It's the Tuesday evening following Blaine's grad party, and summer break has barely begun. Kurt is just sitting down to dinner with his family when his phone rings in his pocket. He pulls it out and checks who's calling him; it's Blaine.

"Kurt," his father warns.

"Sorry dad, it's Blaine. He knows we usually eat around now, I'll just call him back after dinner," he says, sending the call to voicemail and sliding the phone back into his pocket.

He hasn't taken his first bite before the phone is ringing again. "Sorry, I'll put it on silent," he apologizes, pulling out his phone, and it's Blaine. Again. He frowns down at the phone for a moment.

"What is it honey?" Carole asks.

"It's Blaine again," he says. "Sorry, I just... it might be important." Kurt stands up and walks to the living room, answering the call.

"Hey Blaine, what's going on?"

"Are you home?" Blaine asks, and Kurt can hear the strain in his voice; something is wrong.

"I... yeah, we were just sitting down to eat supper. What's wrong?"

"Right, of course you are, I um... sorry," Blaine splutters.

Kurt wanders around the living room, walking over to the window and looking outside and... is that Blaine's car?

"Blaine?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you parked outside my house?"

Blaine laughs, a little watery, but still a laugh. "Yeah, I just got in my car and drove and I ended up here."

"Well for god's sake, Blaine, come in."

"Yeah okay, um, I'll do that."

They hang up, and a few moments later Kurt is greeting Blaine at the door and he can see the tear tracks down his cheeks.

"Oh Bee, come here," Kurt says, wrapping Blaine in a hug.

Kurt feels Blaine let himself melt into the hug, and the two boys stand there in the silent embrace.

"Everything okay out there, Kurt?" his father asks, walking into the room, and then, when he sees the two of them wrapped in each others' arms, "Oh, uh, hi Blaine."

Blaine pulls away from Kurt when he hears Burt's voice. "Sorry, Mr. Hummel, I um-" Blaine starts, but Kurt cuts him off.

"Yeah we're fine, um, Blaine and I are just going to head up to my room if that's okay?" Kurt says, and he shoots his father a meaningful look that he hopes says that everything is not fine.

It must work, because Burt just nods. "Okay, sure. There's supper down here if you boys get hungry," Burt says, then turns and heads back to the dining room.

Kurt takes Blaine's hand and leads him up the stairs and into his bedroom. He closes the door behind them; he doesn't want to be interrupted during whatever this conversation is, and he's pretty sure that his father will understand this one time. They sit together on Kurt's bed, and Kurt wraps Blaine up in his arms again, nestling his face in the other boy's hair.

"Talk to me, Bee. What happened?"

"I um... It's nothing, this was stupid, I shouldn't have come here," Blaine says pathetically, and he moves to get up, but Kurt just holds him tighter.

"It's not stupid, something is wrong. You can talk to me, Bee," Kurt reassures him.

Blaine is silent for a long while, and Kurt is starting to get worried that he isn't going to say anything, until Blaine finally speaks. "You can't tell anyone," he says quietly.

"Of course not."

"I mean anyone, Kurt. You can't tell anybody about this," Blaine says, shifting to fix Kurt's gaze with his own, and there's an intensity in his voice that Kurt doesn't hear very often.

Kurt swallows. "I promise, Blaine. I won't say a word to anyone.

They look at each other a moment long, until Blaine seems to accept that Kurt can be trusted with whatever this is, and then Blaine is resting his head back on Kurt's chest, and Kurt places a kiss on top of his hair.

"I uh... I got in a fight with my dad," Blaine starts, voice quiet, barely above a whisper, and of course this is about his dad. "He was going on about this guy he works with, and how his son was going to Harvard to become a lawyer and how great that was, and how if I cared more I could have maybe been less of a disappointed and done that too. And if I have to be a 'such a fucking faggot' then the least I could do for the family is be successful. And I just... snapped at him. I told him that I will be successful on my own terms and I don't need his approval and then he just lost it," Blaine takes in a deep breath before he continues.

"He was screaming at me that I can't talk to him that way, and how he's putting up with 'the whole gay thing' and even let you come to the grad party and how could I be so disrespectful to my own father. And then I lost it and told him that he shouldn't be putting up with it, he should accept me, and that if he doesn't then he's no father to me, and I started to walk away, and then he..." Blaine pauses, takes another deep breath. The pause is longer this time, like he's working up the courage to continue.

"He uh, he grabbed my arm, to stop me. And he screamed at me to not walk away from him when he was talking to me. And then I told him to let go of me, and he said I was his son and he could do whatever he wanted. So then I said that I wished I wasn't, and he uh... he slapped me, and then he um, he shoved me backwards, pretty hard, and I tripped and fell. And then he just told me to get out of his house, so I did, and I got in my car, and... and I drove here."

"Blaine," Kurt breathes, and squeezes his boyfriend tighter.

They sit there quietly for a few moments, Kurt trying to collect his thoughts before he speaks again. Kurt is pretty sure he knows what he needs to say, but he doesn't think Blaine will like it. He decides to say it anyway.

"I think we need to tell someone."

Blaine goes stiff in Kurt's arms, and his head snaps up to look at Kurt. "No, Kurt, you said you wouldn't tell anyone."

"I know, Blaine, but this... this is serious, Bee. You're not safe there."

"No. It's fine, I can handle it. I just... he only did it because I talked back to him. It's never happened before."

"Blaine," Kurt says, "this is not your fault, I don't know how... You know when I told you about Karofsky, and you told me it wasn't my fault? It's the same thing. This is not your fault."

"Right, and you never told anybody about that," Blaine argues.

"No, but I got out of the situation. I'm not around him anymore, so I'm safe. Blaine. You live with your dad."

"Only for a couple more months, and then I'll be in New York."

"That's two more months for this to happen again," Kurt argues back, "or something worse."

Blaine is silent, just studying Kurt's face, and for a brief moment Kurt thinks he might be winning, thinks maybe Blaine will realize that he's right, that they need to tell somebody. That Blaine isn't safe in that house.

"I will never forgive you if you tell anyone about this."

Kurt blinks back at him. He was not expecting that. "I... Blaine."

"I'm serious, Kurt," he says, and everything about him tells Kurt just how serious he is.

Kurt nods slowly. "I... okay. Blaine, I won't say anything, I promise, but I just... please think about it. Please."

Blaine stares into Kurt's eyes a moment longer, then settles back into his arms. They don't say a word for a long time. Kurt's mind is racing. He needs to tell someone about this, Blaine is not safe in that house, but he can't. He promised Blaine, and he believes that Blaine will never forgive him if he tells, and he really doesn't think he could live with that.

"I'm sorry," Kurt whispers into Blaine's hair.

He's sorry that this happened to the beautiful boy in his arms, but he's also sorry for pushing Blaine to tell someone about it when he's clearly not ready.

Blaine is silent a while longer until, quietly, "I love you."

"I love you so much, Bee."

They don't talk much after that, just lay on Kurt's bed, curled into each other. The door stays closed the whole time, and Burt doesn't come up to check on them once. Finally, Blaine pulls away slightly.

"I should probably go. They'll be mad if I'm not home soon," he says as he moves to stand.

Kurt sits up and watches Blaine as he straightens his shirt out and tries to smooth down his hair, though it's a bit hopeless at this point. Looking at Blaine now, Kurt can see the finger-shaped bruises on his arm where his father grabbed him. "Are you sure you should go home? I could ask my dad if you can stay here for the night. We have a spare room."

Blaine must have caught Kurt looking, because he moves his hand to his upper arm, covering the bruises. "Thanks, but it's fine. He'll just be more mad if I don't come home. My dad's had some time to cool off. I probably won't even see him."

"Okay," Kurt nods; he's learned not to argue with Blaine on this. "Text me when you get home, though?"

"Of course," Blaine smiles at him.

"I'll walk you out," Kurt says, standing up and taking Blaine's hand.

After kissing Blaine goodbye and watching him drive away, Kurt heads back into the kitchen. Now that he's not preoccupied with comforting his boyfriend, he realizes that he's starving. He finds his plate of untouched food in the fridge and pops it into the microwave to reheat it.

"Hey buddy," his father says, walking into the kitchen and settling against the counter, "everything alright?"

Kurt pauses; he considers, for a moment, telling his father. But then Kurt remembers the intensity in Blaine's eyes when he swore he would never forgive Kurt, and decides against it.

"Yeah, everything's fine," he says, as casually as he can manage. Which is, admittedly, not very casually.

"Kurt," his father insists.

"It's just... he's having a hard time at home, is all." Kurt tries to explain, and it's not even a lie, not really. It's not the whole truth, but it is true, and he hopes that's enough.

His father looks at him for a moment, but then, thankfully, seems to accept it. "Okay. But you tell me if there's anything serious going on, got it?"

Kurt just nods; he can't bring himself to verbally agree, because that would be a lie. It's not that he's never lied to his father before; he's just never lied to his father for someone else. And never when he thought it was something his father should know. Thankfully, the microwave beeps then, and he takes the opportunity to get out of this conversation before his father can push any further.

"I'm going to head up to my room and eat," he says, taking his plate out of the microwave and heading out of the kitchen.

"Alright, kid. I'm heading to bed. See you in the morning."

"Good night, dad," Kurt says, smiling back at his father over his shoulder before he disappears up the stairs toward his room.