his hand.

“You two go,” he says, rushing over to Cooper and pulling a med kit out of his pocket.  He looks up and meets Blaine’s eyes.  “You promised to keep Kurt safe,” he says without turning his gaze away from Blaine.  “Get yourselves out of here and go somewhere safe.”

So Blaine does.

He quickly stands up and grabs Kurt’s hand again, ignoring the boy’s protests and dragging him out of the building.  They sprint to the car, Blaine not waiting for them to be buckled before switching to drive and speeding out of the parking lot.

They’re silent for at least five minutes, Blaine’s hands gripping the steering wheel so tight that his knuckles are turning white.

“Blaine –” Kurt starts before cutting off, seeming to not know what to say.

Blaine can’t believe he just left his brother there.  Yes, he was in good hands with the headmaster, but it was his brother and he just left him –

“You did what you had to do,” Kurt murmurs.  “Don’t let your feelings get in the way, remember?”

Blaine glances at Kurt, at his worried expression, his tear stained cheeks and his pale face.  He sighs and reaches his hand out, grasping Kurt’s in his own and lacing their fingers together.

“If I completely followed that rule,” Blaine says softly, “I wouldn’t have found you in the library.”

Kurt sniffles and squeezes Blaine’s hand again, like he’s reassuring himself that Blaine’s there and with him.

“I didn’t think this would happen,” Blaine says after a few moments.  “It’s only happened once in my time there, so I didn’t think to tell you what to do if it did, and you could have died and I’m sorry, Kurt, I’m sorry –”

Blaine, shh,” Kurt murmurs as they pull into the driveway of what Kurt assumes is the safe house.  “We’re fine now, it’s over.”

Blaine gulps but nods, his spare hand unlocking the door.  “Come on,” he says.  “Let’s get a room before the rest of the guys do.”

They get out of the car and slowly walk into the house, Blaine locking the door behind them after reassuring Kurt that the rest of the students that come to this house have keys.  “We’re all assigned a safe house,” Blaine murmurs as he leads Kurt up the stairs.  “Usually 5-10 of us in each house.”

He pulls Kurt into a room on the top floor, gently shutting the door behind him before wrapping his arms around Kurt and pulling him into his body.  Kurt’s still shaking, his voice ragged as he buries his face in Blaine’s shoulder.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Blaine whispers into Kurt’s neck, his hands sliding up the back of Kurt’s shirt, wanting – needing – to feel Kurt’s warmth.  “God, Kurt, if anything would have happened to you, I – I don’t –”

“Shh,” Kurt whispers, threading his fingers through Blaine’s hair.  “I’m fine.  We’re fine, Blaine. Cooper’s going to be fine.”

Blaine gulps and nods again, pulling Kurt closer to him and pressing a soft kiss to his jaw before capturing his lips with his own.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers.  “I never wanted this for you, I never wanted you to be involved.”

“It’s how my life is now,” Kurt whispers against Blaine’s lips.  “And, to be honest, if it means I have you, I don’t think it’s so bad.”

Blaine laughs, feeling his throat constrict and his heart pound in his chest.  “I love you,” he murmurs.  He watches Kurt’s eyes, how the cold blue lights up and glows, his eyes shining.

“I love you, too,” Kurt whispers, his voice light as he holds Blaine closer. 

“This is ridiculous,” Blaine whispers as he presses a soft kiss to Kurt’s mouth.  “We’ve only known each other for 5 months.”

“We almost died today,” Kurt whispers in return as he soundly kisses Blaine, his fingers threading through Blaine’s ungelled hair.  “That counts for several years in my book.”

Blaine laughs and winds his arms around Kurt’s waist, bringing one hand up to cradle his face and pull his lips back to Blaine’s, their breath mingling and, even though their fears are still there and present, and their worries are still in the back of their minds, they’re okay.  They’re safe and in love and in each other’s arms and, in that moment, nothing else really matters.

It’s a relief, albeit a brief one.  They’ll have to face the world again eventually, but for now, they’re content.