For Him

Chapter 24- He Loves Me

Blaine said nothing. And it killed him inside. Though he knew that it wasn't going to happen again, and Phil was very, very sorry, every time he talked to Kurt he felt as if he was hiding something.

"It's not a big deal," Blaine thought. "He doesn't need to know." And still, the nagging idea of keeping a secret from his best friend hurt more than the punches ever could...well, almost as much.

But Blaine managed to suppress it, and not give one clue about what was happening in his home. He showed no flaws, no cracks, no hints that he wasn't the chipper, perfect boy he'd been all his life. Until that fateful night when everything fell apart.

Phil would be gone the entire weekend, and it was only Friday now. He said something about meeting with a possible investor, but that meant traveling from New York all the way to Ohio by car- airfare wasn't cheap. Blaine offered to go with him to maybe visit Mr. Schue and Sam, people that he'd kept in touch with long after glee club, but Phil refused. The trip was for business. Business only.

So, Blaine went to Kurt's apartment.

The fireplace was blazing, the hot chocolate was steaming, the heat was turned up for the winter. Fuzzy socks were coating both Blaine and Kurt's feet, they were sharing a thick blanket, and Blaine was wearing a sweatshirt. It was hot. So hot that Blaine forgot why he was wearing a sweatshirt in the first place.

Without even thinking, he unzipped the hoodie and threw it to the ground to be picked up later. He only wore a tank top, revealing his mostly even skin tone...until every so often, it got interrupted by a large purple bruise.

Blaine kept watching the movie that was playing, as did Kurt. Both of them were hysterical, laughing loudly and tilting their heads back like they were little boys. Kurt looked over to Blaine, smiling when he saw the look of pure bliss on the man's face, even if it had been missing for a couple of weeks now.

And now he knew why.

Kurt's eyes found something while they were out of focus and looking at Blaine's grin. Bruises. On his shoulder, his upper arm, the top of his chest, the purple spots grew in a big blob, sometimes spotting with flakes of blue or black.

Kurt gasped quietly, and reached a shaky hand out to run his fingertips softly over the one on his arm. Blaine flinched, both not seeing his hand coming towards him, and from the dull pain that still lingered in them. His heart stopped, his eyes full of panic as he saw Kurt putting the pieces together in his head.

Kurt released his hand from Blaine's skin and moved it to the remote. He paused the TV and turned his entire body towards Blaine.

"What are these?" Kurt asked, and when he didn't get an answer, whispered, "Blaine?"

"What? Oh, it's nothing." He reached to the ground to get his sweatshirt, hopping to cover it up and pretend like they weren't right underneath.

Blaine kept the hoodie on his lap, and tiredly decided that it wasn't worth it. The cat's already out of the bag. And Kurt wasn't dumb. God, not even a little bit.

"It's something!" He tried not to come off as aggressive. That's the last thing he needed right now, someone volatile to interrogate him about the pain he went through. Kurt fixed his tone. "Blaine...who did this to you?"

"It's not a big deal, Kurt. Cut it out." Blaine turned his body away from him, and prayed in his head that this would all be over soon, that Kurt would stop asking questions, and the TV would play the movie again.

Kurt finally realized what he was trying to hide. Who he was trying to hide. It all made sense now.

"Was it Phil?"