Mariposa (Butterfly Papillon)

by LeBelle

Sebastian has 'put up' with a lot of contenders but now he was just done and would put a stop to it once and for all. Maybe his methods haven't always been exactly legal but he didn't apologize if it meant he'd gotten what he wanted in the end. Jealousy just did that to a person.

14. Sweet Melodies

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Chapter 14: Sweet Melodies

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Kurt and Sebastian were only the first of their friends to move out and move on from the college years of their lives.

Rachel and Finn had decided it was not the best place to raise Marie after all when she went flying through Blaine's curtain one day and took it down with her. It still crashed to the floor around her but she was left unharmed. Blaine and his boyfriend – now for two years, a milestone for him – had been making out in the privacy of their room. His boyfriend happened to be Karofsky, who moved out to New York shortly after the Schue-bury wedding and neither had told anyone about the relationship until a year in and then they announced it.

Kurt was the least shocked of everyone. He'd seen them getting at it in Lima at the wedding and had snarkily suggested it at one point while in high school that they'd be perfect together (Sebastian had too, he later found out). It took them awhile but they'd followed through with their suggestion. Karofsky had not moved in, even Rachel was a little apprehensive of having the large jock permanently around. He'd terrorized her too, just not nearly close to the same extent.

Finn didn't like it at all after what he'd faced in high school with Karofsky and the taunts he'd gotten as Kurt's brother. Remembered quite firmly how he'd treated those who stuck up for Kurt and then the threat against Kurt himself. Nobody missed how the now easy, fun-loving Kurt tensed up whenever he learned Karofsky was in the building. He had grown so much, had overcome so many hurdles. Yet someone he had said he'd made amends with, still practically dragged him back to that Freshman, afraid to speak. Or the Junior who was terrified for his life after being kissed by his tormentor; unsure what it would happen next.

Sebastian was always with whenever they went over to the loft and since Karofsky started coming over and staying the night; they stopped doing so themselves. Even after drinking and partying with the others and the girls begging them to spend the night. Kurt and Sebastian always found a way to get back to their home.

After Marie's near-miss with the curtain, they'd put it back up more securely. Yet Rachel and Finn with baby number 2 on the way decided it was time to find a safer neighborhood and housing situation. Kurt and Sebastian let the three of them stay with them while they figured out a new place to live.

Over the top of Marie's head as Sebastian and Kurt gave her a bath one night, they looked at each other and both knew that they needed to revisit a conversation they'd had a couple of years prior. They put tacky, tacky flowers up on the glass staircase so Marie would know where it was when she was running around and wouldn't miss steps. Kurt never once said anything about it, he'd been the one who bought them. He didn't say anything about the smeary hand prints on the glass either.

Rachel and Finn were incredibly touched. This incredibly metro and meticulous (and clean) couple not only opened their homes to them while they sorted out where and what they could afford, but had gone out of their way to treat their daughter like their own. They'd always known they would, but as their stars rose in their fields, there was more expectation on matching up with what the world expected from them. The world was actually amused and touched by Kurt and Sebastian's tacky flowers for the little girl in their otherwise stage-like house. Also by the overly stuffed and comfortable couches that Kurt's step-brother adored even when he didn't live there, picked out partly for him and his stepmother. A recliner that matched for his father. They showed in every small detail under the overall appearance that they were family-first focused all the way.

Then Santana and Brittany moved out. They found a sweet little bungalow with their name written all over it in the Hamptons. It was not entirely expected but also not expected. Santana and Brittany didn't really do the whole single gay club life-style anymore, they hadn't for awhile. Santana would come in for her commercials and Brittany could do her job anywhere. They figured, might as well enjoy the seasons at the beach and a smaller artistic community. Plus Brittany had a baby on the way, they'd collected donations from all their male friends and put it in a blender. Until the baby was born, there was no way to know who the biological father was.

Elliott and Jerald were never living there but they had moved back to Jersey so Elliott's family could help out with their two kids now. Sebastian never did know what Elliott did for work but Jerald could get work as a lighting engineer anywhere. He'd make good money no matter what he did in that field, even if he just became an electrician.

Blaine and Karofsky cleared out Santana and Brittany's room and put in their own piano. Blaine was trying to make it as a single recording artist and he had some traction. He was also auditioning for plays.

In the end, the last one to move in was the one who decided to stay the longest there. He had never been formally invited but when Santana had vacated the spot, he'd gotten to move in and then she came back and got a new one too. She also had never been formally invited, it was originally supposed to be an apartment for Rachel and Kurt to share with their boyfriends/husbands coming in when the time was right. Instead they'd had a little family develop there.

Rachel, Finn and Marie moved out two months after they moved in. Rachel and Finn found a house in Long Island that was perfect for them. Finn wouldn't be too far from work and Rachel decided she was going to give being a mother full time a try.

Kurt and Sebastian decided that they were going to get married on their 10th anniversary, make things easy for them to remember. Kurt already had the venue and the date locked. They didn't tell anyone that it was their 10th anniversary of their 1st kiss, for everyone else who paid attention to dates, it would be the date of the NYADA auditions. One of Kurt's best days (and Sebastian's) and unfortunately nothing they could do about it, but one of Rachel's worst. It worked out for her in the end and she wasn't actually doing much with her degree as it was. They felt it would have been too cruel to Blaine to go with their first official day of being a couple, the same day that Kurt broke up with Blaine... that was something they didn't want to get into. They said it was just coincidence that the Saturday they wanted to get married in the spring happened to fall on that date. While it was perfectly planned and probably was for awhile once Kurt looked through the Spring calenders and saw that date land on a Saturday exactly 10 years later. He didn't want to wait for year 14 or 15, or whenever it happened to fall on a Saturday again nor pick another memorable moment.

He wanted to get married.

He and Sebastian were ready, had been for awhile, but were finally going to walk down the aisle(s). It was going to be the wedding that Kurt always dreamed about, they would ensure it.

Kurt had the food sorted (Sebastian's catering buddy), the cake planned, the colors and decorations, all with Sebastian's input.

Sebastian said Kurt could pick the music, all of the music. They were going to have an open mic for their friends to perform but Kurt was going to pick some certain songs to be played at certain times. He enlisted Blaine's help to practice and see how he liked them. Blaine was still the best singer he knew after himself and Elliott. He didn't want to drag Elliott all the way from Jersey for this task and he didn't want to bother Rachel either, she was pretty far along by this point. Santana was too far away too.

Everything was set for the wedding but the music and it was coming up fast.

Karofsky was at work. He worked for a school as a counselor and then in the evenings he was a life-coach for at risk youth and then later, a life-coach for adults who were contemplating a major life change. It was surprisingly altruistic and he was a lot nicer than Kurt recalled but still, something always sat on his shoulder and clung to his back and around his neck whenever Karofsky was around.

So Kurt didn't mind going back to the loft and working with Blaine there. He was sure it would go well into the evening. Blaine said he had a few lines he wanted to run with Kurt too, he had a role in an off-off-off Broadway play and needed someone to bounce lines off of and Karofsky was terrible at it. His scene partner wasn't cast yet either.

Kurt said sure.

Sebastian was at work, he'd been made junior partner a few months prior, which meant more work and time at the office. Kurt told him he was heading to the loft to work on song choices and helping Blaine out with his audition.

Sebastian said if he didn't hear from him by the time he got off work, he'd probably swing by the loft too. Check in, see how Blaine was doing, see if he couldn't help run lines too or whatever. Help with the music selection if it was taking that long, he could come up with ideas. He just wanted everything to be sorted and in place and so they could relax and rest during the lead up to the wedding.

They had a lot of other things to sort out in the meantime, like Sebastian's work. Which was going to keep him super busy up to the day of the wedding and then he'd have the rest of the next few weeks off to go on a honeymoon with Kurt.

Kurt was in the middle of workshopping too. Their opening night was the weekend prior to the wedding and everything had to go well or they'd have to push back opening night. The producers were worried about this play, it had some questionable material in it and they were going to test drive in Jersey first, see how they reacted to it and then make tweaks. If Jersey didn't go well, then opening night would be the night before the wedding, potentially even after. They'd made a big fuss about Kurt's honeymoon being so close to opening night, potentially being away during it. It had to go well, it just had to. If it did, they could rest easier about Kurt not being there for the first few weeks, as long as opening night went fine, they could let him go on his honeymoon and then return again.

This was a rare night off after working on it all day, which was why he'd reached out to Blaine. He didn't have time to run to Long Island and deal with Rachel and kids or New Jersey and same thing. It was going to be a heavy and fast workshop with Blaine because it had to get done, tonight. Blaine wouldn't get distracted, they'd work on it until it was right and then move on to his thing.

He should have walked right back out the door when he arrived. He could smell booze on Blaine's breath when they hugged hello. It was 2 pm.

"Starting the evening already, I see?" He couldn't help the snark or the question. He'd made it clear to Blaine years ago that he didn't like it when he drank. Since they weren't together, he had no weight in it, but he still told him his truth.

"Sorry, I had a drink, but just the one beer. I had it before you even called."

Kurt hadn't stuck around the last several times he'd seen Blaine drinking. He just kept the distance or had people between them. Or he left. He didn't leave this time, he had to get this done! With only a slight hesitation and a look on his face that was easy to read, he walked in. "Fine, but just that one, no more. I really need this to be right and if you're slurring the lyrics, I won't be able to tell."

"Don't worry about it, Buddy! I can limit myself. Last beer, promise!" He grinned affably at Kurt and slid the door shut.

"Ok, come on. I brought a few options and sheet music. Let's see how they work."

Kurt was thinking about asking Blaine to sing for them, at least one song and so he wanted to mark it out with Blaine if he said yes, too. It wouldn't be too cruel, would it? It'd been 10 years and Blaine had been with Karofsky for 2 years now and had several boyfriends in the meantime and they were back to being besties for over half a dozen years now. They'd just never talked about Kurt's relationship with Sebastian before, it was always a no-go topic for both of them. Kurt didn't want to hear recriminations and Blaine didn't want details.

They never talked about Karofsky either. Of how he knew what Karofsky had done to him, had been there in person and seen it first hand and yet was in a relationship with his ex's tormentor. It had been years and they had hooked up at a wedding while both were drunk. Still, they didn't chat about this relationship. They'd talked about some of Blaine's other relationships but Kurt had always been careful to not overstep or give a full opinion.

They'd talked about everything else, what Blaine did, what Kurt did. How sorry they were and then talked about everything else. Never about Sebastian or Karofsky.

Kurt swallowed back his misgivings and went to go join Blaine on the bench next to the piano. He hadn't felt this way in years and he was being silly, this was Blaine, his best friend!

They worked for a couple of hours, working through songs, marking them out and discussing where they could go during Kurt's plans. They scrapped a few and Kurt found he was short a few songs to fulfill his schedule. Blaine pulled out a few from the bench, he'd written a couple too.

"Oh wow, this one is beautiful, sad, tragic. It's not for the wedding but you should definitely produce this one with your label!" Kurt flipped through the lyrics and started humming the melody. It was haunting. He moved on to the next one, half wondering what it was really about, who it was about. A lost love that he once had but could never get back?

Blaine didn't seem hung up on anyone anymore. He and Karofsky seemed tight, they were practically living together now, at least 3 nights a week now.

He heard the familiar snap of a beer can opening and he glanced at Blaine in misgivings. "It's fine, Kurt, it's already 5, and it's just one beer."

"I think I'll just take these and go. Thanks for letting me borrow your stash." Kurt stood up and started gathering the sheet music. One beer, yeah right, he'd heard Blaine say that every time he drank and it wasn't usually beer that he'd had. "You haven't seen me drink anything else, have you?"

Kurt paused. "... no," he hadn't, and it had been 3 hours that he'd been there. He'd been with Blaine that whole time, except for the trips to the bathroom but Blaine had a notoriously small bladder.

"Besides, you promised you'd help me with my scenes too." He held Kurt's gaze and Kurt took in a deep breath. If he left now, he would appear like he was using Blaine and welching on his agreement to help him in return. It wasn't an unbalanced relationship anymore. Blaine saw his hesitation and took the sheet music out of his hands and set it carefully back on the piano. "I'm not a drunk. I don't go too far anymore, I've learned how to moderate." He let out a small laugh. "Karofsky has actually been who's helped me learn that one."

Kurt unlocked his jaw and willed his teeth to not hurt so much. He hadn't realized he'd been clenching it quite so hard. From the first time he'd seen Blaine drink he'd worried about Blaine's drinking habits. Then he'd started proving Kurt right, overdoing it too much, too often. He always did something incredibly stupid while drinking too. But... he hadn't seen Blaine drink much in the last two years nor when he did, did he do anything stupid other than make out with Karofsky. But maybe that had been a blessing in disguise.

Kurt breathed in and out incredibly slowly and unlocked every part of himself and convinced himself that it would be all right. Blaine was just having a beer in the evening, it wasn't anything ridiculous or any different than him or Sebastian enjoying a glass of wine or whiskey after work. Blaine was older and more mature than he had been when they were in high school.

Blaine stepped back and headed over to the couch and patted the spot next to him and Kurt forced his legs to take him over there. This was silly, he'd lived with Blaine for 6 years, he'd never done anything remotely wrong to him and they were best friends! Blaine had come home drunk numerous times over the years. They'd done plenty alone before and even had a drink together, just one, mind and usually only at dinner or something. Maybe Karofsky's presence was just lingering and it was that which was giving him misgivings.

"Did you want one?" Blaine asked, holding out his beer toward Kurt, he hadn't drank out of it.

"No. I'm fine. Sebastian and I still have half a bottle of wine at home that we'll finish tonight." Kurt wasn't much of a beer guy anyway. Blaine shrugged and sipped at his beer rather than downed it.

The anxiety quickly dissolved as he read his part against Blaine's. It was funny! And this sounded like an incredibly unique play. They were laughing and just enjoying themselves once more and Kurt was giggling as Blaine leaned against him, also laughing and nearly out of breath. It was just a bit too much weight and they toppled over. Kurt's back was on the couch and Blaine was resting on him. He didn't think anything of it but did squirm a little.

"Now that I've had such comfy couches, I'm beginning to see Finn's point. This couch is so uncomfortable for any length of time. You can take down my bedroom and do what you want with the rest of the furniture. The lease is under Rachel's name, I really don't have any say about what happens in here."

"Your room is in the perfect spot for guests. I keep waiting for you to take up residency there again. And I don't mind the furniture, it reminds me of you. I want you to be comfortable with familiar surroundings when you're here."

"Yeah but Karofsky can't like them." Not that he'd spent much time with the former jock, but he definitely didn't view this delicate furniture as something he'd like, Finn sure hadn't. Puck visited on occasion and he was always complaining about it. Sam had never complained, he'd taken up near permanent residency on it.

Blaine propped himself up so most of his upper body weight was off of Kurt. It was a comfortable and familiar position."God you smell so good! I've missed it, sometimes I'll catch a hint of it and I'll investigate further but it's just not right."

"It's a custom blend." Kurt admitted. Kurt did smell nice, people commented on it all the time and Sebastian had learned that it wasn't a come on, it was just something they noticed, a fact. Kurt had always viewed it that way, not realizing people would try to hit on him that way.

Kurt understood the furniture thing more than most. He held on to things because they reminded him of someone, or bought furniture knowing that when person x, y or z was over, they'd appreciate that piece. He wanted them to be comfortable too. He didn't hold it against Blaine and changed the topic.

"Well, that was pretty straight forward. The script writes itself, your partner could be a total flop and still the script would carry them. This is so good. Too bad I'm not free, I might have tried out."

Blaine nodded. "I agree, it's what attracted me to it. I didn't think I'd like it so much but here we are." Blaine flipped pages and held it where they could both see. "Let's practice this scene, I imagine it's you when I read it. I wish you were free to take up the part too, I think you would be perfect for it."

Kurt glanced through his lines on that page and it seemed a little more serious and readied for himself for the cues for his parts. He shifted a little to get Blaine to sit up but Blaine only shifted a little so he was not quite so much on Kurt.

They flipped to the next page and Kurt read while Blaine spoke. "I never claimed to be a saint. I have needs."

Kurt swallowed. "I've been trying to tarnish your halo since I met you." This was a bit more intimate than he'd thought this scene was heading. Blaine would have had to know that.

"It's just a facade, one last ditch effort to hold on to who I was. My halo shattered into a thousand pieces the second I met you and I was flooded with thoughts about your tempting flesh." Blaine lifted his hand and rested it on the side of Kurt's neck. "This smooth expanse of flesh begging to be touched. The delicate curve of your cheek, the shell of your ear." Blaine slid his hand up the side of Kurt's face, his fingers running across what he spoke of. "Your soft, pillowy lips begging to be kissed." Blaine's eyes left the page and moved to Kurt's lips as he spoke. "Just the right color to offset the paleness of your skin, the flush beneath that comes to the surface when your embarrassed or aroused." His knuckles dragged across Kurt's cheek.

"Blaine-" Kurt's voice was soft, gentle, guiding. It's the voice he used to redirect so many of the men in his life, and it always worked. "Sit up, please."

Blaine's head dipped closer, lowering his weight from his arm, back onto Kurt. "Such tempting, tempting flesh, begging to be touched and pillaged."

"Blaine, those aren't the lines." Kurt placed his hands on Blaine's chest. "Stop now, this can't go any further."

"Why not?" Blaine murmured, his mouth dangerously close and Kurt turned his head away. Blaine's lips lowered and brushed the shell of Kurt's ear and Kurt shuddered at the soft unexpected touch.

"I have a fiance." Kurt began but stopped when Blaine snorted right in his ear.

"Fiance? Please, you're just boyfriends living together, that's all." His lips touched just a bit firmer against his ear.

"We have rings." Kurt defended.

"You've been engaged for so long that they no longer mean what they were supposed to. You need to basically ask each other again for it to matter."

Kurt's heard thudded painfully in his chest, neither he nor Sebastian believed that. It didn't matter that it was a long engagement. They were practically married and in a lot of ways were, in their own hearts and were just making it legal and official, have a party for everyone else to attend. What would Blaine have said if they had been married for 10 years? That it was just two guys living together? That they needed periodic weddings for it to remain valid?

"We have a wedding date."

Blaine laughed again, his mouth hot on his ear and his tongue darted out. Kurt spasmed as it stroked the shell of his ear and he pushed against Blaine's chest. He was not in the right position to have any leverage against Blaine. "Please." Blaine's single word was a sneer and he punctured his belief with his tongue sliding further into Kurt's ear. He thrashed his head, trying to dislodge Blaine's mouth from him.

The wedding was true and it was going to happen. He wasn't going to go down that path with Blaine though, he tried different tactics. He had tried pressing against Blaine's chest to move him back but he didn't have the strength to dead lift someone as heavy as Blaine. "You have a boyfriend."

"Established relationships don't matter." Blaine shrugged and reached for Kurt's wrists and pulled them forcefully away from his chest and above his head when Kurt didn't follow his intentions on his own. "You and Sebastian taught me that."

Kurt's eyes were starting to flash in concern, what was Blaine intending to do here? "But I love Sebastian-"

"You used to love me." Blaine took the lobe of Kurt's ear into his mouth and gave a hard suck onto it and Kurt jerked and pulled away, Blaine's teeth grazing along it as Kurt did so. Sharp pain sprang to the area and felt almost like it was nicked. "I don't know why you stopped but you can again, can't you? I know you can."

"No." Kurt shook his head. "Stop this now, Blaine. We've got an amazing friendship and I'll overlook this, I will. I won't even tell Sebastian or Karofsky if it ends here and now. You've had a few drinks, I'll believe that's why you're acting this way. It might be a little strained at first but we'll get through it, we've gotten through worse."

"Was what I did really that bad?" Blaine pulled back but it only pressed his lower half harder into Kurt, leaving him with a clear indicator of what Blaine was feeling. "All I did was protect you and take you in."

"You isolated me, suffocated me, made me feel less than in a very different way than any one else had before or since." Kurt knew better than to tell someone who had a physical upper hand why they were an ass, he'd learned that lesson the hard way. Still, he had never been able to keep his truths to himself. "Sebastian and I are together and happy and we're getting married in 2 months."

"Riiight." Blaine drawled. "I'll believe that when I see it." Blaine's eyes narrowed. "So weird, why are you getting married at nine and a half years? That's not the Kurt I've known. There's always a reason for why you've chosen dates, a big event that means something to you. I don't buy the NYADA thing-" Blaine stiffened and glared down at Kurt. "You- you're a cheater!"

"What?" Kurt didn't want to squirm, didn't want to entice him by accident, but he was digging into his hip. He didn't dare move but it was hard to stay in one place.

"That date, I kept seeing you look into the rafters and every time I looked there was nobody. I even went to go investigate it. Then that night after Rachel's failure- you were nowhere to be found but your car was still in the parking lot. I looked for you, I called you, you didn't answer anything but the text. You were with him, weren't you? You'd gone off and probably pulled over in a grass field and fucked. That's why you're picking that date, because you two celebrated your getting in to NYADA together when that was something we were supposed to do."

"You're being ridiculous." Kurt tugged on his wrists.

"No, no I'm not. You were texting Chandler around that time too." Blaine shook his head. "You really were not satisfied with just me, were you? Chandler, Sebastian, David, did you sleep with all of them once we did it? Was I even your first?"

"Stop this." Kurt didn't want to hear it from Blaine. "I've only ever been with you and Sebastian!" Hot tears were stinging at his eyes, wanting to fall but he willed them back. Blaine had never listened to his tears before.

"So maybe not sex then, but you were cheating. Once a cheater, always a cheater. You can be with me. I'm sure Sebastian won't mind." Blaine's head dipped so his mouth was just above Kurt's ear. "Don't worry, I'll more than satisfy you this time. They say when you sleep with someone, you are sleeping with all the people they'd ever had sex with and the people those people had sex with prior to them and so on. We'll both have plenty of experience between us to make this utterly fantastic."

"I don't-" Kurt tried to turn his head away when Blaine lowered his head even further to kiss him but Blaine pressed both wrists into one hand and with his newly freed hand, he grabbed Kurt's jaw and turned his head painfully so Blaine's mouth pressed firmly against his.

Kurt twisted, trying to get his mouth and the rest of him free. Blaine was too strong. The only saving grace the last time this happened was that Blaine was on the bottom and so Kurt had been able to pull back and out of the car. Blaine had him pinned beneath his much heavier weight now.

When Blaine stuck his tongue into Kurt's mouth, Kurt bit down on it hard and Blaine reared back and smacked Kurt.

Kurt's head twisted to the side with the impact and he sprayed some blood onto the carpet by the couch as the inside of his cheek was cut by his molars with the force. "Oh god, Kurt! I'm so sorry, it was reactionary!" Blaine reached out but Kurt tried to draw back and held his hands up in front of him. He was trying to reorient himself, he'd never been smacked before. "Kurt!"

"I don't consent to doing anything with you." Kurt said calmly and clearly but frightened and hurt. "Anything you do will be considered an act of rape or sexual assault."

"We're best friends." Blaine frowned in confusion.

"We were best friends." Kurt corrected, wondering how he could get Blaine off of him. "You've definitely crossed a lot of lines. I don't know if I can ever trust you again."

"Wait, wait." Blaine begged and used both hands to hold Kurt's face still so he could look down at the other guy and force him to look back at him. Kurt still tried to look away and ignore the pain in his cheek from not only the hit but the way it pressed against his teeth again. "Just because I kissed you?"

"Because you kissed me even though I told you no and you did it anyway, holding me in place, like this, while you did what you wanted. You know my history, know I don't like that." Kurt kept snagging his cheek as he talked and billowed it out with a breath and tried to continue. "Because you hit me."

"It was a reaction to the pain." Blaine didn't sound like he was slurring or in any pain. "I didn't mean to hit you."

"Will you please get off of me?" Kurt asked, tiredly. He just wanted to go home and curl up against Sebastian and pretend today never happened. He knew he'd have to tell Sebastian, but he was hoping maybe it could wait a couple of days.

"If I do, we'll still be friends, right?" Kurt hesitated too long. "Right?"

Kurt didn't know what to say. If he said yes, Blaine would hang about and he didn't want him to. If he said no, it might escalate things. So he tried a middle ground. "I-I don't know. This has taken me by quite the surprise. I thought you were over me."

"I'll never be over you." Blaine admitted and Kurt really wished he hadn't said that. "Just give it a real try, you'll realize that you and I, we've always been end game. That you're not over me either." He pulled Kurt's head up with his hands still on Kurt's cheeks and bent to kiss him at the same time.

Kurt pushed against Blaine, trying to break free. When that didn't work, he slid his hands up between Blaine's arms and tried to hit down and out with his forearms against Blaine, trying to break his hold on him. It worked but Blaine backhanded him.

The force knocked Kurt onto the ground on his stomach. He moaned in pain. "Oh Jesus, Kurt!" Blaine reached for his shoulder and Kurt threw out a hand, trying to keep him from finishing that act. "I'm sorry!"

Kurt breathed through the pain and spat out some blood. He gathered his breath and voice and turned his head to glare at Blaine. "So you keep saying, and yet you keep hitting me."

"You keep making me lash out." Blaine defended himself, as if he were the victim and Kurt was the problem. Kurt frowned internally at that. Blaine had always done that. Had he ever stopped?

He pulled away from Blaine by shifting his weight further onto his knees and aiming to press himself up to a standing position. This was ending, here and now. "Don't touch me!" He shouted when Blaine reached out to help him up.

"Come on Kurt, we've shared each other's space for years, we've been as close as two people could ever be. You don't want me to touch you now? That's crazy." Blaine took a step forward and Kurt crawled backward and tried to push himself up quickly. Blaine reached out and pushed him back over as he was getting to his feet, overpowering him and knocking him back into the coffee table, edge slamming into his side.

Kurt moaned but didn't have time to focus on it as Blaine was dragging him away from the table and knocking him back onto his back and came to straddle Kurt. Kurt saw how this was going to go flash though his mind. It was not what he wanted, not even close.

He lashed out at Blaine who knocked his hands away and managed to grab them and force them back to his sides. He knelt on the arms, digging his knees into the muscles there and then reached for the scarf around Kurt's neck and tugging it off and tossing it aside.

"Blaine! Stop!" Kurt gasped.

Blaine started unbuttoning his top but started getting frustrated with the hundred million little ones and then just started to rip at it. "Such beautiful skin. How can Sebastian stand having to go through so much effort to get to it? I mean, well worth the effort, but so very frustrating." He dislodged several of the buttons and they went flying. "I don't miss the layers."

Kurt was breathing hard, his vision was tunneling in his fear but he knew, knew, he had to do something. He was handling this with kid gloves and he didn't know why. He'd tried reasoning with Blaine but he thought he could salvage some sort of friendship with him. They'd known each other for over a decade. They'd been friends and lovers and friends again, all with rough patches mixed in but he'd always known Blaine was going to be in his life forever.

He always thought though that he would need to remain friendly and on Blaine's good side because he could affect his success on Broadway. But no, it was Kurt who had gone far, not Blaine, not Rachel. Their poor attitudes had been seen for what they were. Kurt could have become just like them had he not had those two in his life, teaching him what not to do. If he hadn't had Sebastian in his life, putting him in his place but also lifting him up.

Blaine had no baring on his life anymore, he was a success in his own right based on his own talents. Even if he wasn't, there was no way this was happening. He wasn't going to let Blaine scar his life, he wasn't going to let him have the power to dictate anything anymore. He didn't need to remain friendly with Blaine, Blaine was in the wrong, so in the wrong. If anyone, anyone tried to pin it on Kurt or tell him that he was at fault, he would cut them from his life too. He had such a good life right now, nothing was going to cloud it over or mar it in anyway, not even someone who he thought was his best friend.

Blaine was no longer going to be his friend, he was cutting him out of his life after this. Hell, Sebastian would have a complete meltdown and ensure it. He needed to stop treating him like a friend and as the attacker that he was, the criminal.

Kurt fought harder, knowing now that Blaine was intending to go through with this, that he wouldn't listen and he was no longer a friend. Had probably not been for a very long time, if ever.

"God I love you." Blaine murmured and his mouth was dragging along the skin of Kurt's neck. "I've always loved you."

Oh, how Kurt wanted to have it out with him on that comment but it didn't matter anymore. Nothing Blaine said or did mattered anymore. In truth, it never should have. Blaine ceased being his friend and became what he was. He had to fight to get away and he would. Kurt managed to get one of his knees to connect with Blaine's back, painfully.

Blaine grunted and slipped a little, which gave Kurt room to get his feet planted firmly on the floor and buck up, knocking Blaine off and Kurt used the momentum to get out of the living room. He ran straight for the sliding door but Blaine caught up to him and threw an arm out and down, hitting Kurt in the neck and knocking him back onto the floor. Blaine grabbed the collar of Kurt's shirt and tried to drag him back but he'd freed too many buttons and didn't have much leverage. Kurt put his weight into going the opposite way and felt a seam rip but at that point he didn't care. He pressed with his shoes against the tiled floor and found only a little purchase, but it was enough.

The material slipped out of Blaine's grip and Kurt heaved and coughed up more blood. He had to have damaged something internal, that was not right. He didn't have time to dwell on it though, he'd been freed and he scrambled toward the front door again.

Blaine knew he was heading that way and skirted around him to block his exit. He slid to a halt and back peddled. Blaine stalked toward him. "Stop it Kurt, I don't want to hurt you."

"That's all you want to do!" Kurt shouted at him, looking madly around for another option.

"No, little bird, I just want to keep you safe with me."

"It was a prison when I was with you. Do this, say this, don't do that, oh that definitely won't work. Be yourself but no, that's too much, nobody will like that." Kurt mocked Blaine's earlier words while at Dalton.

"I was trying to help you. I wanted to keep you safe, I brought you to Dalton so you'd be able to thrive."

"You wanted to lock me up in a gilded cage." Kurt argued. "You wanted me around but you didn't want me to be myself. You wanted me to sing, but only for you, in private. If it was public, you had to join in or take over. You liked the look of me, but only on your terms."

"Come on, don't be like that. I loved you and you know it."

"It took you a while to realize this great love you profess."

"It took a song about a bird." Blaine acknowledged. "Confirmed by a kiss." He started to sing a very haunting melody and Kurt shuddered as it was far too accurate and fit both their views on the situation. It didn't help that it was considered a notable love song, he'd never be able to hear it again. "And the first time ever I kissed your mouth. I felt the earth move in my hand. Like the trembling heart of a captive bird. That was there at my command, my love. That was there at my command, my love."

"You thought when you finally kissed me, finally gave in to my stupid fantasy that you could control me because you made me wait."

"That's not true!" Blaine was faster than him and caught up with him and grabbed his arm. "I was just scared of my feelings for you. I was afraid to mess this up."

Kurt tugged on his arm, trying to get free, using his other hand to try and pry the fingers off. "Well you definitely did that, now."

"No, I haven't, you're just being obtuse! You've just been getting back at me for not recognizing my feelings for you at first. I get it, all right? You had to watch me kiss and chase after a lot of other people." Blaine tried to drag Kurt toward him but Kurt used his nails and dug in to the hand on his arm. "OW!" Blaine let go but came out swinging and his fist connected with Kurt's jaw, knocking him into the piano. "Stop it!"

Kurt felt the piano under his bloodied hands, leaving in their wake drops and prints of blood. He knew it was a terribly stupid idea but he slipped under it and tried to curl himself into a ball where he couldn't be reached or touched or whatever but he knew it wasn't real protection. He just had no other options at the moment.

"You've gotten back at me, ok? I am sorry that it took me so long to know that I loved you. That kiss convinced me otherwise all those years ago. We should have never ended. We were good together."

"We weren't!" Kurt argued and he was shaking so hard. His whole body felt bruised and he was still in the den with the hungry dragon. "Sebastian and I are good together. He's good to me and for me. You only ever wanted to hold me down. You thought I was desperate enough to let you control me! You liked the feel of that power. But guess what, you couldn't, and you can't, no matter what you do to me!"

God, what an idiot he'd been. Not only when he was 16, all kids were idiots when they were trying out this love game. No, what an idiot he'd been coming over here, fearing Karofsky. Sure the former bully and jock had kissed him and tormented him in high school but he'd been nothing but respectable to Kurt since. Even in high school, he'd gone about it all the wrong way every time, but he'd tried to show that he'd changes, that he'd improved. He always thought Karofsky would fall back into old patterns and somehow hurt him. He'd ignored Kurt's feelings on the matter of the kiss and had gone back in for a second, Kurt had to push him away. He'd ignored the fact that Kurt was in a relationship and tried to woo him. Even at the wedding, he'd tried hitting on Kurt, not knowing that he and Sebastian had even started to be a thing but hadn't asked either.

Karofsky was really trying to turn his life around, be a better person, be a role model of that behavior.

All this time, it had been Blaine who was the one to fear, the one to hurt him with physical violence and to push passed the no to take what he wanted. Blaine who was walking around the piano, humming the tune of that very disturbing song. Who would take what he wanted if given half a chance and then what? Kurt didn't even know. Would he be satisfied and leave him alone? Not that he'd given him the opportunity to find out, it was just a errant thought; attached to a very real fear.

Blaine who was lying in wait, readying to strike. Too late he put in perspective how Karofsky had been a saint in high school compared to Blaine's behavior whether he was drunk or not back then. Especially compared to his behavior now.

"How much of the last 6 years has been a complete lie? You dusting up on your acting skills?" Kurt didn't know why he asked, it didn't matter. He needed to be done with Blaine, once and for all, but he had no way out. He wasn't even sure why he was given this reprieve to breath and soak it all in, to realize just how much danger he was in.

Blaine seemed to come to the same realization and he bent over to start yanking on the back of Kurt's shirt. Kurt reached up for the lip of a beam on the piano above him. Blaine tugged and he pulled but he couldn't dislodge Kurt. He didn't seem quite as willing to climb under there with Kurt.

"You thought I was too weak, too isolated, too fragile to fight back or look elsewhere. You manipulated me just like you manipulated everyone else. You thought you had full power over me, making me think it was my idea or my counter plan to anything you said or did or be in complete agreement. All of the strings were being pulled to move my feet, my arms, my head, my mouth. Yet you couldn't control my eyes. I was too strong for you, I cut those chords. I was no longer your puppet. And I broke free all on my own accord, or at least something within me knew to do so. You even danced with Sebastian all night, trying to keep me down, because I had gone against your plan. You tried to use what you thought was my jealousy in his interest in you. Turns out, it was more than just Scandals I fought you on!" Why was he talking?

Right, he needed to buy time for Sebastian to get there. He would be done with work soon and head over, like planned. Two of them would be better than just Kurt alone. He didn't want Sebastian to get hurt though because of this. He didn't want Sebastian to get hurt at all. Kurt looked around frantically, Blaine would be expecting him to head toward the door. But... would he expect the fire-escape? Kurt had gone out there on many occasions over the years when he needed to cool down and have a breath away from the party. Finn was usually the one to join him out there with a blanket and would just sit with him in silence before heading back in first.

This place was filled with so many wonderful memories. He thought he'd be able to come back for years and visit with the occupants and revisit those memories. It was all tainted now, all he could see was Blaine over him, kissing him, backhanding him. This was once home, where he'd felt so safe and loved. It was now home to the most terrifying thing he'd ever experienced directed towards himself and he'd had some doozies in the past.

Kurt lost track of Blaine somehow. He'd stopped humming and he didn't see his feet walking around the piano. Kurt inched toward the front door, trying to feint that way and then run toward the fire exit. All of a sudden though, Blaine was swinging down through the gap in the legs of the piano and sliding in after Kurt. Knocking into him and pushing and sliding with him just beyond the false protection of the piano.

Kurt screamed in fright and surprise but Blaine's hands were on him again. No longer messing around with the buttons of his shirt, he instead slid his hands into the gap between pants and shirt and pulled the undershirt out from the waist band and started shoving it upward. Kurt smacked at his hands, scratching at them and pushing away at Blaine's face which was coming closer and closer.

Blaine got the shirt as far as his armpits and straddled Kurt to look down at what he'd uncovered. "So damn gorgeous. More so than I remember. You're so stingy on showing your flesh to anyone but Sebastian." His hands reached out to cover as much flesh as he could with open hands and slid them upward and Kurt shuddered. "So responsive."

"Repulsion." Kurt countered and this time it wasn't in reaction to pain inflicted upon him, Blaine just lashed out and punched Kurt in the mouth.

"Don't talk at all if you're only going to talk like that." Blaine snapped. His lips were already swelling and it would be lopsided, more on his left side than right. "Besides you've been with Sebastian, if you were going to be repulsed by anyone, it should have been him. He nearly blinded me."

"Karofsky." Kurt said simply but it hurt to speak. He was sure he cut his lip on his tooth too. He spat the blood out into Blaine's face.

Blaine growled and a fist landed in his solar plexus. "Behave!" Kurt gasped at the pain and tried to curl around his newly injured location. Blaine wouldn't let him and planted hands firmly on his shoulders before his head dipped down and took a nipple into his mouth and rolled it around with his tongue. Kurt hissed in displeasure and disgust and something clicked. Not only was this no longer his best friend, or even someone he was trying to reason with or even end being polite, but it was someone who intended to do him serious harm if he hadn't already.

It was now Blaine or Kurt and Kurt chose himself for once. He swiped out with a hand full of nails intending to do serious damage. He got a good slice into the side of Blaine's face, he saw with pleasure three deep scratches on Blaine's cheek before blood rushed to the surface and obscured the view of the injury.

Blaine fell off of him with a roar of pain and Kurt pushed away with the heels of his feet and once he was cleared of Blaine's body, he ran for the fire-escape.

Blaine grabbed out with a bloody hand and caught his ankle, tripping him and sending him to the floor with a hard thump. Kurt kicked out at Blaine with his other foot. Tried jerking and pulling the foot within his grasp away. Blood sprayed all around them as Blaine dragged Kurt back to him, his actions pointless for all that Blaine noticed. He flipped him over on to his back and reached for the belt buckle as he did so. "I was going to be nice and gentle and show you exactly what you're missing out on, all that I've learned. I'm not going to do that anymore."

"You're going to kill me." Kurt gasped and his hands scratched at Blaine's hands, in an effort to stop him.

"No." Blaine shook his head. "I could never do that." He worked on the buckle with one hand while the other cupped Kurt and ran his fingers up and down over the fabric. He got the belt unbuckled and the jeans unbuttoned and slid down the zipper with a sickening sound. "But you won't like what I do after I satisfy my desire to reclaim you. I can guarantee that."

Kurt reared up and aimed for the eye Sebastian had nearly blinded, knowing it was still more likely to be damaged easier than the other one. He barely touched it before Blaine reared back to avoid his hand and Kurt changed directions and headed toward the front door again.

Blaine threw something at him and it hit him square in the back and he went tumbling forward into door and hit his head with a painful thud. He was almost out of the loft. He wasted precious seconds wiping the sweat that appeared on his brow and lifting himself into a kneeling position to reach that handle. His hand closed around the handle and tugged on it, usually it was so easy to slide, but his hands kept slipping on weird wet redness and his vision was a little hazy. Something was blocking his view. He swiped at the sweat again and his hand came back even more red.

He frowned, why...? What...? Haziness was clouding his thoughts now too.

He dropped his hand to his side, knowing that he wasn't going to get the door to follow his instructions and it hit something. He looked and saw... a bat?

His hand wrapped around it for a second and he looked up to Blaine making his way toward him. He lifted the bat and chucked it at Blaine and pushed himself back to his feet. He almost toppled forward but managed to catch himself and then just ran. He found himself in the bathroom and he closed the door behind him and flipped the lock. Even in his drunkest episodes, he'd known exactly how to operate that lock. He sat with his back resting against the door and tried to breath.

His head was swimming and his eyes weren't much better. Things were blurry and dancing and there was something in his eyes, making everything a red tint.

"Kurt!" Blaine called through the door. "Come on Kurt, open up. Come back out."

"No!" Kurt shouted back but groaned as that just made his head hurt more. He curled up so he could rest his forehead against his bent knees. He reached for his phone, Sebastian, the cops, even Karofsky would be a blessing right now. His hands found nothing, no phone, no keys, no wallet, nothing, nada, nilch.

Kurt tried to focus and concentrate on where that stuff may be. His jacket pocket... which was hanging up by the front door on the hooks he'd created and installed himself. Kurt groaned and moaned because even the groan had been too much vibration that hurt his head. He held it between his knees and tried to think. Blaine was distracting, he was dragging the bat along the ground, making a scratching sound as he spoke and tried to entice Kurt out of the bathroom.

Blaine wouldn't wait for long. Soon Blaine would be forcing himself through that door and he wouldn't care that he broke it and would have to explain it away. He'd already have to explain so much.

What time was it? He squinted at his digital watch but the numbers were bleeding into each other and he couldn't distinguish between them enough to have any idea of that said 6 or 8 or 9. It had been passed 5 when all this started. Was it still somewhere in the 5 o'clock hour? It felt like forever but he knew that time passed differently during a high stress situation.

"Come on Kurt. I won't hurt you." Blaine enticed, tapping on the door with the bat. "I'll make you feel real good. I did before, I can again."

Kurt didn't respond to that, he knew Blaine was going to hurt him and hurt him very badly. Antagonizing Blaine further was not the right answer. He'd just hold onto it and take it out on him later, make whatever he did far worse.

Sebastian promised that he'd be done by 8, 9 at the latest. It was going to be a late night but he wouldn't sleep at the office tonight or any other night. He didn't want to become one of those guys and he had far more pleasing things at home. He didn't want to be a partner badly enough to waste time he could be with Kurt. Even if it only gave him a few hours at home before he had to go back to the office, he would always sleep in the same bed as Kurt ever since he moved out to New York. He hadn't missed a night yet, only when Kurt was on the road or Sebastian had to go to some family obligation. Never because of school or his job. Never when they were within the same city.

Kurt couldn't hold Blaine off until Sebastian got wise to it. He might even head home forgetting that Kurt had gone to the loft or thinking he went home already. He would go to their place before he realized Kurt was still in the loft. He might think Kurt was just going to crash at the loft, he had before after he'd moved out, but the others had still been living here at the time and Sebastian joined him in their old bed. Would he do the same or would he be too tired to track down his errant fiance at their old home? He'd probably think Kurt was safe here. Or he'd worry about Karofsky, they both had.

Kurt closed his eyes, the rocking of his vision was just making him nauseous. What could he do? He had no weapons he could brandish of his own and there was no escape from the bathroom. There was a small window but not even he nor Rachel couldn't fit through it even if they were slicked with butter from head to toe and sucked it all in.

Closing his eyes did not help and he opened them again and tipped his head to stare at the ceiling. The usual white was painted red. He closed his eyes again and took deep breaths. His vision wasn't quite as heavily dense red, it was becoming more transparent.

His best and only bet was to unlock the door and open the moment Blaine put a lot of weight against it. So when it swung in, Blaine would go with it and then take off while he was recovering on the ground. Kurt shakily got to his feet and wondered if he should try and move that along? Blaine just kept trying to entice him out.

"Where did you get the baseball bat?" Kurt leaned heavily against the counter, his own legs weren't supporting him anymore. They felt a little numb and he wondered if it was from how he was sitting or the hit he'd gotten to the back?

"Karofsky thought this area was too unsafe for us to live here without some kind of protection. Never mind we'd lived here for at least 6 years ourselves with less threatening bodies than his." Kurt wondered if maybe that's why Karofsky did it, because he knew he would be a challenge to the more aggressive ones?

Kurt clenched his hands into fists, his fingers were ice cold and he brought his arms in to tuck his hands under his arms to try and warm them up a little. They were shaking badly and he sagged even more onto the counter-top. Was Blaine going to just wait him out then? Why not? He'd already done so for 6 years.

"Blaine?" Kurt called out, he hadn't heard the other boy for a bit. Hoping Blaine had actually been the one to pass out and maybe Kurt could get passed him with far less effort.

"Just getting another drink." Blaine answered, taking a sip of something decidedly not beer. Kurt moved away from the counter-top. Blaine could get a drink in the middle of this? What was going on, what was this to Blaine? He bumped against the door of the cabinet with his heel and it opened and bottles of beer and vodka tumbled out. His heart went still in his chest. Blaine was wasted and was keeping himself at that level.

Blaine while drinking always made poor decisions. Blaine while drinking excessively made really, really terrible decisions as he'd proven yet again and now he was keeping himself in that inebriated state. At that level of blood-alcohol, he'd probably not be able to keep himself up, right? Either to go through with his intentions or keep himself on his feet.

How long had this cabinet been collecting bottles?

"See? I'm not mad, come out and we can talk about this." Blaine enticed and Kurt almost let his fingers flicker over the lock. Blaine didn't sound threatening anymore. He sounded far more mellow than he had been. Maybe he was getting to the sleepy point of his drinking?

The script they'd been practicing made him still though. Blaine had been in right form with his lines, making Kurt laugh so hard and feel at ease. He'd laid on Kurt, nonthreatening and then tried to kiss him. Even while drunk he could pretend to be jovial and easy going and friendly. He definitely didn't seem threatening then and he was trying hard to sound that way again.

Kurt withdrew his hand, what was he thinking? Blaine was not his friend, he hadn't been for a very long time. This was just a monster in a familiar skin suit. The head injury must be playing with him more than he thought. He walked backwards to the far wall and put down the seat for the toilet and sat on the tank with his feet on the seat cover. He wrapped his arms around his chest, he would just wait Blaine out then and hope he didn't bleed to death first. Someone had to come by, Sebastian, Karofsky, someone would see the blood and call the cops and they'd rescue him. Hopefully in time. He had a better chance of surviving in here than he did anywhere else in the apartment.

He had bandages here – he struggled to his feet and almost tipped over as a wave of dizziness overtook him. He tried to walk but his left leg was giving him more trouble than his right. He half dragged his left foot as he made his way to the medicine cabinet. There were more bottles hidden there but behind them he could find some gauze and tape and he took it out and tried to bandage his forehead up as best as he could. He winced at the sting of alcohol on his skin but he wanted to disinfect it first. Then he placed the bandage over his brow and taped it. He could do nothing about his mouth or the cuts inside, but those should heal fairly quickly.

He reached for the aspirin and hesitated. He put it down and picked up the Tylenol instead and popped as many as he could. It would help with the pain and the swelling. He took a sip from the faucet to help swallow them. The aspirin would just make the bleeding worse.

He looked at himself in the mirror and saw black marks forming all over his face and it was swelling and puffy but none of his supplies were here for that. He tried to see if there were any other injuries that needed to be dealt with.

Nothing that he knew how to take care of. His left leg was very concerning but he didn't know what to do. He'd gotten a few head injuries and the bat to the back wasn't likely to have left him unbruised there. Hopefully all it was, was a bruise causing his uneven gait, nothing worse.

Blaine pounded on the door. "This is getting ridiculous Kurt! Open the damn door!"

"No!" Kurt shouted back and closed his eyes, stopping the moan from being released when he just hurt himself with it. "That's all the answer you'll ever get from me."

"So if I asked you if you wanted me to stop, the answer would be, 'no'?" Kurt didn't respond to that, no matter what he said would be used against him. "Hmm... not interested in hearing what Sebastian has to say? Maybe I'll invite him over and finally sleep with him. He's wanted it for years."

Kurt rolled his eyes, that ship sailed a long time ago, almost as soon as it began. Still, he latched onto the fact that Sebastian had text. "What did he say?"

"Just wondering how the song selections were going." Blaine sounded annoyed. "You told him you were coming here to work on the songs?"

"Of course I did, Sebastian and I have open communication and an honest relationship." Kurt didn't feel the need to point out yet again that they were engaged.

Still even the lack of saying it had irritated Blaine. "You're really going through with it, aren't you?"

"What do you think? We bought a house together." Kurt bit down on his tongue. Why was he so abrasive? He closed his eyes and prayed Blaine didn't get a jolt of adrenaline because of that.

"You said you would marry me, if I were to ask." Blaine sounded pouty on the other side of the door. "Don't you remember that?"

Honestly, Kurt couldn't. He'd been a kid excited about a lot of things and had jumped to a lot of conclusions and had pretended to be all in with everything for awhile. He realized sometime senior year that he hadn't needed be that way, to instead be excited about the thing he actually was excited about and let the rest go.

"It was so long ago. I was a different person then."

"I wasn't! I'm still the same!" Blaine... Blaine had been pretending for so long that Kurt didn't know if he was or not.

Blaine startled him when he slammed both hands onto the door and it rattled. He did it again and Kurt knew Blaine was going to knock it down by sheer force of will. Kurt slipped on his own blood on the floor as he tried to move back, and his left leg was useless to try and help him regain his balance and he found himself on the tile floor for all of a minute as he gathered his breath. He didn't need Blaine to hurt him, he was doing a good job of that on his own. He worked himself backward so he was clear of the door and tried to help himself back onto his feet with whatever he could grip or use as leverage.

The door kept rocking more and more, it wasn't well built by any means and every hit weakened the hinges. It was never meant to withstand an angry man intent on getting in. Kurt moved into the shower bay, he figured it was the safest place in the small bathroom and shortly after he moved over there, the door fell into the bathroom and landed with a slam. Blaine still stood standing where he had. Kurt had hoped that he'd at least fall forward with the door, but no such luck. He had just used the strength in his arms to knock that door off.

Bile rose in Kurt's throat, how was he to win against someone so strong? It wasn't fair that he'd always been bullied by strong jocks a foot taller than him, now even the guy shorter than him was stronger than him too. He hit out and tried to smack Blaine, tried to kick him but with only one working leg, it was difficult, but he still tried.

Blaine gathered fist fulls of Kurt's shirt and pulled him out of the shower and out of the bathroom. He was absolutely livid now. He threw Kurt onto the ground and was upon him instantly, ripping his shirt and undershirt jaggedly apart. He frowned at the bruise on Kurt's abdomen. "I did that?"

"Yes." Kurt wheezed, he was sitting on his stomach, blocking his airway.

"Sorry." Blaine's head dipped so his mouth was on Kurt's neck and sucked an incredibly large hickey into his skin. "But you're mine, you understand that now, right?" Kurt was shaking his head but Blaine slapped him. "You. Are. Mine."

"N-" Another slap and Kurt's ears were ringing and he had to close his eyes or he would throw up all over himself and probably choke on it with his luck. Blaine reached out and gripped Kurt's hair tightly, pulling his head back so he had to tip his jaw up to get any relief. Blaine seemed to be waiting. "Nev-" This slap had him biting down hard onto his tongue and he had to twist his head to spit out the blood. He closed his eyes and his mouth. He needed to stop.

As Blaine reached for the fabric at his hips, Kurt gave it one more push and prayed his good leg could still cooperate for him. He had enough space to flex his hip and he lifted his leg up quickly and swung it so it would wrap around Blaine's neck. He jerked it back down, taking Blaine with it and slamming down hard into the tiled floor behind him. If he had use of both legs he would have put him into a lock and tried to knock him out that way.

He didn't get up for a second and Kurt was having trouble moving himself but soon he was moving. He could barely see passed the pain clouding out his vision and the blood leaking through the bandage on his forehead. Their altercation had reopened it and the literal blood was obscuring his view too. He just ran, he didn't know where he was going or where he'd end up, but he just needed to run.

His fingers brushed against a cool window pane and he nearly shouted in excitement over his luck. He found his escape and he worked quickly on opening it and he pushed it out and to the side, his head sticking out for the 'fresh' air of a busy city and he could feel the cool breeze on his skin. His hands found the cold metal of the ladder down and he started pulling himself out, calling out for help.

Blaine grabbed his hips and pulled him back in, he left the fire-escape open, not bothering with it and Kurt could hear the loud traffic of New York so close and yet so far away.

This time, fists just laid bruises upon him left then right then left then right again. He was winded and couldn't move and Blaine worked on getting his jeans off of him. He forgot how hard the jeans were to get off when Kurt wasn't working with him. If Kurt wanted them off, they were off in an instant. If he didn't, they were stuck like glue even if the fly was open and unbuttoned.

"Of all the ridiculous things-" Blaine was getting more and more frustrated. "If I have to cut them off of you, it's going to be more than the jeans that get cut." He growled and Kurt barely twitched. "Kurt?" He wondered and feared for all of a second that he went too far. "Fine. I'm going to go get a knife. See what happens when you walk home like that. Although I'd be more worried about what happens when you get there. Sebastian will kick you out and have nothing more to do with you. Might as well stay here, actually. I'll be the only one who takes you in, guaranteed."

Kurt flopped over onto his stomach somehow and directed himself toward the sounds still coming from the fire escape. "Seriously?" Blaine clicked his tongue and shook his head. A chuckle came out of him as he reached for Kurt's shirt and he got a hold of the back of it but Kurt managed to slip out of it and scrambled to his feet to run to his exit.

He didn't get very far and he went in the wrong direction. In the right general direction but he hadn't realized that he was dragged so far into the room. He only knew it when his fingers brushed velvet and recognized the curtains he'd put up to his own room. He fell into his room, taking the curtain with him and Blaine was on his back, falling in after him. He soon started tugging at the ankles of Kurt's pants, thinking that might give him some extra help getting them off of him.

An incredibly loud crash followed seconds later and both sat within the ring of the curtain Kurt had put up. Blaine had reinforced his but they hadn't touched Kurt's. The fabric billowed around them before it settled. Blaine started laughing in earnest as he pinned Kurt onto his stomach and brandished his knife to start cutting into the dense tough material. "Twice now, I must be incredibly lucky."

"Sure you are." A voice spoke clearly and through the ringing in Kurt's ears before a new sound followed. A hard thwack before Blaine was off of him and on the ground, twitched against him after landing with a loud thud and following clatter.

Kurt could feel the body crouching next to him more than see it which is why he flinched when a hand rested on his shoulder. It removed itself instantly but he heard the voice again. He was having trouble with tone and quality of voice. He just knew it was a familiar male voice. "Kurt?"

"Sebastian?" Kurt asked tentatively and he was lifted from the ground and into a familiar warmth surrounded him while tears ran down his bare shoulder. They were still sitting but now Kurt was on Sebastian's lap. Sebastian was curled around him. "'Stein?" Kurt asked again and Sebastian held him tighter. "B-B-" Kurt had a hard time saying his name suddenly.

"That bastard?" Sebastian offered through his clogged throat, nose and tears still making tracks.

"He- he-"

"Shh, it's ok, I know what he tried to do." Although the last thing it was, was ok.

"He's indestructible!" Kurt grasped at Sebastian's shirt as he struggled to express what he feared the most.

Okay, not what he thought Kurt was going to say. "He's incapacitated for now." He looked over to Blaine's unmoving body and wondered if he'd killed the bastard, if he did, good. He was really tempted to ensure it, but he didn't want to leave Kurt for a moment. He would need him.

For good measure though, he left Kurt to drag Blaine over the fire escape and tied him to it and kept the bat by his own side for good measure. He dialed 911 and asked for two ambulances and cops. He didn't want to risk them triaging the situation and taking Blaine first and leaving Kurt to wait for the next one. He also would not let them ride together. He kicked Blaine's unconscious body a few times as he called.

Sebastian knelt next to Kurt, his heart breaking into tiny shards as he looked over his fiance. There were bruises covering nearly every part of his body that Sebastian could see. He was sitting in what had to be an incredibly uncomfortable position with one leg under him and the other out in an awkward position. Kurt was trembling and had his arms wrapped around his torso in a bid of protection, warmth and modestly. Sebastian glanced around the room for Kurt's shirt and saw it in tatters not too far from them and shrugged out of his jacket and wrapped it around Kurt. He hoped his extra warmth would help. He buttoned up the jacket as well, even though there were only 3 buttons and Kurt didn't put his arms through the arm holes. It would offer some help and warmth.

"Baby?" Sebastian had seen the jumps when he'd done all those actions, continuous little flinches but he held himself steady enough, knowing it was Sebastian.

Kurt's head lolled to the side and he tried to look at Sebastian. Sebastian wondered about the bandage, had Blaine hit him and then tried to patch him up? It looked soaked through with blood. His stomach clenched with fear. That wasn't good and he'd deal with that next. "Are you ok with me buttoning and zipping you up?" It was just a testament to what Blaine had been trying to do. He didn't think Kurt wanted to keep it that way. He was so private, and he'd be exposed far more than he'd like at the hospital.

"k." Kurt couldn't even finish the sentence and his hands went to do it himself but Sebastian carefully raised them to his lips and kissed each before setting them aside and taking care not to hurt or scare Kurt in any way.

Kurt's hand found Sebastian's at his waist. Patted up to his elbow then his shoulder and he sought Sebastian's chest like a heat seeking missile and sagged into it. His body shaking like he was going to sob but no tears came out. That was ok, Sebastian was crying for the both of them as he held Kurt close and rocked him. His hand making the lightest of circles on Kurt's back, not wanting to hurt him if there were any bruises there. He hadn't sought out all the damage. The medical professionals could do that, Sebastian didn't think he could hold his dinner down if he did it.

The one to attack Kurt had been their friend. Sebastian had started chilling out about Blaine about a year ago and they started talking a bit more other than just the uttermost polite stuff. It was still about surface things but it was at least conversations rather than 'move' or 'did you use the last of the ketchup?' or 'go buy more honey mustard, since you used it up' or even 'off to buy relish, you monster'. Their guards were down.

This wasn't just Kurt's worst nightmare, this was Sebastian's too come true. He'd always been a possessive, jealous ass but he'd started to relax. He'd never wanted a man to touch Kurt, get too close and now he had let one too close, had seen them touch and pretended everything was all right because he was a friend. Proven himself to be one even if he wasn't always the greatest. Never again.

–

Sebastian would never forget what he experienced that day for the rest of his life. If you asked him a dozen years from now what was the scariest thing he'd ever seen was, he would be able to tell you every single detail from the sounds to the sights and smells.

He had text Kurt an hour earlier and got a vague reply back. It hadn't sounded like Kurt at all. Then again, maybe he was just busy and distracted. He texted again fairly quickly, just to check. He asked how it had gone, if he was still at the loft.

No. Home. It was fine.

That definitely didn't sound like Kurt unless it was decidedly not good. Fine? Sebastian text back. It was all he normally had to ask to get Kurt to open up and tell him all that went down. Or he'd respond 'I'll tell you in person' if it was something that was not something fit for text. Kurt knew him that well too, he'd question if a text didn't sound like Sebastian. Hell, Kurt usually knew he had a bad day before he did. He wouldn't always say it but give Sebastian time to digest the day and then come in with something mood lifting and comforting, usually himself without anything on but occasionally a cake or something. It usually elicited a laugh out of Sebastian and he'd be a lot happier but would still accept whatever Kurt had on offer; especially if it were the cake. His own thoughts amused him and glanced again at the phone.

There wasn't a response. Now that was definitely not like Kurt.

He pulled up his friend-finder app that Kurt didn't know that he had tagged him in. He'd never needed to use it, not really, not for this purpose at least. But it was New York City, plenty of theft and assault happened. Even without that, Kurt could lose or forget it somewhere or not know where he was exactly in a way where he could explain it clearly to Sebastian. He thought Sebastian was magic when he showed up right in front of him as he was still explaining what the building looked like. Oh, Kurt was always spot on with his description, but it was just easier to follow the pinging blue dot.

Sebastian glanced at the time and then at his coworkers. "Hey guys, I'm going to take off. I'll see you tomorrow." He looked at the phone again and frowned when the dot was right over their old loft. Home? Yeah right. He hadn't called that home since he and Sebastian moved into their penthouse, especially when Rachel, Finn and Marie moved in temporarily. That had cemented it for both of them, this was their forever home.

Now that he knew Kurt's phone was still at the loft, (where Kurt was, was still in question), he thought it sounded more like Blaine. He'd figured he'd stop at the loft first even though it was out of the way.

The entire subway ride to the loft, he wondered if he was just being paranoid. Maybe Kurt left his phone and Blaine just text him that Kurt was back at the penthouse without going into details. Still... he felt like it was right thing to do. He was worried that Karofsky would come back and somehow intimidate Kurt even though they'd talked numerous times since high school senior year.

Sebastian still had a key to the loft's building and let himself in. He was on the stairs heading up when he heard shouting and cries of pain. He wasn't sure what he'd see when he threw the door open. Blaine sexually assaulting his fiance in the middle of a ruined circle of what used to be their bedroom lying around them; blood on nearly every surface he could take in would be the last thing he'd expected. He had feared it would be Karofsky finishing what he started so long ago. Not the guy who had been their friend for years. Although they did say you knew and trusted your rapist most of the time.

He hadn't even thought, he just moved. Spotted the bat next to Blaine who was saying something incredibly stupid and just swung. He was glad for his lacrosse history so he knew how to swing it with as much force and do as much damage as possible. It lifted Blaine up and knocked him off and over Kurt and he was out for who knew how long. He took pleasure in the twitching and was tempted to hit Blaine with the bat several hundred more times.

The one thing he had always hated was something he was so incredibly thankful for. The blasted sliding door without a lock was a saving grace. They'd lived here for years without incident and the terror had come from within, someone they'd lived with. Blaine had never had the opportunity to attack Kurt when they all lived there. Now that it was only him and Karofsky, he was able to manipulate things once more to his liking. Probably manipulated Karofsky in a million different ways daily.

If the door had a fixed lock, he would have lost so much precious time. As it was, he already knew he was too late, the fear and horror would be engrained in both of them for the rest of their lives. It would haunt their dreams and their actions.

–

The shaking stopped. When did it stop? Sebastian carefully pulled Kurt's suddenly heavy body away from him and found him to be non-responsive. He didn't know much about medicine but he did know what head injuries looked like and he lifted one eyelid then the other and yes, one pupil was a lot bigger than the other. He shook Kurt gently, trying to rouse him.

He heard sirens and was still trying to wake Kurt even as they came in and took him from him. He called out in protest but also knew it was the right thing to do, he just couldn't help it. Another set of paramedics went over to check on Blaine and untied him.

They asked him questions but the police were there too, asking their own sets of questions. Sebastian tried to stay with Kurt but he was held back by the police. They needed other questions answered first. Sebastian tried to argue, tried to convince them to let him go with, but they weren't having it.

"I'm the one who called you!" Sebastian shouted but the officer only frowned at him.

"It could have just gotten too far out of hand and you called us as a cover." The officer told him as they led the ambulances to the hospital with Sebastian in the back seat. "You were the one with the bat next to you and two unconscious men. One was tied up."

"If I were the violent sort, Blaine would never wake up." Sebastian promised the officer darkly. "But I'm not. I only acted in defense of my fiance who was being attacked by him. Knocked silly with blood spatter all around the loft." He would have killed Blaine if Kurt hadn't needed him so much, if he hadn't wanted to spend the rest of his life with Kurt. He would have spent the rest of his life in prison if he'd killed Blaine, even if it was in protection of Kurt. If Kurt didn't survive this, then Blaine would need police protection to keep him from him. Even that wouldn't be enough. If Kurt died, then all of their lives would be over.

Sebastian had been at his worst in his jealousy of Kurt in high school but had reformed since they'd gotten together and had worked on it. His actions weren't quite as despicable but neither was the need to strike out in such a way. Those who had crushed on Kurt since moving to New York were usually harmless. It was those from McKinley who had posed a real danger. He should never have forgotten that.

If Kurt didn't pull through this, Blaine would see a return of that Sebastian with a vengeance. If Sebastian didn't have Kurt to look forward to going home to, then home could be a jail cell for all he cared.

"Threats aren't going to work in your favor here." The officer said but there was a reflective look in his eyes as they pulled up in front of the hospital and the hospital staff came out for their patients.

"Please, just make sure they're kept separately. I don't want Blaine to finish what he started when backs are turned." Sebastian begged and the officer got out to talk to the staff member talking with the ambulance drivers. She nodded then ran off to go take care of her patients.

He came back over and opened the door for Sebastian. "Come on, there's an area we use while we're trying to sort out who everyone is and how they're all connected and what went down."

So Sebastian sat in the conference room with the two officers and told them time and time again who he was and who he was to Kurt. One of the officers went to go check on his story. "Please, just call his dad, he needs time to get here but he'll want to know. Oh and his brother and brother's wife, his best friend here in New York City." Sebastian shook his head as he thought about all the people who needed to know what happened to Kurt and where he was. "Oh, and you'll need guards posted on his room and at the front door. The second it leaks that he's here, you're going to have a media frenzy."

The other officer came in and regarded Sebastian while he spoke. "Blaine woke up and said that you're crazy, you came barging into his home with Kurt and started swinging a bat, old grudges and things like that. You intended to rape his fiance in revenge against Blaine for never being interested in you in high school."

"You hear how insane that sounds, right?" Sebastian looked at him expectantly. "How's Kurt doing?" He asked with his heart paused between beats, needing to hear the answer and not daring to let anything else drown the answer out. He held his breath for the same reason.

"I'm not sure. The staff were working on him but weren't forthcoming with information." The officer seemed to take Sebastian's question into stride. "It does beg the question why you would rape the one who you weren't interested in."

The other officer found himself nodding and stopped before he gave anything away. He glanced at the clock on the wall and his phone, wanting the detectives to get here already and take over this case. "Have any proof that he's your fiance?"

"We share the same address and you'll see that in his wallet." They already searched Sebastian and they knew when he reached into his pocket that there wasn't a weapon. He pulled out his wallet and slid the license over. "You can look that up in your database too, we both registered. We're registered at the courthouse too and-" He fished into his pocket and pulled out the matching wedding band to Kurt's ring. "I had these custom made, there's one on Kurt's finger and I don't think he has it on him but there's a matching band to the one he gave me at our home." Sebastian slid that across too and then brandished his ring. "Here, go look." He took out his key and put that on the table too.

"Let's start with a phone call. Though I have been able to confirm your name and where you work." The one who came in said and walked back out. He was going to call the courthouse and whatever else Sebastian could provide as proof, they were registered at a few locations and he would check to see if both came in or if Sebastian just set everything up himself. It was Kurt who'd done that though.

The man across from him played with the ring thoughtfully. He pulled out his phone. "What's the number for his father?"

Sebastian rattled it off quickly but clearly so he could keep up and it was the number for the shop. The man put the phone on speaker phone for Sebastian to hear as well.

"Hummel Tire and Lube, this is Burt Hummel speaking."

"Mr. Hummel, do you have a son?"

"I have two." Burt answered. "Something happen to Kurt?"

"If you have two, why would you assume it was Kurt?" The officer asked purely out of curiosity.

"Usually if it's about Finn, people call Carole, my wife, his biological mother. Yet you called me, so I just assumed. Is it about Finn? Did he give you my number because he did something stupid and didn't want his mom to hear about it? He's been a very well behaved kid for a very long time, it would surprise me if he did anything."

"So Kurt is not a well-behaved kid?"

"Kurt? Kurt would never, has never, done anything wrong in his entire life." Burt kept varying between friendly and talkative and concerned. "Who is this? Why are you calling? If this is the press again, I swear I'm going to hang up and call the police on you for harassing us. Just because my boy has become famous doesn't mean that he deserves this-"

"Woah, sorry, I didn't get a chance to introduce myself. I am with the New York police department. Your son, Kurt, has been admitted into the hospital. His fiance asked that we reach out to you to let you know the situation."

"What happened to Sebastian? Why wouldn't he call me himself? It's bad, isn't it? Sebastian must be beside himself with worry if he's not calling himself." Sebastian and Burt had laughed that time Kurt had broken his middle finger during practice and he had been in urgent care complaining about having to wear a splint. Sebastian had sent Burt a picture, Kurt was perpetually giving the finger to everyone. Sebastian made sure they had a driver for that month so no one on the subway took offense and retaliated before they could explain even though it was obvious that there was something propping it up and out.

At that time, Sebastian had been amused and had been able to reach out to Burt. This had to be something serious. Something reminiscent of the car accident, where Sebastian had barely said two words the entire time Kurt was unconscious, after shouting at Blaine and Rachel and sending that text to Burt and everyone else.

"Sebastian is Kurt's fiance?" The officer asked and made a motion for Sebastian not to say anything. "Would he ever hurt Kurt?"

"No way." Burt denied instantly and vehemently.

"Would Blaine ever hurt Kurt?"

"Blaine?" Burt sounded confused. "What does he have to do with anything?"

"Please, just to the best of your knowledge and personal opinion, would Blaine ever physically hurt Kurt?"

There was a hesitation, but both Sebastian and the officer knew what that meant. "I... have never seen it myself, but I wouldn't be entirely shocked if he did. That kid has always been... intense and emotional and hasn't always chosen the best options." Burt paused. "Which hospital are you at? I'm booking a flight now. Was it Blaine who put my boy in the hospital?"

"We're still trying to determine that."

"You're barking up the wrong tree if you think Sebastian would ever dare to touch Kurt the wrong way. That boy reveries the ground Kurt walks on. I've never seen anyone more besotted and deeply in love than those two."

"Thank you, I'll keep that in mind." The officer pushed the ring back over to Sebastian and nodded toward the door and mouthed Floor 2, Room 5. He waved Sebastian away when he hesitated and then gathered up his belongings and was out the door. The office told Burt where to meet them.

Burt took care of calling Rachel and Finn. They reached out to everyone even in the remote vicinity.

Sebastian ran through the halls of the hospital, ignoring people telling him to walk, not run. He didn't want to lose a moment with Kurt if this was all he would have left. He just didn't know, nobody had been able to tell him one way or the other.

He slid into the room that the officer had told him he'd find Kurt and his bottom lip trembled when he saw the pale man look practically like death as he laid against the crisp white sheets, no real difference between them and his skin tone. He was sharing the room with another patient with only a curtain between them.

Sebastian sank into the chair by Kurt's bed, feeling like this was all too familiar even though it had been years since the last time he sat by Kurt's bedside, willing him to wake up. Kurt squeezed his hand this time though the second he slipped his hand into the other man's. Swirls of colors were looking at him with a faint frown. "'Stien? Why do you look like you're about to throw up and sob all at once?" It was said in English but Sebastian paid it no mind. He was awake and alive.

Sebastian gathered Kurt's hand to his chest and held it tightly there between both of his hands, over his heart as if he could absorb Kurt or pull him into his chest for safe-keeping. "You're awake? Nobody would tell me anything."

"He passed out from blood loss." A nurse told him helpfully and Sebastian glanced at her, how long had she been there? "We gave him a transfusion and he's been resting ever since." She was perched on a stool in the corner. How had he missed her? "I'm here to make sure everything stays that way. He's had a few head injuries and we want to make sure it doesn't become something worse."

"You're making that look worse." Kurt chided her and he lifted his other hand and twisted so he could rub his palm against Sebastian's cheek.

"That looks incredibly awkward and uncomfortable. Don't do that, I'll get closer." Sebastian uttered in French and started scooting his chair on wheels closer.

"It's fine – I didn't hurt myself turning to you like that." Kurt tried to protest but Sebastian was now practically in the bed with him and it was easier to stroke Sebastian's cheek and hair now. He was fully on his back again and he was still speaking in English.

"Why-" Sebastian started in French but Kurt glanced toward the girl in the corner. Sebastian shook his head. "She doesn't need to understand us. I don't care if she overhears or not."

Kurt frowned. "It's rude to speak in another language."

"She can't even hear us. She's not paying any attention to us, actually, she's looking at her phone." Sebastian ran his fingers through Kurt's hair as well, still refusing to speak in English.

Kurt gave in and swapped languages. The girl sighed. "Such a romantic language. Please continue, I like hearing it."

Sebastian ignored her and focused entirely on Kurt. "Do you hurt anywhere?" He demanded.

Shaking his head, Kurt looked into Sebastian's eyes, trying to share how honest he was being. "They've got me on some serious pain killers, I think. I barely feel anything." His pupils were fairly dilated.

"Do you remember anything?" Sebastian didn't want to bring it back up, but he wanted to comfort Kurt fully, knew they had to deal with this.

"Everything." Kurt closed his eyes tightly. "I'm so sorry 'Stien."

"Woah, woah." Sebastian pressed a kiss to Kurt's forehead, his mouth near Kurt's ear and frowned when he saw the teeth mark on the ear closet to him. He was not going to be responsible for his actions. "What do you have to be sorry for?"

"I made it possible. I took off my jacket and left my phone, keys and wallet in the pocket. I wasn't able to call you or defend myself or get free. I put myself in that position where he could-" Kurt's voice cracked and he paused for all of a second. "I trusted him."

"We all trusted him. Rachel never stopped trusting him." Sebastian pressed another kiss to his temple. "It was no one's fault but his own. He's the one who decided to attack you, to lie in wait like the snake he is. Even I started trusting him." It was Sebastian's turn to pause. "You know I'm going to be unbearable from now on, right?" His stomach was already all twisted up.

"I know." Kurt nodded, his eyelids fluttering closed. He was pretty heavily sedated. "I know. I wish it didn't have to be that way, that there wasn't a reason for it. That I could tease you about it and get annoyed if you continued on."

"I wish so too." Sebastian rested his forehead against Kurt's shoulder. He was going to be worse than ever.

Suddenly there was a shout, followed by a high pitch scream; several bodies rushing in and then the sound of a flat line.