Blaine let out a shout of pain as he fell backwards from the force of the blow on his face.

"I will not have you being a fag! How dare you come into this house and flaunt that disgusting behaviour?!" Blaine backed away, tears in his eyes as his father shouted at him, another blow landing on his shoulder. He had lent his father his phone so that he could use it for a conference call because he had a better deal on the amount of money he paid per minute. When his father had finished he caught sight of a photo on there of him and Kurt together. And now they were here.

"Dad, please! I'm still the same person! Being gay doesn't change anything" he shouted, standing up. His father's hand rocketed out again, but Blaine's boxing skills kicked in and he ducked to avoid it.

"When will you learn, boy, that you cannot be a queer! I will not allow it! I thought boxing would get you out of this fucking phase but obviously not. There is only one thing I can do – I'll have to beat it out of you" the boy's eyes went wide with fear

"Please, no! Leave me alone!" Jason Anderson lashed out, his fist connecting with Blaine's stomach and he grunted in pain, dropping to the wooden floor. His father's hand snaked out, hitting his head hard. Blaine made no noise as he fell unconscious, blood dripping from a cut on his lip.

"You disgust me"


"Blaine, what the hell happened to you?" asked Kurt when he saw his boyfriend two days later. He had noticed something was up when Blaine had covered his jelled hair with a hat that didn't match the rest of his clothes.

"Nothing. It was nothing Kurt" he muttered, pulling the hat further down to cover his eyes

"Nothing my ass! Blaine please tell me" he said, tugging at his sleeve

"I'm fine Kurt" he said trying to reach up to the combination on his locker, grimacing slightly at the pain in his right arm. Then that familiar flash of red a white came. His back hit the lockers hard and he cried out as his hat fell away from his head. Kurt had been pushed too, falling down next to him. They both heard laughter and footsteps as the jocks disappeared. Kurt was first to recover, sitting up one the cold tiled floor and looking at Blaine.

"Are you alright?" he could now see the extent of the damages. One of his normally bright hazel eyes was swollen and purple – the lid completely closed. There was a large bruise on the other side of his face and a large cut on his lip. He could see the difficulty his boyfriend had in moving and could tell there must have been more on other parts of his body. He only had last period with Blaine today so hadn't seen him all morning or at lunch. Blaine was crying now and Kurt moved over, wrapping his arms around the sobbing boy. "Sshh. Its ok sweetie" he cooed into his ear, trying to calm him down. Blaine shook in his arms, tears flooding his face. "It's ok now. You're safe now. Nobody is going to hurt you" he whispered, dropping a kiss onto the top of the shorter boy's head. It took a while for Blaine to still – the corridor had stayed empty because everyone had gone to class.

"Who did this to you?" Kurt asked when he though he was ready. Blaine wiped his eyes, wincing as he brushed the purple one

"Dad" he hiccupped slightly. Kurt's face paled – he was lucky. His father was extremely supportive towards his sexuality.

"Fuck" he muttered "I'm so sorry Blaine. But we need to get you to the school nurse. And you need to tell someone what's going on at home – what your dad did, that's child abuse. That just abuse full stop" Blaine sniffled at this "come on" Kurt said, helping up his boyfriend half carried him down the corridor to the nurse's office. He knocked and they entered, setting Blaine down on the exam bed.

"What happened to him?" asked the slightly alarmed nurse at the sight of Blaine's bruised and tear strewn face.

"We have confidentiality in here don't we?" asked Kurt. The nurse nodded "His father tried to beat the gay out of him" she closed her eyes briefly

"I'm sorry. Let me take a look at him" she moved over to Blaine, pulling on some rubber gloves and touching the swollen skin on his face. "What's your name sweetie?"

"Blaine" he whispered hoarsely, his throat dry from crying.

"Where else are you hurt?" she asked, going into the small freezer on the other side of the room and pulling out an ice pack that he could hold onto his eye. Blaine pointed at his stomach. She handed him the ice pack. "Do you mind if I look?" Blaine shook his head, letting the nurse tug the bottom of his shirt from his chinos and expose his stomach. Kurt gasped as he saw the large red/purple mark that covered his boyfriend's abdomen "have you had any blood in your urine?" Blaine nodded. "The ice will help with the swelling. Do you want me to ring someone that can help you with your home problems? If you friend here is correct and your father did this, I don't think you should be going home tonight. Is there anywhere else you can stay for a while?"

"He can stay with me – we have a spare room" Kurt piped up. The nurse nodded at him

"I need to call social services and report this. It is up to them to decide what to do with you" Blaine nodded

"I'm going to call my dad" Kurt said, getting up to leave the room "I'll be back in a minute" his father picked up after three rings

"Kurt, are you ok?" his father was alarmed that his son would be calling at this time of day – he should be in school

"I'm fine dad, don't worry about me. But Blaine isn't. His father isn't happy with him being gay and he hurt Blaine for it" Burt's breath hitched slightly

"How badly?"

"Black eye, internal bleeding, covered in bruises. Um, do you mind if he stays with us for a while? It's just he can't go home an-"

"It's fine son. He can stay in the spare room until the authorities sort it out. Are you coming home now?"

"I think we can miss Glee practice just this once"

"Do you want me to pick you up?"

"It's fine dad, I'll drive"

"Alright. I'll see you soon" his father hung up. Kurt went back into the nurse's office and sat next to Blaine, putting an arm around him. "Dad says you can stay with us" he said quietly so that the nurse could continue her phone call without any extraneous noises. The two boys sat in silence for a while, waiting for the nurse to finish on the phone. She talked for another ten minutes and put the device down.

"Alright" she said, getting up and placing a chair in front of the two boys so that she could sit opposite "I spoke to social services. I just need to ask you a few questions and then you can go home. Ok?" Kurt nodded. "Who else lives in your house?"

"Just my mum" he said quietly "my brother is working in Los Angeles at the moment – I haven't seen him in a few months"

"And where was your mother at the time of the, um, incident?"

"She's on a work trip for a week in New York. She's a journalist so she spends a lot of time away from home"

"So it was just you and your father?" Blaine nodded "has he done this before?"

"It was never physical before – I've been shouted at, I've been insulted. Always verbal"

"Ok. Thank you Blaine. Keep that ice on your eye to help with the swelling. If you have any Arnica at home put that on your bruises, it will help" she directed this at Kurt. "He needs some rest. Get him home, sort out his bruises and let him relax. Here is my email so you can keep me notified of his progress. Social services should be around in the next few days to talk to you"

"Thank you so much Mrs….?

"Jones"

"Thank you Mrs Jones." Kurt helped Blaine off the exam bed and picking up their bags "let's go home" they walked slowly out of school and into the car park, Kurt fumbling with his keys a little to open the car. He opened the door and Blaine kind of slumped in, his legs folding beneath him in the seat. He closed the door and shoved the bags into the back and got in to the driver's seat. The journey was passed in silence; Blaine huddled up slightly in the corner as Kurt focused on the road. When they got back to Kurt's house, Kurt got out first, grabbing their bags from the back of the car and then helping Blaine out. He fiddled with his keys to unlock the front door and then kind of pushed Blaine over the doorstep so that he could lock the door behind him. Before he could even turn around, the shorter boy had been enveloped in his hug from Carole. Kurt gave her a smile in thanks and unceremoniously dumped their bags on the floor. Carole let go of Blaine as Burt entered

"Are you alright there son?" he asked, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. Blaine nodded.

"Come on Blaine. I'll get you some fresh ice. I'm sure we've got some Arnica somewhere in here…." His voice trailed off as he rummaged in the cupboard, reaching for the top shelf where they kept all the medical supplies in two empty ice cream tubs. His father had got his own special one when he was ill but they had gladly thrown that out when he was given the all clear. He pulled one of the boxes down, moving objects away with his slim fingers until he found the small green tube. Excellent, he thought as he put the ice cream tub back where it had been. Blaine wondered over, seating himself by the table as Carole and Burt disappeared for a moment to speak in private.

"I can't believe his father would do something like that" she said quietly to Burt once they had closed the door or the living room

"I can" he muttered back, angry that men like that actually existed.

"What are we going to do? What if social services send him into care?"

"Then we'll adopt him" Burt replied decisively. He had decided this as soon as he had found out what had happened

"You think we can handle three boys in this house?"

"Two of them are gay, how bad can it be?" Carole slapped his arm

"Just because they are gay, it doesn't make them any different from normal boys" Burt gave her a look and they both spluttered with quiet mirth

"If he's anything like Kurt we are going to be fine. I don't think I could deal with another Finn" they both laughed quietly.

"We're gonna be ok Carole" he said, pulling her into a hug and kissing the top of her head.

Back in the kitchen, Kurt had wrapped some frozen peas in a tea towel and was making Blaine hold it on his eye.

"Thank you Kurt" he said quietly as the taller boy rubbed the cream onto the bruises on his skin

"It's no problem sweetie." Without even looking up he said "put that back on your eye" Blaine tried to frown but it hurt his face. "You can probably do your stomach yourself. You can borrow some of my clothes until we get you sorted out. The spare room is next to mine but you will have to share the bathroom with me. I have plenty of moisturiser so you don't have to worry about your skin drying out" Kurt went rambling on for a few minutes as he continued as his fingers rubbed at Blaine's bruised skin

"Kurt?" he said, cutting of the other boy

"Hm?"

"Love you" Kurt look at him for the first time since had started with the cream. He took the ice from his eye and put it on the table. He took both of Blaine's hands in his own and kissed them gently

"Love you too Blaine"