The room flashed white and thunder clapped and rolled, filling the house with a fearsome rumble that shook it's very foundations.
"Kurt–" Blaine gripped his boyfriend's arm tightly as he curled, trembling, under the blanket and into a ball.
"What, Blaine? What is it?" the more feminine, and generally more vulnerable of the two was staring at the other boy with a look of mingled shock and concern. He glanced, cautiously, around the room, half expecting to see an ominous human-shaped shadow lurking in the darkness.
Blaine didn't reply, his face was white as he trembled against Kurt. His hand still gripped tightly at the other boy's forearm, wrapping its way the whole way around, his other hand balled tightly into a fist.
"Blaine, you're hurting me." Kurt stammered, confused.
Another flash of lightning, accompanied by a growl or thunder, louder and closer this time. Blaine's grip tightened even more and he whimpered, curling himself up against Kurt in an uncharacteristically vulnerable fashion.
Kurt pursed his lips and gently pried his boyfriend's fingers from around his arm, shaking the blood back into his fingers once he was free. Something was wrong here. Slowly, so as not to startle, Kurt placed his arm around Blaine's shaking shoulders, pulling him into a hug that cradled the scared boy comfortably into his chest.
"Blaine–?" Kurt's voice was both amused and preoccupied at the situation. "Blaine, honey, are you afraid of storms?"
Blaine nodded into Kurt's chest, still shaking like a leaf in his skinny arms. The rain was building up to a beating crescendo against the windows of the house as the storm unfurled, hurling it's fury at the city below.
"I–" he swallowed. "–it's this, this thing I have." Even his voiced shook as he stammered his way through the sentence. "Sadie Hawkins," he said quietly. Kurt strained to hear him over the ever louder pounding of the rain. "Did I ever tell you there was a storm that night?" Blaine's voice broke as the thunder clapped overhead.
Kurt's grip slackened as dread filled his stomach. "Uh, no. No you didn't." Blaine never talked about that night. It was as though the memory was too painful, both literally and emotionally, for him to bring up. Mostly, Kurt had left it be. He didn't like to rub salt in old wounds and yet–
"It was stormy. That night. It was like now, if not worse." Blaine choked quietly on his words as Kurt held him tighter, listening intently as he ran his hand slowly up and down his boyfriend's arms. "The boys, the ones I supposedly offended with my sexuality, they dragged me outside."
"Nobody cared you know," Blaine winced as the thunder shook the house once more. "No one cared that I was being dragged out. No one even bothered to turn their head as I was pulled out the door. They took me out onto the grounds, the rain soaked us through in seconds. Not that they cared. All they cared for was to put me in my place." he took a deep breath, tears dripping down his face. "Apparently my place was beaten and alone, in the dark, barely able to move. It was cold and it was scary, Kurt. They left me there, in the middle of the storm, too far away for me to call for help. In the end, my leg was broken, and 3 of my ribs. I couldn't walk, I couldn't even drag myself out of the rain. I was terrified that no one would ever find me."
Kurt stared down and Blaine, numb with shock, unable to comprehend that his boyfriend could be so helpless. Whatever Blaine had said about Kurt being the more courageous one, it was always Blaine who had the real strength. He gently wiped at the tears streaking their way down Blaine's cheek, trying, though shaken by the story, to be the strong one for Blaine. "W–what happened?"
Blaine shook his head as though he could barely bare to continue, "I was left there all night. The storm died off, eventually. I thought I was going to die of hypothermia, I was that cold." he laughed bitterly. "No one came looking. Not really. Eventually my mother realised something was wrong and I was found, taken to hospital." he shuddered involuntarily, breathing laboured with anxiety awakened by re-living the experience.
Kurt gritted is jaw in anger. How could they, how could anyone do such a thing? "Hey," he said firmly to Blaine. Blaine looked up at him, lifting his chin to the other. "I won't let anything like that happen to you ever again, okay?" Kurt breathed passionately, gripping Blaine's chin with his hand. "Ever. Again."
Blaine smiled a little, gratefully, and nodded. "Okay."
Still holding his boyfriend's face firmly in place, Kurt leaned down to place a gentle kiss on his lips, before pulling Blaine into a tight hug.
"You don't need to be afraid any more, baby. You're not alone, now."