Chapter 3: Love You And Hold You

They drove for almost two hours, singing along to the radio and not really talking much. When they finally stopped, Blaine looked around in confusion. The road had hit a dead end and all he saw around him were trees. "Kurt? Where are we?"

"We're not there quite yet," Kurt answered vaguely, hopping out of the car excitedly. He turned on his heel and smiled at Blaine. "Well, are you coming or not?" Blaine nodded quickly and got out of the car as well, hurrying to Kurt's side. Kurt grabbed Blaine's hand and squeezed it lightly, urging him to follow him as he walked forward into the array of trees and brush.

"Kurt, where are we going?" he whined, but he followed anyway. He was, as he had been since they'd left the school, curious.

"Just wait," Kurt laughed, tugging him along into seemingly an empty forest area. "We're here. Look up there," he told Blaine.

"What—"

"Shush," Kurt stopped him. "Just look. And meet me at the top." Blaine barely had time to react before Kurt was climbing up a rope ladder, obviously wanting Blaine to follow him. Blaine looked up and saw that Kurt was climbing up into a large, wooden tree house.

"Whoa…" he whispered.

"Come on up, slow poke!" Kurt called down once he reached the top. He was poking his head out of a window in the tree house, looking down at Blaine and grinning. "The view is amazing, I promise."

Blaine nodded slowly and swallowed before carefully making his way up the ladder. The wind picked up speed a few times and he paused in his long climb to the top of the tall tree, clutching the ladder for dear life and shutting his eyes tightly.

When he finally reached the top, Kurt helped him up into the tree house. Blaine dusted himself off and smiled shakily. "That's really high."

"I know," Kurt said. "But the view is worth the terrifying climb. Take a look." He gestured over to one of the windows and Blaine stepped forward to peek out of it. His breath caught in his throat and he looked around in awe. He could see everything from here. He could see the lake that was fairly close by. He could see every tree surrounding the one they were in. He could see a huge grass park that he never even knew was there. He'd never really been very far out of Lima, so most of Ohio was unfamiliar to him.

"This is amazing," he commented as he turned around to see Kurt. Kurt's eyes still had the scenery's beauty beat—by a long shot. "Where are we? And how did you find this place?" he asked excitedly.

"My friend Nick and I found this tree about a year and a half ago, and we decided to build a tree house. It was perfect and private, so we never had to worry about anything hurting us. I don't think he's come here much since last September, though…" He trailed off, looking down at his shoes instead of at Blaine. Slightly concerned, Blaine stepped forward and tilted Kurt's chin up to look at him.

"Hey… What's wrong?" he asked softly, pushing his glasses up when they slid down his nose a bit. Kurt smiled softly and shook his head.

"I'm alright," he promised. "It's an old wound that doesn't really hurt too much anymore. Besides, I didn't bring you here for sob stories. I kind of wanted to get to know you a little better. That's what friends do, right?"

Blaine smiled at him and nodded, taking his hand away from Kurt's chin, clearing his throat. "That sounds really nice," Blaine agreed. "So, do you want to just do, like, a 'Twenty Questions' thing to start out? That's simple enough." Kurt nodded in agreement and pulled out the two bean bag chairs that had been in the tree house since it was first built. He sat in one and gestured for Blaine to take a seat in the other.

"You can ask first," Blaine told Kurt as he sat down. "If you want, I mean."

"Sure," Kurt grinned. "Are you in any clubs at school?"

"Just Glee Club," Blaine said with a small smile. Glee was the only thing that made his Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays better. Sure, he had the actual choir class in fourth period every day at school, but three times a week he had an excuse to come home later than usual so he didn't see his parents as much those nights. That was the best part. "I like it. We've never made it past Sectionals, though. Mostly, we never have enough members. But the one time we did, our director was sort of depressed so we were pretty much on our own with the entire set list and choreography. We lost. Miserably."

"Yikes," Kurt grimaced. "Glee Club sounds fun, though. I was actually planning on joining." Blaine perked up at this.

"That's great! We've been trying to find another member. We only have eleven, so we're one short for competing." Kurt grinned.

"I think you just found your newest member, then."

"I guess so," Blaine smiled, too. He was smiling a lot today, he noticed. And not just the fake smile that he offered his 'friends' in Glee, but a real smile that meant he was actually happy. And he'd only been smiling like that since he'd met Kurt.

They continued on with the game of Twenty Questions, and they learned a lot of things about each other, though they were mostly pretty generic. Kurt found out that Blaine liked to sing and he played piano and sometimes guitar. He also learned that Blaine had been at McKinley since freshman year, suffering the same torment day after day. Of course, Kurt already knew most of what Blaine told him, because he had taken it upon himself to find out as much as possible about Blaine before he was sent to protect him. What he also knew, but hadn't expected Blaine to tell him, was that he had troubles at home. And he didn't leave it at that, like Kurt thought he might. He'd seen Blaine hiding the scars and bruises for months now, ever since he'd taken notice of the lonely boy. It was by pure luck that he'd been assigned to protect Blaine of all people.

"My parents… Well, they aren't really very accepting," Blaine explained, wringing his hands in his lap and not looking at Kurt. "My mom is mostly indifferent, but she doesn't do anything to help me when my dad loses his temper…" He trailed off, afraid that he'd said too much. He didn't know why he was telling Kurt about this, but he just felt like his new friend should know. But he was also afraid, like he always was. He was afraid of telling anyone. He hated living with his father's abuse and his mother's passive behavior, but he knew he'd hate more if he didn't have any parents around at all. And if he told anyone, he was convinced he'd be immediately shipped to some orphanage and he'd be more alone than ever. At McKinley, at least he had the Glee Club. If he told someone about being abused and hated by his parents, even that would be taken away from him.

"You don't have to continue, if you're not comfortable," Kurt promised, reaching out to touch Blaine's fidgeting hands.

"I'm fine," Blaine lied, looking up at Kurt. "I'm alright. A-Anyway, when my dad loses his temper, he gets really, really mad. Sometimes he gets mad for no reason. But he always takes it out on me. And I've always just… let him, you know? There isn't anything I can do… He's stronger than me."

"Is that why your nose is broken?" Blaine sighed and nodded. "Blaine, I think you need to tell someone," Kurt advised. "You can't just keep letting him hurt you like that until you… until you… can't take it anymore," he finished, not wanting to say what he had in mind. Until you die.

"No," Blaine said, tears filling his eyes. "I can't tell anyone. If I do, then I'll be sent to an orphanage or something. I'll have nowhere else to go, and I can't—I just can't go through being completely alone. Not again." Tears actually streamed down Blaine's face by the time he finished tripping over his words. Kurt didn't understand. He couldn't tell anyone. That would only make things worse. No, Kurt didn't understand what he was going through. "I can't… I can't," he murmured. The next thing he knew, he was somehow in Kurt's arms, being rocked back and forth gently.

"Blaine…" he whispered, not sure what to do. But he knew this was what he was supposed to be helping Blaine with. He had to give Blaine a friend and someone to talk to and someone who he didn't have to hide from. And this was the first step in the right direction; getting Blaine to open up to him. Kurt hugged Blaine tightly as he sat next to him on the large bean bag chair, nearly cradling him as Blaine cried into his shoulder. "Blaine, it's alright… You don't have to be afraid, not when you're with me. I promise," he said gently.

"P-Please don't tell anyone about the b-beatings," he cried as he hugged Kurt's torso tightly. "Nobody can find out… Please…"

"I won't tell," Kurt promised reluctantly. "But… do you think, maybe, you could tell me about it? Maybe I can help you if I know more about what you're dealing with."

"I-I've never even told anyone before," Blaine admitted quietly. He made up his mind that he was going to tell Kurt everything. After all, he had no one else he could trust. And he had no one else who would listen. "It all started when I told my parents that I'm gay," Blaine said slowly, taking deep breaths to calm down enough to speak. "That was a year and a half before I came out at school in sophomore year. The summer before I started High School. And the whole reason I waited so long after that to come out at school is because of the bad reaction I got when I told my parents…" He shut his eyes tightly and was acutely aware of Kurt's hold tightening around his shoulders and waist, almost protectively. "That night, the night I told them, my dad beat me until I could hardly breathe and… and I just remember my whole body aching and I just wanted to go to sleep. So I did. I crawled into bed and fell asleep. And, for a while…" He paused, letting out a shaky breath. "For a while, I didn't wake up. And my parents had a meeting to attend or something, so they just left me there.

"My brother came to visit that night, since he was on a break from the acting job he had in L.A. So he found me, covered in blood. He brought me to the hospital and I was there for two weeks before they let me go. And the worst part? Later on, my dad told me that he wished I would have died that night." Blaine choked out a strained sob, unable to keep it together any longer. "A-Aren't parents supposed to l-love us u-unconditionally?" he asked through his tears, trembling in Kurt's warm embrace. "They're n-not supposed to j-judge u-us or make us f-feel w-worthless like that. That's how he's m-made me feel for the p-past t-two years, and I just d-don't understand what I did w-wrong!" he cried in distress, clinging to Kurt.

"Blaine, you didn't do anything wrong," Kurt told him gently, wiping at his own eyes to clear the tears that had formed there. "It's your parents who should be ashamed, because they've treated you like garbage when you deserve nothing but the best. And you deserve to be cherished, and loved, and cared for. Because you're perfect just the way you are, no matter what anyone else says," he said, his voice thick with emotion and tears threatening to escape. "I need you to believe me on this. I need you to know how special you are and that you can be anything you want if you let them stop controlling you. You're so much braver and stronger than you give yourself credit for."

"But it's never enough," Blaine mumbled, looking up to meet Kurt's eyes. "I'll never be good enough for them, or for anyone else. I wouldn't be surprised if I lost you as my friend, too. I screw everything up, and you should save yourself while you still can. And it's better if you leave me before it gets to the point where losing you would break me…"

"Blaine, please stop talking like that," Kurt begged, grasping his hands and looking directly into his hazel-green eyes that were shining with tears. "I don't know how to make you understand how much I care for you…"

"I care about you so much already," Blaine whimpered. "And… maybe, if you, uh, stuck around for a while… you'd be able to, uh, help me," he said uncertainly. "I'm still not okay… but I'm trying… and it's harder than you think to accept something like this. That a near stranger who I met this morning could care for me more than my own parents do… Well, it doesn't make any sense. And yet here you are, and here I am, blubbering like a baby…" Blaine stopped. He didn't know what he was talking about, and he had no idea if he was making any kind of sense. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry; I just need to shut up…"

Blaine looked down again and Kurt tilted his head up to see Blaine looking like a kicked puppy. He looked so small, innocent, defeated… and so broken. It tore Kurt's heart to pieces to see him like that. This wasn't going according to plan. Kurt only wanted to help and make things better for Blaine, but he didn't seem to be doing much good. But he was opening up to Kurt… and that was something, right? He hoped so.

"Blaine, don't," he told him softly, cupping Blaine's jaw in his palm. "It's alright. Just relax, okay?"

Blaine nodded slowly, biting his lip lightly. He stared into Kurt's eyes, and then glanced down at Kurt's lips, then back at his eyes. "Do you trust me?" he asked nervously.

"Of course," Kurt smiled softly. "I trust you, but why—"

Kurt's words were cut off by Blaine's lips on his. Blaine froze at first, not sure what he was doing, but when Kurt started moving his lips slowly against Blaine's, it gave him the confidence to do the same. Blaine cupped Kurt's cheeks in both hands and tugged him impossibly closer, his whole body numb and yet simultaneously on fire from the sensation of kissing Kurt.

After a few more moments of sucking on lips until they swelled, they broke apart, breathing heavily. Kurt's hands hadn't moved from Blaine's shoulders since the start of the kiss, and his head fell forward on Blaine's neck for a moment as he caught his breath. "H-How was that?" Blaine asked, breathless and blushing furiously.

"Amazing…" Kurt breathed out against Blaine's neck, wrapping his arms around his thin waist. "But… w-what was… that?"

"I don't know," Blaine admitted sheepishly. "Instincts?" he tried, smiling hopefully.

Kurt laughed lightly and pressed his forehead to Blaine's. "That was my first kiss, you know," he whispered.

"And you liked it..?"

"Of course," Kurt laughed again, his eyes barely cracked open. "It was the perfect first kiss. Unexpected, more than seven seconds long, and with someone I truly care about."

"Can I, uh, do it again?" Blaine asked hopefully.

"Yes, please," Kurt grinned just before Blaine's lips were molding to his again.

Neither of them really planned on going home that night.

A/N: Darn, almost made it to the 3k words mark, but this just felt like the right place to end it. I dunno, you might disagree, but I liked it :) Sooooooo, drop a review and let me know if I have pleased my audience? Thanks a ton for reading! Oh, and a HUGE thanks to CharleyGyrl for reviewing on every single chapter. It really means a lot! And I smile like a total dork every time I get a notification telling me someone reviewed my story. Thanks again! You're the best. And thank you to all my readers, and to everyone who has favorite/followed/reviewed this story so far. I love you all, lovelies!

Okay, I'll shut up with the A/N now. Thanks again for reading.

One more thing, though. SORRY! I told someone that this was going to be cutesy, then sad. But it ended up being cutesy, then sad, and then Klaine kisses! So I'd call that a victory ;)