Blaine awoke. The first thing that hit him was the throbbing pain in his head. He groaned and tried to sit up, but his back had barely curved when he realized how much his stomach muscles hurt as he moved. Instantly, he gave up and lay back down on... was this a couch?
He felt his heart skip a beat as he opened his eyes and rubbed them, trying to adjust to the light. He was lying on a couch, in the middle of what appeared to be someone's living room. After a quick scan of his surroundings, Blaine was sure that he had never been here before. Even though it was excruciatingly painful to move, he edged back on the couch a little, so that he was sitting up, able to look around.
As soon as his thoughts became coherent, his face fell. "Oh my god. They've taken me here."
It didn't matter how much it hurt, he had to move, and he had to get out. Blaine frantically stood up, wincing at the sharp pain in his stomach when he switched from a sitting position to a standing position. He staggered a little, which caused him to bump into a coffee table. It screeched as it dragged across the floor, and Blaine practically felt his heart stop at the noise it made.
The sound of movement came from the next room. He had been heard. Someone was coming.
Blaine clutched his stomach and limped toward the door, and just as he grabbed the handle –
"Hey, whoa, sit down! You're too hurt to be walking around! Oh, god, come here..."
Blaine slowly turned when he heard the soft, unfamiliar voice. It belonged to a boy who looked no more than seventeen or eighteen. As he stepped closer, Blaine remained frozen to the spot, watching him with wide eyes. "Come on, get back onto the couch." Before he had the chance to object, Blaine's left arm was being lifted and hoisted around this new boy's shoulder, while he felt an arm slip around his waist to support him, as well.
He panicked and tried to pull away. "Wha– No! Who are you? Where am I?"
The other boy didn't let go.
"I'm Kurt. Calm down. This is my house. I was out walking and I found you lying unconscious, just down the road from here. I thought you might have been... drunk or something, at first, but you were bleeding and... well... I was worried, so I called a doctor. She told me to make sure you were warm, and that she'd be there soon. So, I brought you inside until she could get here."
Blaine watched him carefully for a moment. Everything seemed to add up. He calmed down a considerable amount, and because the pain was overbearing, he stopped protesting and started walking back to the couch with Kurt, leaning on him for support.
"How am I supposed to know that you're not... one of them? Where's the doctor? Why –"
"The doctor already came and checked you out, before you woke up. She said that everything looked like it'd be okay, and that she'd come back tomorrow to see you again. Nothing too serious, apparently." Kurt eyed Blaine curiously after his 'one of them' comment, but was intent on getting him to lie down again before continuing any sort of conversation. Blaine's face scrunched up when he had to bend to lie down. Everything looked like it'd be okay? He felt like he could barely move.
Kurt propped a pillow up behind Blaine's head and sat on the edge of the couch, looking down at him. He was staring up, through terrified eyes, and it was easy to see that he was shaking a little. Kurt frowned, feeling awful about the state that he was in. "Did you get... mugged, or something? Beaten up?" Blaine hesitated before replying. He studied Kurt's face, mostly his eyes, for a moment. He couldn't deny that he seemed genuine. His expression was soft, the sympathy in his eyes was clear and... Wow. He was beautiful.
He quickly considered his options, and honestly, it didn't seem like he had much choice, other than to trust Kurt, and he felt relatively safe about doing so. "... Yeah. I can't really remember what happened, but they beat me up because –" He paused. "Well, I don't know why they did." Being gay had landed him in this position. Blaine definitely didn't need anyone else to know.
"Oh, you poor thing..." Kurt had endured shoves and taunts before, but never anything like this. The fearful look in Blaine's eyes cut right through him, and suddenly, his own experiences of getting harassed didn't seem as bad. "I noticed you limping, but we'll get the doctor to help you a little more with that in the morning, too, alright? You're safe now. That's what matters."
Blaine stared blankly for a moment. Tears were starting to sting his eyes. Being spoken to like that was completely foreign to him. Why was a complete stranger being so kind? "I... I don't really know what to say. Thank you." He smiled weakly. "Really, thank you so much." Kurt smiled back, much more reassuringly. "Relax for tonight, and please don't walk around unless you really need to. You could end up making things worse for yourself. Just tell me if you need anything. My parents and step-brother live here, too, but they're at a football game right now. I said I'd stay here in case you woke up. Besides, football knowledge isn't exactly my forté."
This type of hospitality was overwhelming. Blaine used every ounce of strength that he had left to prevent himself from crying – and for the first time, he was holding back good tears; ones of happiness and gratitude. He opened his mouth to speak, but Kurt cut across him first.
"Oh, what's your name, by the way? I've been dying of curiosity all night!"
"Blaine. I'm Blaine," he answered, smirking at Kurt's enthusiasm over something so simple.
"Blaine. Huh. I like it. My guesses were way off, though. There go all of my dreams of being a psychic."
Blaine laughed. A quiet laugh, because his chest was still painful, but even the tiniest laugh would be considered an accomplishment for him. He decided that he liked Kurt's sense of humour.
Kurt decided that he liked the way Blaine's eyes scrunched up when he laughed.
"Do you want something to eat? I'm making coffee, too. Want me to make a cup for you?"
"Anything I eat right now would probably come back up, but just coffee would be amazing. Thanks... really."
Blaine fixed his eyes on Kurt's, and emphasised his last words, trying to get across how grateful he genuinely was. Kurt simply smiled back and gave a little nod of acknowledgement. Then, without another word, he sauntered into the kitchen, humming to himself.
As he lay on the couch, smiling faintly while he looked around the room and waited for Kurt to come back, Blaine tried to remember the last time he had laughed, before today. He couldn't.