Title: a storm whereon they ride

Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Byron

Warnings: AU; mentions of sexual assault

Pairings: Kurt/Blaine, unwanted Karofsky/Kurt

Rating: PG13

Wordcount: 425

Point of view: third

Prompt: any, any, you're wrong about me


Dad thinks Kurt is the four year old who danced with Mama around the kitchen, the seven year old who made Dad sit at a tiny table and drink invisible tea, the nine year old who swore he'd marry Prince William one day, the twelve year old who dressed impeccably for the first day of middle school, the fifteen year old who won the only football game of McKinley's 2009 season, the sixteen year old who couldn't talk for three days after a boy twice his size tried to rape him, and the eighteen year old who moved to New York with the man he'd one day marry.

Kurt is all those boys. He's always been those boys.

But he's also someone else, someone only Blaine knows and survives. He's someone sharp, someone strong, someone quick and brutal, someone clever, someone cruel.

Kurt doesn't really think of himself as the mastermind, but where Blaine is impulsive, Kurt considers, plans, thinks fifteen steps ahead.

Kurt's pretty sure he'd have gone his whole life without ever killing anyone, if he'd never met Blaine. And he knows – they both know – that Blaine would probably have been caught, eventually, if he'd never met Kurt.

Kurt doesn't need the killing, not like Blaine does. Kurt could never do it again and be just fine.

But Blaine… he never looks so beautiful, so alive, as he does when he's taking someone's life.

And Kurt loves him, so much – each time is a gift, really.

And this man he is, now, in New York with Blaine…

If Dad saw him, Dad wouldn't know him at all.

Kurt is the boy who used to dance around with Mama, the boy who served Dad invisible tea, the boy who won that football game – but he's also the man with a dozen lives bleeding all over his hands.

"What are you thinkin' about so hard?" Blaine mumbles into his chest, wrapped tight around him.

"Dad," Kurt says, running one hand along Blaine's back. "He doesn't know who I am."

Blaine's quiet for a moment, and then he asks, "Do you want him to?"

"No," Kurt whispers. That's one of his worst nightmares, and it hurts his heart to even think about it.

But not enough to stop, not while Blaine still needs it.

Blaine presses a kiss to the skin above his heart, and Kurt pulls him in closer, and he starts planning their next game.

Kurt doesn't need it, no, not like Blaine.

But he doesn't want to live without it, either.