Title: An Eye for an Eye
Rating: T (for fairly minor violence and swearing)
Word Count: 5,188
Pairings/Characters: Kurt/Blaine, Sebastian, Le Warblers, Le New Directions
Summary: He knows that he is the only one who's going to bother to step up and take Sebastian down a peg. He doesn't mind that he's doing it alone, he's used to dealing with problems by himself. If being bullied his entire life has taught him anything, it's that you can only really rely on yourself. He knows Kurt feels that way too, and because of that they'd mutually decided to rely on each other.
Warnings/Spoilers: sort of spoilers for 3x11. I don't own anything you recognise from Glee. Also sorry for the shitty science, I'm no chemist! (:

Blaine had always had a problem controlling his anger – although that's not completely true; it just feels like it has always been there because the time before it was feels like another life entirely. His main anger issues started after being bullied for so many years, and after being beaten within an inch of his life after the Sadie Hawkins dance, his anger had started to grow exponentially, ultimately culminating in him taking up boxing – which he was surprisingly skilled at - and (although he's fairly certain Finn thinks he was joking) founding the Dalton branch of Fight club. Turns out he was by far not the only one at Dalton dealing with unresolved anger issues that were seemingly helped by beating each other black and blue.

Blaine was utterly seething with undiluted rage as he walked purposefully down the pristine marble corridor at Dalton Academy, a place he had once considered his home and safe haven. As he walked he remembered all the things that had happened in this corridor - he'd walked down here with his father before swallowing his pride and agreeing to be transferred out of public school; he'd performed more numbers with the Warblers here than he cared to count; and he had met Kurt on the staircase behind him – and that was the most significant memory of all. That day had changed (and greatly improved, he reminded himself) his whole life, so he would be damned if Sebastian thought he could walk in here and try to ruin the best thing that had ever happened to him.

When he had seen the slushie being pulled from the bag behind him (handed to Sebastian by his so called friend Nick) he had braced himself for the icy cold that had never come – because Kurt, who had been standing by his side at the time, had shoved him out of the way with all of his might. Before he'd even had time to process what on Earth had just happened, Kurt had started screaming – not just ow-it-stings-screaming, he was absolutely howling as if someone had stuck a red hot poker in his eye. Blaine hadn't bothered to chase after his so-called friends because at that moment, his primary concern was Kurt.

Four hours, three doctors and an eye patch later, Kurt was safe at home with his family – until Friday morning when he would have to return to the hospital to have surgery to repair the deep scratch on his cornea. At first Blaine and the New Directions hadn't been able to make sense of it – they'd all been slushied frequently, Artie had once even been simultaneously slushied by every member of the JV Hockey team and other than a severe headache, the only damage had been to his pride. After much debate, Mike and Artie had gone back to the parking garage and fetched the cup that Sebastian had used to throw the slushie. Some bright red dregs still swam in the bottom so the boys had brought the cup back to their school's chemistry lab, and with the help of their teacher they'd discovered that there had been rock salts mixed into the slushie, effectively turning it into an icy cold time bomb.

That was how, an hour and a half later, Blaine finds himself storming down the corridor in the direction of the room where he knew the Warbler practise was currently being held. He can hear them all practising a lively, wordless tune that would no doubt be part of their backing track for Regionals. Despite the fact that it was deeply ingrained in him never to interrupt a performance or rehearsal because it was terribly impolite, he barges in anyway, crashing the heavy double doors open with a loud bang. Several members of the Warblers with their backs to the door jump up in fright.

"Spy!" Thad yells upon sight of Blaine.

Blaine rolls his eyes, spinning round to face Thad, "Do you think I give a shit about your set list for regionals right now?" He asks, trying not to yell.

Blaine turns back to survey the room, ignoring whatever response Thad had been about to give him, eyeing Sebastian immediately.

"You." He half growls, meeting Sebastian's eyes as he stands up.

"Blaine, how nice to see you;" Sebastian says flirtatiously, a predatory smile playing on his lips. "What can I do for you? Bored of your little prudish boyfriend?" He asks, taking a step forward.

"Do you have any idea what you've done?" Blaine asks, his voice dangerously low and he too stalks forwards.

"Shown you how weak Kurt really is?" Sebastian counters, smirking as he shoves his hands into his pockets, standing tall while looking completely relaxed.

"Actually, you've put him in the hospital. We know what you put in that slushie." Blaine responds, folding his arms across his chest and curling his hands into fists.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Sebastian says, looking slightly unsettled though he covers it well. Blaine can hear some of the Warblers around them muttering too each other, though he can't catch exactly what they were saying.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. You put rock salt in that slushie and now Kurt has to have surgery because you couldn't take NO for an answer." Blaine is all but yelling as he finishes his sentence.

He tries to remind himself to stay calm, to control his emotions better, but it really isn't working. He knows that Kurt won't like that he came here to confront Sebastian, and he also knows that Burt, the best father figure he's ever had, will likely be very disappointed in him; but he can't let it go. Mr. Shuester had wanted to forget about it and let it blow over while the New Directions had wanted to solve it by singing about it for gods sake! He knows that he is the only one who's going to bother to step up and take Sebastian down a peg. He doesn't mind that he's doing it alone, he's used to dealing with problems by himself. If being bullied his entire life has taught him anything, it's that you can only really rely on yourself. He knows Kurt feels that way too, and because of that they'd mutually decided to rely on each other. They are the only ones who know what it feels like to spend every day being persecuted because of something they can't control, so they had had no choice but to look out for each other.

"Kurt didn't have to get in the way, that slushie wasn't really meant for him after all." Sebastian says angrily.

"I don't care!" Blaine shouts back, uncurling his arms and stepping ever closer to Sebastian. He can feel a familiar heat curling through his bones, the kind that usually comes with extreme anger and preceded him punching the hell out of his punching bag at home in the basement. Don't hit him, he reminds himself for what felt like the hundredth time that day, don't hit him because if you do that then you're making Kurt love someone who is angry, violent and scary. He deserves so much better than that.

"Maybe I should have gone after Kurt rather than you – I bet he's real easy when it comes to getting on his knees for someone." Sebastian drawls with that irritatingly nasal voice of his.

Sebastian takes another step forwards, leaving barely a foot of space between them. They can both hear the Warblers whispering uncertainly to each other across the room, all hoping that a fight wasn't about to break out. Blaine thinks he hears someone quietly place a bet about who'll throw the first punch but he isn't sure because everything is slowly being drowned out by the roaring in his ears. He's been angry before, he knows that feeling well; but this is something far, far stronger than that, and it's boiling in his blood like molten lava, searching for a way to be released.

Before he really even consciously decides to do it he pulls his fist back and punches Sebastian in the face twice, once in the eye and once on the nose (which makes a sickeningly satisfying crunch). He hits him so hard he knows that his knuckles will be left bruised, before grabbing him by the lapels and slamming him into the wall opposite the doors.

"DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT HIM LIKE THAT!" He yells, right in Sebastian's face. Sebastian actually looks scared now, as if he's suddenly realised far too late that he's bitten off far more than he could chew when it came to messing with Kurt and Blaine's relationship.

"HE HAS BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH SHIT IN HIS LIFE WITHOUT SOMEONE AS PATHETIC AS YOU COMING ALONG AND TRYING TO MAKE IT WORSE!" Blaine shouts, their faces so close together that their noses are touching.

Sebastian must be still partly trying to save face in front of the Warblers because he raises his left hand to Blaine's throat and his right hand to the back Blaine's left hand (which is still clutching the lapel of Sebastian's jacket) and scratches Blaine so deeply that he actually cries out.

Sebastian's right eye is dark red and ever so slightly puffy as Blaine pulls him forwards slightly before slamming him back into the wall with enough force to make several nearby paintings rattle and shake against the oak wood panelling.

"It's not so nice having someone hurt your eye, is it?" He spits before letting go of Sebastian's blazer and stepping backwards as Sebastian slides to the floor, both of them panting heavily with a combination of fear, exertion and adrenaline.

"If you ever come near Kurt or I again, I promise I will make sure that you go to juvie for what you did to him. Do you understand?" He asks leaning down and pointing at him threateningly before turning away from him and stalking towards the door, weaving a path between the Warblers who are all watching him, open mouthed with shock – because they've never seen Blaine like this before. As far as they were all concerned (apart from the three he knew from their thirty-something-strong fight club) he was the quiet, rule abiding kid who was always on time or early to Warbler practise and used his lunch breaks to take extra credit classes – but apparently they hadn't been paying close enough attention, because where the hell had he learnt to punch like that?

"When I tell my father about this, I'm going to bury you, Anderson." Sebastian shouts at Blaine's retreating back. Blaine stops, but does not turn around. There is a long tense silence, which is only broken by a soft voice from behind him.

"Tell him about what?" Nick pipes up cautiously, "why would your father care that you were clumsy enough to walk into a door?" his voice is laced with guilt, and Blaine turns slowly to face his old friend, not understanding where Nick was intending to go with this one.

"What the fuck are you talking about? You just watched this psycho assault me!" Sebastian shouts and Blaine tries to squash the second wave of fury that is threatening to bubble up inside him that Sebastian is still looking for sympathy, looking for people to be on his side.

"No, we watched you trip over your own feet and smack your face on the door on your way into practise." Jeff corrects him, his voice sounding much like Nick's – filled with guilt but also a shot of sarcasm there too.

Sebastian and Blaine both stare around the room at the assembled group of Warblers, as if trying to see if they're seriously about to back Blaine up.

It seems they must be because one by one the Warblers are all slowly turning to face Sebastian with cold stares.

"They're right. We all saw you trip – no one assaulted you Sebastian." Trent says, casting a sad, apologetic look at Blaine who regards them all with a thin mask of indifference. Just because the Warblers were on his side at this moment, and just because they hadn't known what Sebastian had done to the slushie, didn't mean that they weren't part of the plan to throw a regular slushie at Kurt – nor did it counter the fact that not one single member of this group of boys, who this time two months ago would have counted Kurt and Blaine amongst their best friends, had bothered to stay back and help when they realised there was something wrong.

"In fact… you're injured. Maybe you should take a time out from performing with the Warblers." Someone else suggests, and Blaine knows it's time to leave. If Sebastian gets his breath back anytime soon and retaliates, it doesn't matter how much the Warblers swear that his soon-to-be black eye and potentially broken nose were accidents, no one will believe them if Blaine is covered in bruises too – it's going to be difficult enough to hide the scratches on his neck and the back of his hand as it is. With that Blaine exchanges a nod with Jeff, Nick and Trent, before turning on his heel and marching back the way he came. The doors close behind him with an air of finality, like he's closed a chapter in his life as he makes his way back to his car. He calls Burt as he drives, convincing him that he can't be away from Kurt tonight, that he needs to know he's okay. Burt somewhat reluctantly agrees that he can stay over. There is no mention of whether he is expected to sleep on the couch or whether he will be allowed to stay in Kurt's bed, but in Blaine's mind there is no question – he needs to hold Kurt in his arms, protect him from the world.

He tries not to let himself think about how much of his old self he allowed to seep through tonight when he had attacked Sebastian, because if he thinks about it too much he's going to wind up spending the next few days wallowing in self hatred. He pushes the thoughts from his mind and speeds all the way back to Lima, back to Kurt, back home.

It is getting late by the time Carole lets him into the Hummel-Hudson house.

"Are you okay?" She asks him concernedly, gently pulling him into the light so that she can see the scratches on his skin better.

"I'm fine," he assures her, almost shaking with the need to get up to Kurt's room to see him. Because it's slowly starting to hit him, piece by piece; Kurt was attacked, and Blaine has retaliated – both things that are causing him to flash back to another time when trying to fight of bullies and tormentors was a daily challenge. A dim voice in the back of his head is warning him that unless he gets away from Carole very quickly she's going to witness him losing all control in an entirely different manner than he had earlier, instead having a full scale panic attack. Kurt is the only one who knows how to calm him down when this happens, so he steps away from Carole and starts walking up the stairs as quickly as he can. "Goodnight." He calls over his shoulder as he goes.

"Blaine… I know that you care about Kurt…" Carole begins and Blaine stops on the stairs, turning to face her.

"I love him." He corrects her automatically, the two of them almost, but not quite, staring each other down.

"Yes, well… you won't do anything… stupid, will you?" She asks as if she already knows the answer. He already did something stupid and she can see it written all over his face.

"Of course not." He answers easily, waiting patiently for her to order him out of her house – because really, who wants a violent teenage boy in their son's bedroom late at night?

She eyes him carefully for what feels like a very long time.

"Good." She says finally, nodding her head sharply.

"Goodnight." Blaine tells her again before turning around and walking up the last few steps and hurrying into Kurt's bedroom, thus missing the worried glance Carole shoots at his back.

Blaine quietly opens the door to Kurt's room, kicking off his shoes and all of his clothes save for his boxers before climbing into bed with Kurt, who appears to be asleep. Blaine knows that he isn't when Kurt immediately slides backwards into his arms as he tucks the blankets around them comfortably.

"I thought you had to go home." Kurt murmurs, sounding on the verge of sleep.

"I did." Blaine whispers back, pressing a kiss to the back of Kurt's neck.

"But you came back." Kurt says softly. He sounds pleased, happy.

"I did." Blaine says again, pulling Kurt closer to him and tangling their legs together.

"I love you, Kurt. So much." He whispers against Kurt's skin, deciding to tell Kurt the truth in the morning – they don't lie to each other, ever; but right now he just wants to lay in the darkness, holding Kurt. He feels selfish to even think it, but he wants a few more hours without Kurt knowing how much of a monster his boyfriend really is.

Kurt gasps as he strokes across the scratches on Blaine's hand with his soft fingertips.

"Blaine… what- what happened? Are you okay? Do I need to get my Dad?" he asks, all in a rush as he tries to sit up.

"I'm fine, Kurt. It's okay, really." He reassures him, gently tugging him back down into the tangled mound of sheets and pillows.

"Are you sure?" Kurt asks uncertainly.

"I promise, baby. I'll explain in the morning." He says softly, pressing gentle kisses along Kurt's shoulder and neck.

Kurt must be exhausted because he doesn't argue, instead he nods his head sleepily, tugging Blaine's arms impossibly tighter around him.

After explaining the whole story to Kurt, (who flip-flops between telling Blaine off for being so damn reckless and kissing him senseless while muttering half formed thank yous against Blaine's lips and throat), Blaine catches a ride to school with Finn and Rachel, neither of whom seem to know how to start a conversation involving him, so in lieu of speaking, he tunes out their "discussion" about Finn's resistance to try to learn to tap dance for one of Rachel's more ridiculous Glee club ideas in favour of thinking about the day ahead – or rather, counting down the hours, minutes and seconds until he can be back with Kurt, where he belongs.

Before the three of them can part ways and head off to their respective homerooms they are approached by Mercedes who tells them that Mr Shue wants them all in the choir room immediately. They all know what it must be about but only Blaine feels his gut tighten with worry as he trails behind Finn, Rachel and Mercedes all loudly discussing how Mr Shue must surely be calling them all there to tell them that the police had agreed to press assault charges against Sebastian and by the time they reached the choir room door Rachel is already brainstorming ideas of what to sing to welcome Kurt back to Glee when he recovers from his surgery. She is quickly silenced when Mr Shue tells her to be quiet before shepherding the three of them into the room. When they sit down there is still one available seat by Blaine, and the stark emptiness of the chair makes Blaine want to race out of the room, out of the school and straight back to Kurt. Instead he tries to quiet his thoughts and turns his attention back to Mr Shuester – who Blaine now notices is not alone. Ms. Pillsbury stands on his left and Mr. Figgins stands on his right, the three teachers eyeing the glee club sternly.

"This morning Mr. Figgins was contacted by the Dalton Academy principal who informed us that their private investigation has been concluded and no charges will be brought against Sebastian or any of the other Warblers for that matter." Mr Shuester tells them. He's barely managed to get the words out before the Glee club are shouting the odds at him, telling him he should be doing more to have Sebastian punished for what he did to Kurt.

Blaine sits silently at the back, not wanting to draw attention to himself. He knows why the investigation was concluded – the Warblers probably vouched for Sebastian so that the officials at Dalton would stop eagle eyeing him, and thus would not look to closely at his shiny new black eye.

"We were just as shocked as you are, trust me." Ms. Pillsbury says to them, her hands clasped earnestly in front of her.

Unfortunately he draws more attention to himself by remaining silent and still than he would have had he joined in with the others. He realises this fact a moment too late as Mr Shuester and Mr Figgins exchange a glance before both turning to look at him.

"We were very shocked, especially considering Dalton has a zero tolerance bullying policy." Mr Shuester says, folding his arms across his chest.

"Do you know anything about this Mr. Anderson?" Mr. Figgins asks, addressing him directly. Blaine tugs at the left sleeve of his jacket, trying not to display his guilt.

"N-no, sir, I do not." He says, hoping they won't grill him too much – he's utterly exhausted and doesn't feel that he has the strength to starting creating lies today.

"Really? Then where did you get those scratches? You didn't have them yesterday." Mr Shuester asks. The rest of the Glee club turn to face his and he curses his own stupidity at not covering them up with some of Kurt's foundation this morning as he hears various whispered reactions from his fellow glee clubbers.

Blaine says nothing. He raises his chin defiantly before crossing his arms, unconsciously drawing in on himself and making himself smaller.

There is a brief silence whilst Mr Shue and Mr Figgins turn their backs of the glee club and argue in hushed voices. They turn back to face them after a minute and Blaine accidentally catches Rachel's eye – she is staring at him with a mixture of pride and horror. He knows her reaction will be much the same as Kurt's (without the kissing, of course).

"Get to homeroom now, all of you. But please remember that we will not tolerate any kind of retaliation towards the Dalton Academy Warblers." Mr Shue tells them as they all file out.

As soon as they are clear of the teachers the club turns as a whole to face Blaine, who feels thoroughly backed into a corner. The way they are standing, curved around him menacingly reminds him too much of his time spent at the mercy of the jocks at his old school and it makes him nervous. He can feel himself slipping back into defence mode and the panic claws at his insides.

"Spill it, short stack." Santana bites out as Blaine crosses his arms again.

"There's nothing to tell. You don't need to go after the Warblers, I've taken care of it." He says, his voice defensive as he stares at the ground, hoping they will all get bored and leave him alone.

Because of this, he misses the way that the Glee club is staring at him, impressed and almost, just almost intimidated.

"Are you sure? Because I reckon they'd be more agreeable if a few of us guys went in there and talked to them." Puck says, sounding far more condescending than he meant to.

Blaine's head snaps up and he stares Puck down.

"I said I took care of it. Kurt is my boyfriend, we're perfectly capable of looking after ourselves and each other without any help from you – which from what I've heard you never have given to him, even when he was being tortured by Karofsky!" Blaine hisses. Standing here in the hallway, the club can see the five, long, jagged lines etched into the skin on Blaine's throat before disappearing below his collar. He had been wearing a V-neck T-shirt when he had confronted Sebastian, so the scratches are almost five inches long.

"Easy bro, I'm not trying to start something, I'm just saying; if you want me and the boys to go in there and ruffle a few feathers we-" Puck presses, but Blaine interrupts him.

"No. Santana told you what Sebastian said about his father, if you go in there then he'll make sure you all get into trouble for it." Blaine says, tired of arguing these seemingly obvious points.

"What makes you so sure his Dad won't come after you?" Artie asks, taken aback by how fast Blaine's mood seems to change – it flips between a frightening kind of barely suppressed burning anger and a broken, defeated kind of exhaustion.

"He just won't, okay! Can I go now?" He asks, not waiting for an answer as he pushes between Finn and Rachel before walking down the corridor and straight out of the building, deciding that he can't spend the next few hours being questioned by the New Directions about what had happened – the less people who knew what he had done the better, because as much as he might have thought of them as his friends before, he didn't trust any one of them not to turn around and use it against him someday.

"Blaine, wait! Where are you going?" He hears Rachel call to him, but he ignores her, instead choosing to break into a run in his haste to get home.

He's thankful that Burt and Carole are at work today, so there's no one to ask questions or send him back to school when what he really needs right now is Kurt. He leans down and pulls the spare key from under the flower pot on the door step before turning it in the lock and letting himself in. He locks the door behind him, throws the key on the side table and races up the stairs.

"Who's there?" He hears Kurt call worriedly from inside his bedroom.

"It's me." Blaine replies, opening Kurt's bedroom door and shutting it behind himself. He drops his bag to the floor, kicks of his shoes and shrugs out of his jacket before sliding into bed beside Kurt, burying his face in his boyfriend's neck.

"Not that this isn't a welcome surprise, but—honey, are you crying?" Kurt asks with a jolt, wishing he didn't have to wear the stupid eye patch so he could see his boyfriend better.

"I just… I punched Sebastian. I attacked him in a room full of people who used to be my friends! I'm trying so hard to deal with these anger issues because I want to be good enough for you to love me but-" Blaine's whole body is shaking as Kurt wraps both arms around him and pulls him closer.

"Woah, hey what do you mean 'good enough for me to love you'?" He asks, his heart beat speeding up, because that doesn't make any sense at all – he's the one who needs to try and be good enough for Blaine, not the other way around.

"I'm damaged, Kurt. I'm not right. But I really want to be someone who you can love and be proud of!" Blaine's voice is rushed to the point of some of the words stringing together, and Kurt knows he's on the verge of a panic attack.

"Blaine listen to me," Kurt says, pulling Blaine into his lap so that he can see him better, "I love you. And I am proud of you – you've been through so much and you still manage to be the one saving me when I need it." He murmurs, reaching up to brush the tears from Blaine's face.

Blaine doesn't look appeased and Kurt eyes him cautiously.

"Blaine… is this about more than just Sebastian?" He asks slowly, hoping he's not about to set Blaine off again, he feels guilty enough about the last time that had happened.

"I… I called my father last night, before I called your Dad." Blaine starts, his voice is hushed as if he thinks that as long as he says this softly enough, he'll be able to take it back and pretend like it never happened.

"He… I told him what I did. I don't know why. But he said he was proud of me. Because I'd finally proved to him that I could fight my own battles. Kurt he was proud of me for the one thing I'm the most ashamed of in the world!" Blaine sobs, dropping his head onto Kurt's shoulder. "I'm so scared I'm turning out to be just like him." Blaine confesses, his voice muffled by the fabric of Kurt's sweater. The soft blue cloth fills his vision and a too-familiar scent burns in his nose. He leans back slowly, and Kurt eyes him cautiously as if waiting for another meltdown.

"You," Blaine says softly, "are wearing my sweater."

Kurt smiles slightly, there's a long pause before Kurt reaches up and cups Blaine's face with his hands. "It smells like you."

"You are not your father, Blaine. You are so much better than him. And I love you, so much." He says, leaning up to kiss him briefly before continuing. "You want to know the difference between you and your father, Blaine?"

When Blaine nods hesitantly, Kurt tugs Blaine down further so that they are snuggled impossibly close together under the blankets. He closes his arms protectively around Blaine, who only clutches him closer.

"The difference is that your father does not condemn violence and injustice out of a craving for power and control. You did what you did because you love me. If I was any good at boxing I would do the same for you." Kurt teased, relieved to see a smile tugging at Blaine's lips. "Blaine, baby, I need you to understand; I'm not going anywhere. I'm in love with you and that's not something I say lightly. When I say it, what I mean is I want a future with you. I want everything with you." Kurt hears his voice crack as he looks down at Blaine, whose eyes are filled with tears.

Blaine leans up enough to press his lips to Kurt's, kissing him breathless.

Blaine pulls back after a second and stares at Kurt with a kind of dawning wonderment, because Kurt's right. He isn't his father and he never will be – and maybe he won't ever be good enough for him, and maybe he doesn't believe he's good enough for anyone (let alone Kurt), but he thinks that maybe, just maybe, he might be good enough for himself. Because if someone like Kurt can love him, he must be worth more than he thought.