The dinner was chatty as always. Blaine didn't contribute much though. He felt so tired and he felt kind of foggy. His brain wasn't working as usual. He tried to enjoy the food. It was the first home cooked meal he had eaten in over two weeks. And Carole was a really good cook. Kurt and Finn took care of the dished, as always on Fridays. Blaine tried to help, but was turned down. He felt bad about it, but simultaneously he was relieved, he was so tired.
The family settled down in the living room. Finn in the same couch as before, Burt and Carole in their favorite recliners. Kurt sat down and Blaine sat down beside him. Kurt smiled to his boyfriend.
"You can lay down if you want." Blaine smiled back and lay down. Not even a minute after he had placed his head on Kurt's lap he was fast asleep again, in the middle of the discussion of what movie they should watch. Kurt smiled fondly at Blaine. When Burt noticed the sleeping boy, his worry increased.
"Kurt, how has the week been at school? Are you this tired as well?"
"No dad, I'm fine. I don't know why he is this tired really. I haven't seen him this worn out. He has been tired all day. It got worse as the day went on. And he keep limping, I think he hurt his foot in some way. I asked him about it, but I didn't get a straight answer. I don't know dad, he is just tired I guess."
"Just let him sleep, we'll wake him up after the movie." Carole pushed play and the movie started.
When the movie stopped even Finn had fallen asleep and was snoring. Blaine hadn't moved at all during the movie.
Carole woke her son and sent him to bed. Even though it was quite early, and he was 17, he didn't complain or object. Carole then kneeled next to the couch and stroke Blaine's curls softly. She talked to him while stroking his hair.
"Blaine, honey, it's time to wake up. Blaine? Blaine, honey…"
She got no response. She glanced at Burt and saw the same worry she felt in his eyes. Something was wrong with Blaine, that much was obvious.
"I don't want him to drive home like this Burt. I'd say we give his parents a call and see if they think it's okay that he sleeps here tonight."
"Yeah, I agree. Kurt, do you have the number to his house?"
Kurt took out his cell and pushed on the screen to find the number and handed his phone to his father. Carole and Kurt listened to half of the phone call while watching the sleeping boy.
"Mr. Anderson? This is Burt Hummel, I'm Kurt's father."
"Burt Hummel."
"Hummel, yeah."
"Kurt's father."
"Kurt."
"Kurt."
"The boyfriend, yeah! Blaine has fallen asleep here on the couch and was thinking of letting him sleep here tonight. Would that be okay with you?"
"Blaine, yeah."
"No, he isn't at home. I'm watching him sleep right now." Kurt and Carole turned their heads to Burt, who had an even more worried expression on his face.
"Blaine is here yes."
"Yes, you can go and look in his room, I'll wait." Carole got up to stand beside her husband.
"Yes, no, he isn't in his room. He is in my living room."
"Yes, that's funny." Burt's voice revealed that he didn't find this funny at all.
"No, it's no trouble at all. We love having him here."
"No, no, he's no trouble."
"No, it is okay."
"No, he isn't trouble. He is the most polite boy I've ever met."
"That's not gonna happen." Burt's voice increased in volume. He was vibrating with anger.
"Look, I don't lay a hand on my own sons and I wouldn't dream of doing that to Blaine."
"Yes, but that's not a typical Friday here."
"So, he'll sleep here and he'll call you tomorrow. Okay, thanks."
He ended the call and sighed deeply. He ran a hand through his hair. He couldn't believe the conversation he just had. He looked at Blaine, still sound asleep, still unaware of what was going on around him. Burt's heart ached with love for the sleeping boy who was sleeping on his sons lap. He looked like a small, innocent child. He had such a façade that made him appear so much older. Burt was snapped out of his thoughts by Kurt's voice.
"Dad?"
"Burt, are you okay?" Both Carole's and Kurt's voices were heavy with worry. Burt tried to keep his voice as low as possible.
"Kurt, have you met Blaine's parents?"
"No, I haven't. Why?"
"Why don't we sit down in the kitchen and talk about this?"
Kurt got up from the couch, replaced his lap with a pillow. Carole removed Blaine's shoes and put a blanket over his sleeping body. Blaine didn't seem to notice any of this, he didn't move.
Kurt, Burt and Carole sat down at the kitchen table. Burt cleared his throat.
"I don't know where to start. From what I gathered from that phone call, Blaine is going to need our support from now on." He turned to Kurt.
"I don't know how serious you two are, but…" Kurt opened his mouth to intervene, but his father hold up his hands to stop him.
"Kurt, let me finished this. Please." Kurt nodded.
"I don't know how serious you two are, but even if you decided to break up with him tomorrow, this isn't something I can sit back and not take action on. Okay? That's not who I am as a person. Okay?"
Kurt nodded again.
"Okay, from the phone call I got that Blaine's father was drunk. Really drunk. He didn't understand at first who I was talking about. It was a lot of noise in the background. It sounded like they were having some kind of party. When he understood that I was talking about Blaine, he was convinced that he was in his room. He even went to check. He thought it was really funny when he realized he wasn't at home. They hadn't even noticed that their son wasn't at home. I don't know how dinner works there, but apparently a son more or less doesn't matter to them." Burt's voice had risen when he spoke. He had to take a deep breath before he continued. Carole had tears in her eyes. Kurt had gone even paler then usual and had his hand over his mouth.
"What…" Carole voice cracked and her tears escaped. Burt cut in.
"I'm not finished." He closed his eyes before he started again.
"Blaine's father kept going on about what a trouble Blaine is. And… He…" He shook his head and reached for Carole's hand over the table.
"Then he gave me permission to hit him with my belt."
"What?" Carole's tears were flowing freely now. Kurt sobbed.
"Yeah, he actually encouraged it. Since it was Friday." Burt shook his head again. They sat together and held hands for a while. Carole and Kurt were crying. Burt's tears hadn't escaped his eyes jet.
"What are we gonna do?" Kurt's whisper was the first thing to break the silence.
