"You're not...oh my god, you're serious." Blaine was glad he was sitting. He still looked around for support, but his usual source of that was still standing, arms crossed defensively, and Blaine ended up hugging himself. He didn't doubt Kurt's words, wondering instead how he could have thought he had been out to scene. After all, though sex with Kurt could be rough, it didn't usually result in a black eye. Especially not for Kurt.

"You - why did you do that? How could you do that?"

"I did it to make sure he doesn't hurt anyone else."

"No, you didn't. You did it to get back at him for hurting me."

"That, too." Kurt sat down on the couch, facing Blaine, but thankfully didn't try to touch him. Still, Blaine stood up and began pacing the room.

"Blaine," Kurt said. "I don't understand why you're so upset about this. All I did was -"

"Because you could have been hurt!" Blaine interrupted. "You have been hurt, and it could have been so much worse! Also, I'm not some damsel in distress, I don't need you to defend my honor!"

Blaine's voice had gotten continually louder, until he was nearly yelling at the end. He was still pacing the room, his emotions swirling inside him until he didn't know what was anger and what was fear.

"Blaine." Kurt's voice was firm. "Kneel."

Blaine wanted nothing more than to obey, but he stood his ground.

"No. You can't Dom me out of having an argument."

Kurt dragged his hands through his hair, frustrated. "Okay. But can you please sit down so we can talk?"

Reluctantly, Blaine sat down.

"I'm sorry," Kurt said. "It wasn't fair of me to bring our...dynamics into this, though honestly, I only wanted to make you stop pacing. Please, listen to me. I don't think you need me to protect your honor. I have never, not for one moment, thought you couldn't look after yourself. I did this mostly so everyone knows what he is, to keep other subs from going with him."

Cautiously, Kurt reached for Blaine''s hand, and Blaine let him take it, feeling the calming caress of Kurt's thumb on his knuckles.

"The other thing is," Kurt said, "I'm a Dom. Being protective is my nature. And that I wasn't able to protect you from him...kind of kills me."

"You didn't even know me then."

"I know. It doesn't...really help. I...hate that you had to go through this, that I couldn't stop it, and today - that was me trying to make up for it."

Blaine shook his head. "And did beating him up make you feel better?"

"Wait - you think I beat him up?"

"Well, it's kind of obvious, isn't it? Your face - I've kind of been waiting for you to say, 'You should see the other guy.'"

"Blaine, I didn't beat him up. I exposed him. I went to his club and told everyone what kind of guy he is. He got a few punches in when I was distracted, later, before Elliot pushed him away."

"And you couldn't have thought of starting with that? God, Kurt, I pictured you waiting for him in some parking lot and beating the crap out of him."

"I never hit anyone who doesn't want it," Kurt said grinning. "He went home somewhat battered, though. Apparently, Santana thought him punching me was excuse enough to knee him in the balls."

Blaine was so relieved he could hardly speak. So he simply straddled Kurt and kissed him hard without consideration for his split lip. He paused to taste the blood on his tongue, then went in for another kiss, which Kurt reciprocated enthusiastically.

Between kisses, Blaine whispered, "You are not allowed to ever scare me that much again. Do you understand?"

Kurt nodded. "I understand. I won't, not if I can help it. So...you're not mad at me anymore?"

Blaine leaned his head against Kurt's shoulder. "I kind of feel like I should still be mad. Because, and you don't have to say anything to that, if I hadn't been here today, and if there hadn't been...evidence that would have been hard to explain away, you wouldn't have told me about tonight's activities at all. And I don't like you keeping secrets from me."

Kurt nodded sheepishly. "I can understand that."

Blaine smiled. "But I have also decided that since it's over, and it's been done with only minor damage, it would be stupid to hold a grudge. So no, I'm not mad anymore. But you have to tell me everything."

As Kurt told his story, Blaine made himself comfortable on his lap and listened intently. When Kurt finished with, "And now, Elliot and Ms July are at work contacting other BDSM clubs, and hopefully, he'll be banned from every club in town, and beyond," Blaine shook his head.

"It seems kind of unfair," he said.

"What do you mean?" Kurt asked.

"That you were able to discredit him so easily. That three people saying something about him is enough to make sure he is excluded from the lifestyle, at least here. And you only knew my side of the story. What if I were just some scorned lover who wanted to take revenge?"

"You aren't, though."

"No, I'm not. And he definitely deserves it, and I'm glad he won't have a chance to hurt someone else. But - does this happen often? What if there is a mistake?"

"It doesn't happen very often, as far as I know. And we are careful when we spread something like this. We didn't just have your tale. Elliot had to reject his membership application because he ignored a safeword, there have been other incidents. And - you know we have to take care of our own. No one else will do it, people think all of us are abusive or at least weird. I guess it's a little unfair, but we don't really have an alternative. And, not to brag or anything, but it wasn't just any three people telling things about him, but three highly respected members of the community."

Blaine nodded pensively. He wasn't quite satisfied, but he guessed there really weren't any good alternatives, and after all, while allegedly abusive Doms were excluded from the lifestyle, most of them probably deserved a much harsher punishment.

Speaking of which -

"Sir? Do you think I should be punished for not obeying and for being disrespectful?"

Kurt thought for a moment, then shook his head. "You were angry, but not disrespectful. And it was wrong of me order you to kneel in the midst of an argument, even if it was only to calm you down. So no, if you're okay with it, I don't think you should be punished."

Blaine was completely okay with that and had just started kissing Kurt's neck when he thought of something.

"Oh! I nearly forgot, but I'm pretty sure Chandler is in fact in love with Master Elliot. He didn't explicitly say so, but I got a very strong impression."

He proceeded to talk of his evening with Chandler, but soon noticed that Kurt didn't really listen. He just sat there with a weird expression on his face that Blaine couldn't quite interpret except in one way.

"Sir? You're not...you're not jealous, are you?"

"What? Sweetheart, of course I'm not jealous. I have a wonderful man in my life, and Chandler deserves the same. I'm happy for them, I'm just...do you think we should let them find out for themselves, or should we give them a nudge in the right direction?"

…...

Friday, after Kurt skipped lunch because it could not be denied anymore that he would not make his deadline on Tuesday if he didn't spend the next forty-eight hours working nonstop, he regretfully called Blaine to cancel their weekend together. Blaine, however, persuaded him to let him come over anyway.

"I won't disturb you, Sir," he said. "I'll just make sure you eat enough, and I'll rub your shoulders for you if they ache from sitting so long. I'll bring a book and keep to myself. Please?"

So Kurt relented, and he couldn't deny that it was kind of nice to have Blaine there with him as he worked, curled up on the couch with a book, looking at him with a smile whenever Kurt's head rose from his sketches, and bringing him coffee and making food and taking care of everything that might have distracted him from his work.

Saturday after dinner, that changed. Kurt had dragged himself back to his desk for another few hours of work so that maybe he could have a little free time tomorrow. He hadn't been working for half an hour when Blaine interrupted him.

"Sir?" he asked. "Is there any chance you might be finished some time today?"

"I'm afraid not, sweetheart. Tomorrow, if everything goes well."

He continued working, but after a while he found he couldn't concentrate because Blaine was cleaning the kitchen, clattering with pots and pans and generally making a lot of noise. This happened a few more times, Blaine trying to clear his desk or insisting that Kurt just had to see this video, until Kurt got quite angry.

After a rebuke, Blaine was thankfully quiet for a while, though Kurt had the impression that he was pouting. This was quite unlike Blaine, and he briefly wondered what might be the reason for him acting out like that, but he decided not to let it concern him for the time being.

A little while later, however, he was distracted again, this time by Blaine turning his chair towards him and kneeling between his legs.

"Blaine? What are you doing?"

Blaine smiled, "I'm sorry for making you angry, Sir. Will you let me make it up to you?" he said and started to unbutton Kurt's pants.

"Blaine, stop that!" Kurt said, now really angry. "I don't know what's the matter with you, and I'm sorry if you're feeling neglected or something, but I told you I would have no time for you this weekend. You're acting really childish, and now you can go into the bedroom and stay there. Whether you go to sleep or stay awake is up to you, but I don't want to see you out here again today."

With a quiet, "I'm sorry, Sir," Blaine rose and disappeared into the bedroom, leaving Kurt to wonder what had gone wrong, and trying to again concentrate on his work.