One: Mike

Blaine drove his hands into the bag one after another. The rhythm was almost soothing, almost enough to let him forget what happened. He was so angry and he had to get it out. The therapist his mother had made him talk to after the Sadie Hawkins dance had suggested he find a physical outlet. Not surprising, given that he was developing an ulcer at 14 from all the stress and these days it was mostly under control. The boxing helped, and usually having Kurt to talk to helped more. He didn't have to be anything or anyone other than what he was with Kurt and it was a huge weight off his shoulders. This time was different though, these were Kurt's friends and that made things complicated.

He was starting to get tired when his half-hearted attack on the bag was interrupted when the door opened. He didn't look up, "Please, Kurt. I just need some time, then we can talk about it."

"Guess again," said a quiet low voice. Blaine turned from the bag to see Mike Chang close the door behind him.

"You don't have to talk to me if you don't want to, but I thought you might need a friendly ear."

Blaine let his arms drop to his sides, he had not expected Mike to come after him, "I don't know what to say. I'm sorry I flipped out like that. I was rude and a hypocrite, I probably embarrassed Kurt. God, why am I such a fuck up." He picked a point at the opposite wall to stare at, hoping Mike wouldn't notice the tears in his eyes.

"Whoa. Don't be so hard on yourself," Mike said, "I for one can't believe you didn't go off weeks ago. Although I expected it to be Finn or possibly Santana if you didn't have a good sense of self-preservation."

"It shouldn't have been anyone. Okay, maybe Finn," Blaine said with just a hint of a smile.

"Let's start there. I thought you guys were cool last year," Mike asked.

Blaine shrugged, "So did I, I don't know what his problem is. Maybe it's about the lead? I don't want to be the only soloist. You guys are too good for that. Did you know that one of the things that helped me realize my feelings for Kurt was when called the Warblers "Blaine and the Pips"?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, he wouldn't have done it when we first met, but once he started to feel more like himself I couldn't resist him, " Blaine said blushing.

Mike rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. "Did you know Sam was the one who went with Artie and I to tell Karofsky to back off last year? He got a black eye."

"Great," said Blaine, shaking his head, "As if picking on the homeless kid for taking care of his family didn't make me enough of a jackass already. It's not sex I have a problem with, it's selling sex and using sex that bothers me."

"Okay, yeah. I get that it's kind of icky, but you have some real problems with it. Will you explain it to me? "

"There are lots of reasons, but I'll start with the one only you will understand. I don't know how much Kurt has told you all about why I transferred to Dalton, but things at my public school were pretty bad. The bullying didn't start after I came out, or even when I started to notice I was different. When I was younger they picked on me because my mother is from the Philippines," Blaine explained.

Mike nodded and sighed, "I think I know where this is going, but go ahead and finish."

"It was just the usual bad accents and chop suey jokes at first. I used to get so mad as a kid, I would run over to the big world map and try to tell them the Philippines was it's own country and that kind of thing. Like it made a difference. Then middle school started and all of a sudden it was geisha jokes, comments about massage parlors, and "me love you long time". I was too small to make them shut up. I know I should have just ignored them, but it was almost a relief when they started picking on me for being gay. At least then they would leave her out of it."

"I would have gotten suspended for beating up Max Mason freshman year if Figgins wasn't scared to death of my father," Mike said. "It's not just my mom, I know Tina gets that shit all the time when I'm not around and I just want to punch something ."

"Yeah, well I punched Sam. Well I tried to, and his suggestion didn't even have anything to do with me. He just wants to win. It's just that being at McKinley has just been so much harder than I expected," Blaine said.

"You need to stand up for yourself. I promise Kurt won't be mad if you don't let us walk all over you. Sometimes you have to shout to be heard around here," Mike said.

"Well it looks like I needed my own advice more than Kurt ever did. I guess I better find some courage, and apologize to Sam while I'm at it," Blaine said, pulling the tape from his hands. "Thanks Mike, you and Puck are the only ones who've really let me in."

"You're welcome, man. Anytime. And just so you know Puck probably still feels guilty for the way he treated Kurt before glee started, but he's grown up a lot. I think you'd be a good influence on him. Artie just goes along with all his stupid ideas so he'll be included. I'm having the guys over tomorrow to play Halo, why don't you come, " said Mike.

Blaine thought for a minute, he didn't have definite plans with Kurt and at least that was one place Sebastian couldn't run into him, "Great, I'll be there. I'm going to go get cleaned up."

Two: Sam

Once he showered Blaine went back to the choir room where everyone was packing up and approached Sam, "Can I talk to you? Alone?"

"Yeah, okay. Mr. Schue can we use your office for a minute?" Sam still looked angry, and Blaine didn't blame him.

Schuester looked between them, "Sure guys. No blood on the carpet, okay." Both boys rolled their eyes and Blaine followed Sam into the small room off to the side.

As soon as the door closed behind them Sam dropped into Mr. Schue's swivel chair and crossed his arms, "You wanted to talk, so talk."

Blaine bit his lip "Your job is your business, not mine. I know you've given up a lot for your family."

"Look Blaine, I would do just about anything for Stevie and Stacy. I'm not the smartest guy, so I had to find something I could do. I can't say I'm especially proud of dancing, but I won't apologize for it either," Sam said.

"You're right, I should be the one apologizing. I'm sorry, Sam. Bullying aside, I've really been pretty sheltered and I had no right to judge you for doing what you had to do."

"Why did you get so mad? You didn't get mad when Rachel and Finn thought Kurt was cheating on you, but this is what pushes you over the edge? I don't get it," Sam said, letting his arms drop to his sides and swinging his feet up to the edge of Schue's desk. Blaine's first reaction was shock that someone would do that in a teacher's office, and then he remembered he was at McKinley and Schue if not Coach Sylvester had probably done worse on that desk.

"It's complicated. It's not just one thing," Blaine said. His voice sounded tired even to his own ears.

"So give me clue," Sam said.

"Its about my mom, but it's also about Carlie."

"Is Carlie your sister?" Sam asked. Blaine snorted, "She could be, but no. Carlie is my stepmother. My twenty-six year old stepmother."

"Ouch. Let me guess, she's hot, " Sam said eagerly. Blaine sighed, he'd gotten the same reaction from Wes and David at first. His friends always wanted to visit and check out his stepmother.

Blaine grimaced, "She looks like one those girls on that Playboy reality show. Bleach blond hair, mostly plastic parts. She even has a stupid little dog she keeps in her purse. Every time she sticks her chest out or wiggles her ass my dad gives her whatever she wants. She drives a porsche, her engagement ring was several carats, you get the idea."

"So you don't get along?"

"Carlie can't relate to a guy who isn't interested in her mini-skirt. My dad can't relate to anyone he can't feel superior to because he married her," Blaine said bitterly and then smirked a little. "She hates the bow-ties and the sock thing drives them both nuts. It was an accident the first day, I got my feet wet and took my socks off to dry. I borrowed a bow-tie from Kurt a few days later because he said it matched my shirt. As soon as I saw their reaction I ditched the socks and spent an hour shopping online with dad's credit card. Kurt loves the bow-ties, but this is a bonus."

Sam shook his head, "Well, thanks for making me feel like the lucky one for a little while. I get why the selling sex thing freaks you out. I'm sure we can come up with something tamer for Sectionals. You were kind of right, we are better than that."

Blaine stuck out his hand and grinned when Sam shook it, "Let's get everyone together at lunch to brainstorm. We can do this."

"I really think we can," said Sam.

Three: Finn

Feeling a lot more like himself Blaine headed to Kurt's house. He really wanted to clear the air tonight so they could start out on the right foot tomorrow. He'd be able to sleep better that away, and he desperately needed some time to talk things out with Kurt. He knew his outburst had been an unpleasant surprise for his boyfriend.

He was glad when Mrs. Hummel answered the door, "Blaine, honey, come in. Kurt is upstairs in his room."

"Thanks, ma'am. I 'd really like to talk to Finn first if I could. Glee club business," Blaine said, stuffing his hands in his pockets in an attempt to look calmer. She smiled and patted his shoulder, "He's in the den watching the basketball game."

When Blaine entered the den Finn muted the tv and crossed his arms, "Kurt's in his room."

"I know," Blaine said, "I was hoping to speak with you actually."

"What do you want?" Finn said, pushing another handful of chips into his mouth. Blaine took a deep breath and tried not to get angry all over again. "I want to know what your problem is," he said, "you were cool about me singing with you guys at prom, and then all of a sudden you can't stand me being in New Directions. I don't need every solo like Rachel does, I'm sure Kurt will call me out on it if I get too many."

"It's not about that, dude. Okay, so it's a little bit about that. It's just...I can't be everywhere and it's driving me crazy," Finn said.

Blaine paused, "I don't know what you mean by that."

Finn slammed his hand down on the sofa cushion beside him and Blaine backed up into the door way.

"I promised Burt I'd look out for him. And it was bad enough before, at McKinley, when it was just him! Now both of you are there and it's like he's flipping the hockey team the bird every time he smiles at you. Prom was bad enough, and I was stupid and I wasn't there and it could have been so much worse," Finn says, voice breaking.

"Finn, are you saying you think it's more dangerous for Kurt now that we go to the same school?" Blaine can't say he hadn't thought about it, but so far it didn't seem to be an issue. Figgins had shown his parents the new policy against physical violence. It wasn't everything, but it was a start.

"It's not just school, man. You guys are out together all the time and there are bigger, meaner, dudes than Karofsky in this town. I can't protect you," Finn said, obviously distressed.

"So yelling at me was the solution to that?" Blaine couldn't help but soften towards Finn just a little, but he still didn't understand the connection.

Finn looked at his shoes, "I thought if you hated it here you'd go back to Dalton, and even if Kurt didn't go with you it would be safer if you were down in Westerville a lot of the time. I guess it's not really going to work."

He really didn't know what to say, so he just kind of stared at Finn for a minute. "So you don't hate me?" Blaine asked in a small voice. It seemed like a really pathetic question, but he'd been trying so hard to get Kurt's family and friends to accept him.

Finn shook his head, "No, even if I didn't like you, and you're a pretty cool guy when you aren't making Sam feel bad, I couldn't hate you. Kurt's been so much happier this year, he only insults me half as much as he used to."

Blaine smiled a little, "Sam and I are cool, I apologized. I don't want to win like that, and I don't think you really do either. I still had no business judging him."

Blaine thought for a minute before he continued, "Finn, I think it's really brave of you to want to protect Kurt. Please know that I would put myself between him and anyone who wanted to hurt him. We are really careful when we go out, but we can't just hide until we can move to New York. I'm not ashamed of loving Kurt, and I won't act like I am."

Finn nods, "Yeah, I thought you'd say something like that. So then why do you keep hanging out with that Warbler douche who puts Kurt down all the time?"

"Sebastian? He keeps showing up and it's starting to creep me out. I blocked him on Facebook, but the guy just can't take a hint," Blaine sighed. "That's another reason I don't want to, um flaunt it, at Sectionals. I know he'll show up and I don't want him to take anything as encouragement."

"We can St. James him and slash his tires, or just throw eggs at him. Puck and I haven't decided which one actually counts as " " somebody yet, " Finn said.

"That's okay Finn, don't do anything," Blaine said. He was tempted though, really tempted. "At least not until after Regionals. I wouldn't want anyone to get suspended...and stick with the eggs. Property damage is a bad idea."

"Got it, and please don't tell Rachel what we're calling it," Finn said. "You'd better go talk to Kurt, I think he's worried about you. Usually only Rachel storms out of rehearsal like that."

"Okay, I'll see you at practice tomorrow. I'm actually looking forward to it now," Blaine said.

"Later dude," said Finn.

Four : Kurt

Blaine took the steps two at a time up to Kurt's room This was going to be the easiest of the conversations he'd had today. When he got there he saw that Kurt's door was open a little so he knocked on the door frame.

"Can I come in?" He asked when Kurt looked up at him and gave him the little smile he'd been waiting to see for hours. "I don't know. The punch gets a 9.5, but the storm out was only a 7. You need to work on your flounce," Kurt said.

"You're not mad?" Blaine stopped to wrap his arms around Kurt's shoulders for a second before taking his usual spot on the end of the bed.

"Mad? No," Kurt said, "Do I wish you'd talked to me before whatever is going on with you boiled over? Yes." Kurt stood from the desk chair and sat next to Blaine.

Blaine felt a little guilty at that. Kurt was right, that was their thing and he hadn't been very honest about the hard time he was having fitting in at McKinley. "I'm sorry, I've already apologized to Sam and it's cool. I've felt a little awkward talking to you about Finn, especially since I asked you to let it go in the first place, but I think we just settled things."

"Should I ask?" Kurt said, with a raised eyebrow. Blaine shook his head, "I think it's better if I just tell you he really cares about you and takes protecting you extremely seriously."

Kurt just sighed and shook his head, "I'll deal with him later."

Blaine leaned into the contact when Kurt put an arm around his shoulders, "Still, I've only ever seen you get angry around Karofsky. What's going on with you, B?"

Blaine let his head drop to rest against Kurt's, "All the talk about wanting to use sex for Sectionals just freaked me out a bit."

"We did Animal for the Crawford girls last year because you wanted to "sexify" the Warblers. You tried to teach me how to be sexy. And don't forget what we learned from that week," Kurt said.

"If I ever say the word sex in your father's presence again it will become a concept I only have distant memories of," Blaine said in a teasing monotone. Then he got serious, "First of all, I know I've said it before, but it's worth repeating: you need no help being sexy, but it's better when you don't try. Second, that was different, it was just for fun. We weren't trying to get anything from those girls except maybe a date for Trent. That was before Carlie and, well, that was before we um, got closer."

"How is your evil step-mother anyhow?"

"She persuaded my father to take her to the Poconos for the long weekend, and she's been dropping hints about a new car," Blaine said.

"So your house is empty this weekend? Why did you not mention this before? What are we doing here?" Kurt teased.

Blaine shook his head and kissed Kurt on the top of the head, "Tomorrow after rehearsal."

"And what does that have to do with you freaking out on Sam today?" Blaine should have known better, Kurt was not that easily distracted.

"It's just that when sex was just something other people did it didn't matter. You know how special you are to me and how much it means to me that we shared that part of ourselves with each other. Maybe I'm selfish, but I don't want to share that with anyone else, even a little bit," Blaine said taking Kurt's hand and pressing it against his heart.

Kurt lifted their joined hands to his lips and kissed them lightly, "Not good at romance? I call bullshit Blaine Warbler. That is one of the sweetest things you've ever said to me. Do you think I can get a private performance of that body roll sometime though?"

Blaine laughed, "I think that can be arranged, as long as I get some of that trademark shimmy Mike finds so distracting."

"It's a deal," Kurt said and dragged Blaine back further on the bed.