Opening his eyes Kurt glanced out from under the comforter; Jeff was still fast asleep on the couch, one of his legs dangling onto the floor and one arm flung awkwardly across the chairs armrest behind Jeff's head. A small part of Kurts mind wondered how on earth anyone could sleep in such an uncomfortable position but he realised that when it came to Jeff anything was possible.

Throwing back the comforter Kurt pushed himself up into a seated position and threw his legs over the side of the bed, bracing himself on the mattress he slowly stood, gradually stretching his muscles out as he did so; he was sore, more so today than yesterday which meant that his bruises were probably going to be darker today as well.

Crossing the room towards the bathroom, careful not to step on anything or knock anything over and wake up Jeff in the process he slipped inside and turned on the light. Standing in front of the mirror in the harsh light, Kurt studied his face. Yep, his bruised eye was quite spectacular now, he reached up and gingerly touched it finding it tender but surprisingly not as bad as expected. He pulled the collar of his t-shirt to the side and saw the dark shadow of another bruise rising across his collar bone from his shoulder. Dropping his hands down to the edge of the basin he caught sight of his wrists, black and yellow bruises were now prominent around them and he took each one in turn and rubbed them gently whilst staring absentmindedly at the basin before him. Looking at his reflection he took the hem of his shirt and gently pulled it over his head, momentarily losing sight of himself as it passed over his face. Dropping the shirt to the floor he looked again at his reflection, he was pale even for him but there was nothing he could do about that, unfortunately the blanch of his skin was a perfect background to accentuate the darkness of the bruising which was spread across his torso. Twisting to the side he glanced at his back and sighed. Stepping out of his sweats and under the hot water of the shower he ran his hands through his hair as he let the water run over him steeling himself for the day ahed.

Jeff heard the shower running and pulled himself back onto the couch; tugging the comforter back around him he flexed his fingers in an attempt to get some feeling back in them. Releasing a moan he realised that he must have been sleeping at a funny angle as he had pins and needles in his hand and his feet were freezing. Groping under his pillow he found his phone and sent a quick text to Nick asking if it would be okay for him to go to his room as soon as he'd spoken to Kurt. Unsurprisingly Nick replied after only a few minutes, although he was clearly still sleepy as his message was a little jumbled.

A few minutes later Kurt shuffled into the room wrapped in a towel,Jeff's breath hitched as he caught sight of Kurt's back, there wasn't a great deal of light in the room as the blinds were still drawn but the bruises were bad enough that Jeff could still see them.

"Oh, hey Jeff" said Kurt, turning to look at his friend upon hearing his intake of breath.

"Morning Kurt" Jeff replied trying to look as though he hadn't noticed the marks on his friends back.

"Do you mind if I borrow some clean clothes" asked Kurt, "just until I get down to my room to grab something else."

"Sure, knock yourself out" Jeff replied, throwing the comforter aside and standing up to stretch, "have you finished in there?" he asked motioning to the bathroom.

"Oh yeah, all done" smiled Kurt as he made his way to Jeff's dresser to drag out a clean shirt.

"Great, see you in a bit" Jeff smiled as he closed the door behind him.

Kurt dressed in a combo of Jeff's comfy clothes and ran his fingers through his damp hair pulling it off his face. He knew he would be talking to Blaine today and he needed to be feeling more like himself when he did so. He intended to head down to his own room as soon as he and Jeff got a chance to speak, he needed to be in his own clothes, the way he dressed was part of who he was, part of his protection from the world, his clothes helped him to be less vulnerable and he needed to feel as good as he could under the circumstances.

Kurt straightened the comforter on the bed, sat down and reached for his shoes. Wincing as he bent over he tugged them on one at a time and quickly tied the laces. Taking a breath and bracing his hands on his knee's he stood and made his way to the window; tilting the blind open, Kurt looked out across the campus, it was a bright clear morning and the campus was quiet.

He could hear the muffled sound of Jeff singing in the shower and a small smile graced his lips as he glanced towards the bathroom. Jeff had been a really great friend to him this past two days and he was incredibly grateful but it was time for him to stand on his own and face his insecurities head on. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Kurt rounded his shoulders and let them drop as he exhaled; he would be okay, he could get through this. He always did.

A few minutes later the bathroom door opened and Jeff walked into the room rubbing his hair vigorously with a towel, another slung tightly around his hips.

"Jeff, look I'm gonna get going" said Kurt quickly waving towards the door, "I need to get back to my room but I just wanted you to know that I really appreciate your help, you don't know what it's meant to me."

Jeff looked out from under his towel and Kurt laughed heartily at the sight. Jeff's hair was standing in all directions; his usually floppy style was in complete disarray and resembled some kind of birds nest.

"What's that?" Jeff asked.

"I said" laughed Kurt, "that I'm going to get going."

"Oh right" Jeff replied running his hands through his damp hair, managing to push if back off his face and contain it's madness in one simple movement, "thats cool, are you speaking to Blaine today?" he queried.

"Yes" was all Kurt responded with.

"Will you be okay?" Jeff asked in concern.

"You know what, I think I will" smiled Kurt looking directly at his friend, "I just need to have a little faith."

Jeff smiled in response and made his way towards his friend pulling him into a tight hug and clapping him on the back., holding Kurt tightly Jeff gave him one last squeeze before releasing him and motioning him towards the door.

"Do you think you and Blaine will be around later or shall we leave you guys to it?"

Kurt bent to pick up his belongings and looked back at Jeff.

"Let's see how it goes" he replied, "I'll let you know."

"Okay, good luck" waved Jeff as Kurt left the room and headed down the corridor.