Chrysanthemums

Chapter 13

"Kurt, I was thinking, since we're going to be working together for a while, we should get to know each other," Blaine brought up at the end of glee club. "What do you think about getting dinner sometime?"

Kurt smiled. "Yeah, I'd like that."

They did. It was mostly light subjects, until Blaine asked him the question.

"What happened between you and Max's dad?"

"What happened between you and Tracy's dad?" Kurt shot back.

Blaine paused. "A secret trade?" he offered. "I answer your question, you answer mine?"

He thought it over carefully, nodding. "Well, Karofsky was the school asshole, but there was nobody he hated more than me. I heard the F-slur from him in a week more times than I've heard my name in a year. He called me names, beat me up, threw me into dumpsters, threatened to kill me, everything, and he got away with it all. I was already struggling with my mental health and he made it worse.

"But then... One day, I decided to stand up for myself. He shoved me into a locker and I snapped, running after him down the hall and chewing him out."

Blaine winced sympathetically. "What'd he say?"

"Nothing. He, um," Kurt cleared his throat, "he kissed me. Threatened to kill me if I told anyone. All that torment, it was because he was gay and had a crush on me."

He looked horrified. "That's awful."

"An– I–" Kurt's throat was stuck. He couldn't say anything else. He just nodded.

And it was Blaine's turn.

"Andrew, well, he... He used to be the sweetest person I knew. He helped me get through life and made me smile. We had Tracy, and... He slowly changed. Slow enough that I didn't realize it until he was, well, beating me. He was always angry, yelling and arguing and slamming doors. He came home drunk a lot. It always happened at home, behind closed doors, until he flipped out on me one night while we were in town. He got caught, and arrested.

"He never did it in front of her, but Tracy's a smart girl. She knows what happened. Luckily she doesn't have PTSD from it, she doesn't like it when people get mad but that's about it. Her nightmares are still a kid's being-eaten-by-a-giant-grape, not about the toxic household she grew up in."

They were both quiet, and Kurt tried to force the words out.

"The– it's so– there–" His voice was tight.

"Kurt?" Blaine asked worriedly.

"Th– there is some-something else," Kurt managed to get out. "But I– I can't–"

"You can't say it," Blaine finished for him. Kurt nodded. "You don't have to tell me."

He pulled out his phone, typing in his notes and showing it to Blaine. He had to set it on the table, his shaking hands unable to hold it still.

I need to tell someone, and I trust you. Only you and Will know he kissed me. But there's more. Something I didn't tell anyone.
He raped me. More than once. I can't look at him without feeling sick.

Blaine gasped. "Kurt. No wonder you didn't want me to leave you alone with him. Are you okay?"

"I am now," he said quietly. "But please, never leave me alone with him."

"I won't. I promise."