"Blaine, we need to tell someone."

"No." He winced as he adjusted the ice pack against his right side, where a large purple bruise the size of a saucer had formed. Exactly what happened and how he got it, he had refused to say, only wordlessly removing his shirt and showing Kate the end result of last night's incident.

"What if next time it's worse than this? Or all the other times?"

"I can take care of myself, Kate."

Learning to box obviously hasn't helped, she thought, but she didn't tell him that. Instead she picked up his discarded shirt from the edge of her bed and sat down beside him, neatly folding the shirt in her lap. "But, Blaine, what if he-"

"I just need to stay clear of him when he's drunk, okay? I've already done it a few times. Last night I was just unlucky-"

"This isn't about luck," she said quietly, fiddling with the collar of his shirt between her fingers. "No one should ever be treated like this in their own home. For any reason." She paused. "And especially not by their dad."

"Kate, we've gone through this before," said Blaine, a hint of annoyance entering his voice. "And you promised."

"I know I did, and I shouldn't have. Especially when you show up like this, with another bruise or welt or..." She trailed off, not wanting to start crying. Blaine shifted beside her, and she could almost hear him wince as he slowly put an arm around her.

"I can handle this, okay?" He squeezed her shoulder gently and pulled her as close as he could while still holding the ice pack between them.

"I'm just... worried about you, Blaine. Every time you go home, I worry until you tell me if your dad's home or not, if he's drunk or not-"

"I'll be fine." He pulled her closer and breathed deeply. "I promise."

Kate wanted to argue, to ask him how he could promise such thing. But somehow she knew he would keep it, so all she said in return was, "Okay."

Author's Note:
Thank you for reading. I honestly hope the story and my writing gets better from here onwards.
Also, I do not own any recognizable characters. Nor do I own the cover image for this story - credit goes to gala000085 on Tumblr.