Chapter Text
“I’ll never say good-bye to you.”
If only Kurt had meant that all those years ago, but then he went to New York to attend NYADA and their relationship couldn’t withstand the distance. They broke up and Blaine was left heartbroken. But after a few months of mourning and a good talk with Finn and Sam, he had a game plan. Blaine truly believed that once he had graduated from McKinley that he could move to New York, get into NYADA and win Kurt back. It seemed foolproof. However, that proved to be such a tall order. He moved, certainly, and got into NYADA no problem. But trying to find Kurt? Now that seemed impossible. In fact, if it weren’t for Rachel, Santana and Brittany, he might have worried that he had fallen completely off the face of the planet. Although it seemed like they couldn’t tell him much. All they knew was that he was alive, in New York, working for Vogue and supposedly living with a guy named Adam that he had met in NYADA. Occasionally they would see him but he rarely spoke about what he had been up to, which was surprising to not only them but Blaine as well. What was even more weird was that Burt and Finn knew nothing else. Surely they would know something, right? After all, they were family.
Blaine had been in New York for two years before he finally saw Kurt for the first time. It was unmistakably him. Kurt looked very much the same as he had three years ago and yet, he looked different. He looked even more mature, slim, yet strong. His hair was perfectly coifed and his outfit was pristine, even if it was something that Blaine had never seen Kurt wear before and seemed out of his typical style. Blaine chalked that up to him evolving to his new surroundings and nothing more. As Blaine saw him, he felt his heart skip a beat and his breath catch. He couldn’t take his eyes off him. Oh, how he missed him.
Kurt must have felt eyes on him and looked across the bar until his cerulean blue eyes found Blaine. Time seemed to stop for a moment as their gazes met and Blaine could have sworn that Kurt had smiled at him. But then Kurt’s eyes were drawn elsewhere as someone called his name, which spurned Blaine into action. Blaine tried to rush across the bar but the crowd slowed his progress and by the time Blaine had reached the spot Kurt had been in, Kurt was long gone.
Blaine wouldn’t see him again for another four years.
It wasn’t for lack of trying. Blaine had frequented that bar every day for the following six months in the hope that he would see Kurt again. When that didn’t work, he called Vogue to try and find him but he was turned away. So then he sought help from the police. They told him they couldn’t help since he wasn’t technically missing. But that ask wasn’t a complete waste as Blaine found an unlikely, yet irritating ally from his request. “You ever consider that Hummel just wants nothing to do with you, Killer?”
“You’re not helping, Sebastian,” he replied with irritation in his tone as he spoke on the phone.
Somehow the archrival had become a detective with the NYPD and for the life of Blaine, he couldn’t figure out how that happened nor why he wanted to help Blaine find Kurt. After all, it was no secret that Sebastain loathed Kurt’s very existence and yet, when he heard that Blaine was trying to find him, he offered his help without hesitation. But he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Especially when he seemed to be incredibly helpful, outside of the occasional insult or complaint. Sebastian had been using his resources within the police department to at least make sure they knew he was in the city, which was desperately needed when they found out Kurt hadn’t shown up to work for the past month. At least, that was all they could find out as Vogue refused to say much else and all his boss, Isabelle, could say was that he was still employed but out of the office. What that meant? Sebastian had been working on figuring out what that meant. “You know, it’s possible he’s just trying to take some personal time.”
“Personal time where?” Blaine asked as he balanced his phone between his shoulder and his ear, “I called Finn and they haven’t heard from him either. I’m telling you - something is wrong. Kurt would never intentionally not reach out to his dad.”
“The last time you properly spoke to him was when he broke up with you when you came to visit him seven years ago. People change, Blaine.”
“Not Kurt. Look,” he paused, closing the door to his fridge as he fetched a beer to take with him to the tiny desk where his laptop sat open with Google pulled up, “I know it sounds crazy, but my gut is telling me something is wrong. And you know it too, otherwise you would not be trying to help me.”
There was silence on the other end of the phone, although Blaine could hear the smug and impressed grin that Sebastian was sporting. “Touche, Anderson. Did you hear from Berry or the only two interesting lesbians that came out of Lima?”
“No,” Blaine vocalized since Sebastian couldn’t see the shake of his head, “which is weird. Normally they’re good about calling me back. Although, to be fair, Rachel is in the middle of rehearsals for Wicked and Santana is taking care of Hazel while Britt is on tour with Mercedes, although she should be back in town soon. I guess four year olds can be a handful.”
Blaine was about to sit down in front of his computer when he heard a knock at his door. He froze for a moment as he stared at the door. “Huh, that’s weird…” he muttered.
“What’s weird?”
“Someone’s at the door.”
“Did Sam forget his keys again?”
“Sam is modelling in Paris right now.” Blaine looked at his calendar on the wall, just to make sure he wasn’t confusing dates again. The date was marked as part of Sam’s trip itinerary and the only next event was Finn, and Finn wasn’t supposed to be there for another few days to help aid in the search for Kurt. Who could it be? “Well, who is it?”
The door knocked again and Blaine was jolted into action as he walked to the door. “Hang on a second and I’ll tell you….”
Blaine wasn’t sure who he expected it to be. It was possible it was Sebastian messing with him. It wouldn’t be the first time, nor the last. Or it could be Rachel or Santana checking on him instead of texting him back. Or maybe Finn decided to catch an earlier flight. But when Blaine opened the door, who he saw shocked him so much that his whole body froze. “Oh my God…..”
Blaine was at a loss for words as he took in who it was. He blinked a few times, wondering if his eyes were playing tricks on him and that his mind was so hopeful that it was Kurt standing in front of him that it conjured this image. But after he blinked, the figure didn’t move or fade away. It was Kurt, although, the way he looked was so not the Kurt he knew. His face was sunken and pale, adorned with bruises on his jaw, hairline and around his neck. His eyes were dark and baggy as if he hadn’t slept for ages and one was more purple than the other. But then Kurt’s mouth opened and he spoke. “Blaine….” His voice was soft with that same tone that Blaine knew all too well. The same song that Blaine heard in his dreams and his memories whenever he thought of Kurt. “Blaine…..I need help….”
Suddenly Kurt’s eyes closed and his knees buckled. Blaine dropped his phone to catch him before he fell the floor and for the first time in seven years, Blaine held Kurt in his arms. He could hear Sebastian calling his name from his speaker but he paid him no mind as he took that moment to scoop Kurt up in his arms and carry him to his bed. Kurt was much heavier than he remembered, which was slightly comforting, given the state of the rest of him. It took him a minute but he got him into the room and carefully settled on the bed. After tucking him in, he went back and picked up his phone, hearing Sebastian calling his name louder and louder and threatening some serious bodily harm if he didn’t answer. But Blaine didn’t acknowledge those comments. Instead, all he said was, “It’s him. It’s Kurt.”
“What?! How is that possible?”
“I don’t know….I don’t….but it’s him. He’s here, Sebastian.”
“I’m on my way.” The phone clicked as the line disconnected and only then did Blaine text the girls about the latest development, followed by a text to Finn. They needed to know and if they found out he didn’t tell them as soon as he arrived, they all would have killed him. He couldn’t believe it and he had to sit by Kurt’s beside and hold his hand just to make sure that this wasn’t some cruel trick. Blaine had had enough hopeful dreams that only resulted in mourning as he woke to find that none of it was real.
Sebastian arrived an hour later, letting himself in as Blaine had given him a key, just in case, and finding Blaine still at Kurt’s bedside. He was about to make some snarky comment but then he saw Kurt in the bed, still very passed out and the discolorations all over his face and neck. There were probably more, no doubt, but they were covered by the three layers of blankets that Blaine had covered him in. “Holy shit, it’s actually him,” he said as he stood next to Blaine, “although he might get eaten by the bed if you put another blanket on him.”
“He was shivering and Kurt’s always been susceptible to the cold,” Blaine said with a soft breath, never taking his eyes off of Kurt. He had to admit that he felt that if he looked away that Kurt would disappear. He wasn’t about to let him out of his sight. Not again and certainly not anytime soon. “I texted the girls and haven’t heard anything yet,” he added.
“He tell you how he got those marks on his face?” he asked as he studied the blue and purple bruises that littered his skin. But Blaine shook his head. “Not at all. He just said he needed help and then passed out.”
Sebastian tilted his head as he stepped to the other side of Kurt’s bed. Blaine didn’t move – only watched as Sebastian leaned over and pulled a hand from his pocket to ghost over Kurt’s face and neck. “What are you doing?”
“Checking something,” he said, carefully pressing a pad to one of the bruises on his jaw and then holding his palm over Kurt’s neck as if he was about to grab it. “The bruising….some of them are pretty old and some are pretty fresh. And the patterns…..looks like someone worked him over pretty well.”
Sebastian pulled out his phone and snapped a couple of pictures. “We should probably get him to a doctor. Give him a good once-over and make sure that this bruising isn’t hiding anything serious.”
“Once he wakes up,” Blaine said, turning his gaze back to Kurt’s face.
Sebastian nodded. “Well, hopefully he wakes up here really soon and can fill us in on what he’s been up to. You got anything to drink while we wait? Who knows how long Sleeping Beauty here is going to stay passed out.”
“Top shelf above the fridge,” Blaine replied absentmindedly while he sat there and watched Kurt’s chest rise and fall under the blankets. He didn’t look away when Sebastian left the room, nor when he called from the kitchen to complain about the abysmal collection of whiskeys he had on hand. He barely turned when he heard someone knock on his door a few hours later and Sebastian talking to someone on the other side, although his attention was caught as he heard Rachel’s voice and quick footsteps getting closer and closer. It was only when she broke the threshold into the room did he finally turn, seeing the little starlet looking both frazzled and relieved at the same time. “Oh good, he found you.”
Now that made Blaine and Sebastian, who had followed her into the room, furrow their brows and their backs stiffen. “You’re not surprised he’s here?” Blaine asked.
Rachel shook her head. “I couldn’t tell you before – Kurt asked me not to say anything until he got here.”
Blaine felt something in the pit of his stomach. “What do you mean?”
Rachel took a breath. “It’s bad….”