C H A P T E R T H R E E

The door opened and for a couple of seconds the bustling sounds of hospital life made their way into the small room. Blaine opened his eyes and blinked at the exuberant white all around him. He was propped up against a pile of pillows. A slender figure was making his way towards the bed. He smiled a little, but it hurt his head so he stopped.

'Oh my…' the voice whispered. 'Oh.'

Blaine heard him sitting down next to the bed, on the chair his mother had been sitting in about an hour ago. A soft but strong hand slid into his own. Kurt was looking at him intently. He tried to smile again.

'So what happened?'

'Turns out they didn't really appreciate my big screw you,' Blaine mumbled, closing his eyes again. The room had started spinning.

'I'm so sorry,' Kurt whispered. 'If I hadn't told you to go, even though you didn't want to, you wouldn't be here right now.'

'Don't worry about it. They would've gone and beat us up eventually anyway.' Blaine tightened his grip on Kurt's hand. 'And honestly, it could've been worse. I've only got a concussion and a couple of broken ribs, and Ethan got off pretty much scot-free.' Talking required a lot of energy, and he breathed in deeply. 'Ow.' His free hand slid to his ribs. He kept forgetting that breathing hurt. 'I'll probably be out of here in a couple of days. At least, I think they told me something like that.'

'I can't believe they actually beat you up,' Kurt said after swallowing audibly.

'I can't believe you're here,' Blaine said, trying to change the subject. He didn't really want to talk about it, especially since he had a hard time actually remembering any of it.

'Ethan called me. I'll explain later,' Kurt said, when he saw Blaine's puzzled frown. 'Don't exert yourself. You should try to get some sleep, it's really late. Or really early, depends on how you look at it.'

'How did you get here?'

'My dad drove me. He's waiting outside.'

'Thank him for me,' Blaine mumbled, opening his eyes for a split second to look at Kurt. Kurt smiled at him.

'I will. I have to go back though. Stay in touch?'

Blaine extended his arm towards the small cabinet next to his bed, and tapped his phone lying on top of it. Kurt smiled, squeezed Blaine's hand and left the room quietly.

It was incredible how easy his parents made it for him to feel at home at the hospital. Even though they had the decency to take their heated argument out of his room, Blaine could hear them quite clearly through the thin walls.

'He did this to himself!' he heard his father boom.

'I can't believe you. You think he wanted to get beaten up?'

'HE PUT HIS DISTASTEFUL SEXUAL PREFERENCES OUT THERE FOR ALL THE WORLD TO SEE, WHAT ELSE DID HE EXPECT?'

'Your son is in the hospital thanks to those bullies at his school and you think this is his own fault? I honestly don't understand how your mind works.'

'He's in here because he's an indecent little brat who disrespects his father! Let's just hope he learns his lesson because it's an expensive one. I'm going to take care of the paperwork.'

Blaine heard his father stalk away. He could swear he heard his mother sob, but then he heard her footsteps follow her husband's. Blaine's headache had gotten worse overnight. He hadn't slept at all, and when his parents came in to visit him that morning, his father had refused to talk to him.

He didn't know how much time passed when his mother came into his room again, but Blaine suspected he'd dozed off for a couple of minutes.

'How do you feel?' his mother asked him, when he turned his head towards her.

'Fine.'

She sat down on the chair next to his bed. 'The nurse told us you had a visitor this morning.'

Blaine smiled involuntarily at the memory. 'Kurt.' When he saw the puzzled look on his mother's face, he added: 'The guy who helped me when I… when I ran away.' He didn't look at his mother.

'Didn't he live all the way in Lima?'

Blaine nodded.

'He must care about you if he came all this way in the middle of the night to see if you were okay.'

'I guess so.'

'Is he gay as well?'

'Mom…' Blaine sighed.

'I'm just curious! Isn't it a mother's job to pry shamelessly?'

Blaine rolled his eyes but smiled slightly. 'Yes, he's gay, too. Don't tell dad,' he added hastily. 'He'll never let me speak to him ever again. He practically banished Ethan from the street our house is on when he found out I hung out with him.'

He saw his mother nod, a sad look in her eyes. 'I won't tell him.'

Being back at home had it's perks, Blaine thought as his stereo blasted Maroon 5 at maximum volume. Both his parents worked, so nobody bothered him during the day. It almost made the hellish family diners a little better. Almost. He wished he could shout along with Adam Levine but breathing in too deeply still made him wince. At least the headaches had stopped. He still couldn't remember clearly what had happened a week ago, but to be quite honest, he didn't know if he wanted to. He turned around to skip She Will Be Loved (right now he needed groovy, not sappy) and practically shrieked. Ethan turned off the radio.

'I knew you didn't want to see me, but I hadn't quite expected a reaction like that,' he said with an impish grin.

Blaine clasped one hand to his ribcage and sat down on his bed. 'Ow, ow, ow.'

'Don't be such a wuss,' Ethan said, sitting down next to him. 'I'm sorry I scared you,' he added, his voice a little softer.

'How exactly did you get in here?' Blaine said, eyes wide and breath shallow.

Ethan pointed at the window. 'That tree outside is pretty ideally placed. You didn't answer the door and you didn't pick up your phone, but it was quite clear that you were home, so I climbed my way in. Don't tell me you never used that as a way of escape?'

'Maybe I will, now that I know it's humanly possible to survive something like that… Although your powers of survival have proved themselves to be quite extraordinary. As well as your powers of vanishing without a trace.' He knew he sounded hurt, but he didn't feel like hiding anything.

'Blaine, I'm sorry I didn't came to see you in the hospital.'

'Yeah, that was pretty harsh.'

'And I'm sorry I didn't answer any of your texts.'

Blaine kept quiet.

'But I just… I felt so guilty.'

'What?' Blaine looked up, surprised. 'Why?' Why did all the wrong people feel guilty? First Kurt, and now Ethan. They hadn't done anything!

'I got out with nothing but a scratch and you ended up in the hospital. I should've helped you. I was able to help myself, and I felt terrible about the idea of you, all bloody and broken. I just… I'm sorry.' Ethan's voice actually broke.

Blaine chuckled softly, trying to restrain himself, but only seconds later he was bending over, laughing and crying at the same time. Ethan looked up and furiously wiped away a tear on his cheek. 'What's so funny?'

'I'm… I'm sorry,' Blaine gasped, clutching at his chest. 'Ow, haha, ow ow, I'm sorry, Ethan, I just… I just can't believe you sometimes.' He leaned back on his bed, his laughter fading into a light chuckle that was a lot easier on his bruised ribcage. 'Please stop feeling sorry for yourself, and for me. We both got out alive. We're still friends. Deal?'

Ethan managed a small smile. 'Deal.'

'Great.' Blaine sat up, ignoring his stinging ribs as he did so. 'Now, before you help me with some of my Calculus homework because I'm way behind and I don't understand any of it, I just want to know one thing.'

'Go ahead.'

'Why did you call Kurt?'

Ethan smiled. 'I figured you'd want him by your bedside. You like him, don't you?' Blaine blushed. 'See?' He laughed. 'I actually never saw you blush before. You look so cute!'

'Shut up and help me with my homework.'

'My father wants me to go back to school on Monday.'

'I can't believe it.' Kurt sounded upset. 'That's ridiculous. After what happened?'

Blaine stared at the tree outside his window, holding his phone to his ear. 'I know. But I can't do anything. He said he'll take me myself, and that if I skip any classes, he'll know.'

'Did your mother try to talk to him about Dalton again?'

'Yes, but they got into such a big fight that I think my mother actually slept in the guest room tonight.'

'Wow, that sounds serious.'

'Yeah, well, they haven't exactly gotten along for a while now. Curiously, their relationship troubles started pretty much around the time I came out.'

Kurt didn't know what to say. 'I wish I could help,' he mumbled after a couple of seconds.

'You are.' Blaine smiled.

'If calling you is helping you, I'll make sure to do that every break next Monday.' Blaine could hear him grinning.

'Please do,' he said. 'And don't forget to text me during class, as well.'

'You're pretty needy, aren't you?' Kurt chuckled.

'And you've only just brushed the surface.'