Chapter 7

Friday

Blaine's toes curled up inside his shoes and his back spasmed in pain. He leaned his head back and took in a sharp intake of air through his teeth as he waited for the current of electricity to die down. When the pain started to subside again, he took in a few shaky breaths to attempt to calm his nervous. Sweat was pouring down from his forehead.

The day after his first eventful meeting with Maria Shaw in-group, Blaine found himself once again handcuffed to a table inside one of the torture buildings. This time, the counselor who escorted him in had attached wires to his fingertips, along with a few other places on his body. The other side of the wires was coming out of some kind of control box that sat near him on the table.

The images that flashed across the screen today were a mixture of straight and gay couples. Whenever a man and woman flashed onto the screen, the shock machine would stay off, but if it was two guys . . .

Blaine let out a hiss as yet another painful shock radiated through his body.


Kurt sat at his kitchen table, a glass of water resting in-between his hands. With his eyes locked on the contents inside his glass, Kurt tried unsuccessfully to fight off the still ever-present anxiety coiling in his gut and a few tears escaped making their way slowly down his cheeks.

Another day had gone by without a word from Blaine. Nothing. Which meant, if he wanted answers, he had to face Mr. Anderson again. Dread crept slowly down his spine at the thought of having to get face-to-face with the man again, but it didn't appear as if he had much of a choice anymore.

Kurt had asked Finn earlier if he could drive him out to his boyfriend's house tomorrow to check on him, but his brother had already made plans to hang out with Rachel this weekend.

Kurt was on his own.

As his fingers lazily traveled up-and-down the outskirts of his cup, collecting the condensation on his skin, Kurt allowed his mind to drift over to one of his happiest memories with Blaine.


A week after Blaine told Kurt that he had come out to his brother, he stopped by the blonde's house with a surprise.

"Hey Kurt!" Blaine exclaimed excitedly when Kurt opened the door.

"Blaine, what are you doing here?" he asked, opening the door wider to allow the gel-haired boy to enter into the foyer.

The boy stared back at Kurt with a sparkle in his eye and a smirk on his face. "I told them."

Kurt knew instantly what he was referring too. "You told the Warblers!?"

Blaine nodded happily. "I'm officially out at school. Everyone took it pretty well too."

"That's great, Blaine," Kurt cried, wrapping his arms around the boy's shoulders, pulling him close. "I'm so happy for you."

"I know," Blaine let out a soft chuckle. "And you know what this means now, right?"

Kurt pulled away to look at the boy's face, leaving his hands to rest on his shoulders. "What?"

The grin grew on Blaine's face. "Date night. This weekend."

The blonde couldn't help but smile back, and jumped up-and-down in excitement. "Really? What are we going to do? There is movie out in theaters I've been wanting to see–"

"I already got everything planned." Blaine placed a hand on Kurt's upper arm to calm him down slightly. "You know the theatre in Downtown Columbus?"

Kurt had heard about it. He had never actually been there before, but he had seen pictures of the building. The theatre had a luxurious, fantasy atmosphere inside, and he had always dreamed of visiting it sometime, but Columbus was almost a two-hour drive depending on traffic. The few times Kurt was able to talk his dad into attending a professional musical performance, the man had insisted on going to the local theatre in town.

"I've heard of it," Kurt said, nodding his head.

"Well, I checked their event schedule online last night, and they are going to be performing 'The Sound of Music' this Saturday."

Kurt's face lit up at the news. 'The Sound of Music' had been his mother's favorite movie. Some of his earliest memories were of cuddling up next to his mom on their living room couch as they listened to Maria and the seven von Trapp children singing and dancing on screen.

"I already bought our tickets," Blaine continued, seeing the look on Kurt's face. "The show starts at 3:00 pm. There is also a place only a couple blocks from the theatre that I thought we could stop at for dinner afterwards."


Holding Blaine's hand, Kurt stepped out of the hallway to find himself in the balcony section of the huge theatre room. He couldn't help but gawked at the red and yellow atmosphere presented around him. Everything looked so extravagant and expensive, and the twenty-one foot high chandelier attached to the ceiling of the lavish, Spanish-Baroque architecture really pulled the whole effect together. The pictures of the interior that Kurt had viewed online didn't do the place justice. The theatre room was stunning.

"This place is amazing, Blaine," Kurt gushed as the pair took their seats.

"Glad you like it," Blaine commented, leaning over to leave a quick kiss on the blonde's cheek. Pulling back, he gave the boy's hand a light squeeze.

The instrumental version of 'Do-Re-Mi' that was playing in the background softly came to its close and 'My Favorite Things' started up.

Kurt's eyes widened as he recognized the tune to his favorite song from the movie and quietly started to sing. "Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens."

Blaine quickly jumped in with the next line. "Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens."

"Brown paper packages tied up with strings," Kurt added.

The two came together with, "These are a few of my favorite things."

"Cream-colored ponies and crisp apple strudels," Kurt sang, leaning closer towards Blaine.

"Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles." Blaine tiled his head at Kurt and sent him a smirk.

"Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings," Kurt added, grinning back at the boy next to him.

"These are a few of my favorite things," they sang together.

"Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes." Kurt looked down at their interlocking hands.

"Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes." Blaine playfully brushed his finger across the tip of Kurt nose at the word, receiving a quick giggle for the boy in turn.

"Silver-white winters that melt into springs," Kurt continued.

And together, "These are a few of my favorite things."

Resting their foreheads together, they continued on harmonizing the chorus.

"When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad."

As the instrumental music continued from the direction of the stage, Blaine slowly closed the distance between them until his lips softly touched Kurt's. The kiss started out slow and gentle, but quickly grew in passion. Kurt felt butterflies fluttering in his stomach as Blaine brought a hand up to cup his cheek. In response, the blonde snaked his hand around the back of the boy's neck, holding him in place. The gel-haired boy attempted to pull Kurt closer to him, but the armrest sat stubbornly in between them, not allowing their bodies to get any closer together.

They reluctantly pulled apart when the lights in the auditorium darkened and the curtains started to pull back, revealing the hidden stage beyond it.

Kurt rested his head against Blaine's shoulder, while his new boyfriend wrapped his arm around his, giving him a small squeeze. With a happy sigh, Kurt felt Blaine leave a small kiss on the top of his head before they both settled back to watch the show.


"You are sixteen going on seventeen
Baby, it's time to think
Better beware be canny and careful
Baby, you're on the brink."

Blaine had his arms stretched out on either side of him as he 'balanced' on the curb while singing one of the sings from the play.

"Please don't trip and fall into the street," Kurt advised with his arms crossed over his chest. He raised a concerned eyebrow at the boy. "That would definitely put a damper on our date."

Blaine chuckled before moving a step away from the curb and took Kurt's hand in his. "Well, we wouldn't want to ruined our date, would we?" he grinned.

"I'm having fun tonight," Kurt said as they continued along the street. "Thanks for this."

"Oh, the night's not over yet. You hungry?"

At the mention of food, Kurt's stomach rumbled loudly.

Blaine laughed. "I'll take that as a yes. Come on," he exclaimed, starting to pull Kurt along. "I made reservations for us."

"Reservations? Where are we going?"

Ignoring the question, the dark haired boy brought them to a stop in front of one of the buildings.

"'The Murder Mystery Dinner Show'?" Kurt said, reading the sign on the door. A small smile was on his face when he looked back at the boy at his side.

Blaine nodded his head excitedly. "I've been to one of these down in Pennsylvania when I was visiting relatives. That one had an Old West theme to it, and was really fun. This one isn't themed, but it got really good reviews online and serves a four-course meal," he explained, holding the door open for Kurt.

"Welcome," the hostess greeted them behind her desk. Excited chatter could already be heard coming from the room behind her. "I just need to see your confirmation page, a valid ID from whoever bought the tickets, and the credit card used during the purchase."

Once all the paperwork had been cleared, the woman picked up two menus from the stack to her left. "Follow me. I'll show you to your table."

Entering the space, Kurt instantly picked up on the 'boardroom' appearance of the place with its light gray walls and art-deco type patterned carpet that coated the floor, but that was were the similarities ended.

Kurt counted eight tables set up in the spacious room. Each was layered with a red tablecloth. Ten place settings were arranged around each table, with a small bouquet of flowers sitting in the center. A silver number stand was placed on each table right next to the flowers.

There hostess lead Kurt and Blaine to the table labeled as #5, where three other people already sat, talking happily amongst themselves.

"Hey," one of the young men greeted as Kurt and Blaine took their seats. "My name's Darren. That's Logan and Julie."

"Hi, I'm Blaine," he said, holding his hand out towards the boy that had spoken before nodding in the direction of the blonde, "and that's Kurt."

"Nice to meet you guys," Julie said. "Is this your first time at one of these places?"

Blaine shook his head and briefly filled them in on Pennsylvania.

"This is my first time," Kurt explained when the eyes turned towards him, waiting for his response.

"We came here a couple months ago," Julie said. "Basically its an interactive show. In the middle of the meal, someone is going 'die' and clues to who did it are slowly going to come to light as the night goes on."

"Hello," someone spoke up from behind Blaine, and everyone at the table glanced up to find a woman with short brunette hair holding a pad of paper. "My name is Cadie. I'll be your waiter for the night . . ."

Minutes later, their appetizer of two small plates of mini quiches, were placed on the table for the five visitors to share.

The group continued to talk happily amongst themselves until a loud 'bang' was heard from somewhere. By the time the group looked up, one of the actors for the night's performance was seen lying on the floor, not moving, signaling the start of the show.


Not all of their dates had been as exciting or expensive as their first, but it had definitely been a memorable one. Anything could be turned into a fun experience just by having Blaine at his side.

Kurt felt another tear running down his face at the thought, but quickly wiped it away when he heard his father enter the room.

"Hey Kurt," his father greeted, setting the grocery bags he had in his hands down on the island. "How was school today?"

Without looking up from his glass, the blonde shrugged his shoulders and heard the soft rustling of the plastic bags still.

"What's going on, Kurt?"

When the boy refused to even look up, Burt approached the table and took a seat by his son.

"Is everything okay?"

The teen slowly shook his head. "Blaine hasn't been in school all week. It's been a couple days since I've even heard anything from him," he admitted.

Burt shifted into a more comfortable position in his chair as he took in Kurt's words. "Did you guys have a fight or something? When did–"

"I went over to his house after school on Monday," Kurt spoke up, interrupting his father. He paused, taking a breathe before continuing. "Everything was going great . . . until his dad got home."

"What do you mean 'until his dad got home'?"

Hearing the hint of alarm in his father's voice, Kurt raise his head just enough to be able to look him in the eyes. His voice shook as he hesitantly explained. "Blaine hadn't told his parents yet that he was gay, and . . . when his dad got home . . . he caught us making out on the couch."

Burt let out a heavy sigh. "Probably wasn't the best way for the man to find out," he said out loud to himself, before turning back to Kurt to find tears pouring faster down the boy's cheeks. "Kurt?" he asked, his voice dripping with concern. Scooting his seat closer, he rested a hand on his son's shoulder.

That was when Kurt finally broke down and told him what Mr. Anderson had done.

As his son stuttered his way through what had happened during the altercation that transpired almost a week ago, Burt felt his blood pressure start to rise. His face felt flushed and his jaw clenched as he tried to hold back his growing anger.

Burt had worked hard to create an atmosphere in their home where Kurt could always feel safe and loved. He knew his son didn't always get that feeling when he was out in public, but knowing that his son couldn't even feel safe at his boyfriend's house was just too much.

"And I haven't heard from him since," Kurt cried, finishing his story. "I'm scared, dad. What if his father did something to him? He obviously wasn't happy to find out that Blaine is gay. What if he hurt him? What if–"

Burt stood up and quickly brought Kurt into a hug, holding him close. He did his best to comfort the boy as he sobbed into his shirt by rubbing his hand up-and-down his back.

It was normal for parents to have an idea in their heads of what kind of life they would hope for their children some day. Burt knew all to well how hard it could be to readjust your expectations for your kid's future, but that was still no excuse for what Blaine's father had done to Kurt . . . and possibly to Blaine.

"Listen," Burt whispered into Kurt's ear. "I'll take you back to Blaine's house tomorrow, okay? I promise, we'll find out what is going on over there."