Hey Kurt. I really need to talk to you.

Meet you at the Lima Bean this afternoon?

S xox

It would be a lie to say that Kurt Hummel hadn't been expecting a text like this. Finn had mentioned Santana over their nightly hot milk about a week ago and if Finn knew then it was fairly safe to assume that everyone else knew too.

It kind of made sense to him. All the gay jokes, all the anger, they were all obviously Satana's way of expressing her confusion. It just wasn't fair that once the confusion was gone it had to be replaced by fear. Kurt knew about that all too well. Small-town Ohio wasn't exactly friendly when it came to accepting differences.

But Kurt still didn't really know what he could do to help. Yes, he was gay and yes, everyone knew he was proud of it, but he certainly wasn't a poster child for the suffering. He'd run away after all. It was his last resort, but he'd run. There really wasn't much advice he could give.

Regardless, come afternoon, Kurt found himself sitting in the passenger seat of Blaine's SUV outside the familiar coffee shop.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come in with you?" Blaine's voice was pleading. He hated seeing Kurt worried. Even though he was the smaller of the two, he had this insane need to protect Kurt from everything that might possibly hurt him or even cause him distress.

Kurt just rolled his eyes. He was well used to this kind of thing. Blaine's hand was still clutching the gear stick and Kurt laid his on top. He smiled gently.

"I'll be fine. Sometimes I just have to do things on my own." Blaine looked as if he was about to argue when Kurt leaned over and placed a kiss delicately on his slightly opened lips.

When he pulled away, Blaine was smiling.

"I suppose I'll survive without you for a little while." He grinned. "Although," he raised one eyebrow in a way Kurt could only describe as tantalising. "I could always use something to remember you by."

Kurt blushed. Even after all this time, Blaine still managed to make his stomach flip over. Surely there were rules against that kind of thing.

But Kurt had a job to do. He smirked back at his boyfriend. He leaned in slowly and watched as Blaine's eyelids fluttered closed. is eyes fluttered open again suddenly as Kurt pecked him on the nose before throwing open the car door and jumping out.

Blaine narrowed his eyes playfully.

Kurt bent back in through the open door.

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder," he giggled.

"Tease." Blaine pouted, attempting his trademark puppydog eyes.

"Don't even try it, Blaine Anderson," Kurt warned moving back out of the car. "I'll call you when I'm done ok?"

Blaine continued his pout and Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Goodbye," Kurt chuckled, closing the car door behind him.

The smile froze on his face when he stepped inside the door of the Lima Bean.

She was sitting alone at one of the smaller tables over on the left hand side. Kurt could see the difference in her at first glance. Her toned athletes body was no longer the picture of health but gaunt and frail. Kurt wondered if she'd stopped eating on purpose or if it was just the situation getting to her. Her hair too was missing it's usual shine, instead it looked a little greasy and hung down to cover her face, as if it could offer her just a little bit more protection from the world.

Kurt's heart wrenched in his chest. He wondered if this was anything like what Blaine saw that first day he had decided to spy on the Warblers. He made a mental note to give his boyfriend some extra hugs when he got home.

He took a deep breath and made his way over to Santana's table. He stopped and looked down at what was once one of the most sharp tongued girls in the whole of McKinley.

"Hey Santana." He had tried to use his gentlest tone but she still jumped a foot in the air at his voice.

"Oh, Kurt. Hey." It was only when she looked up at him that Kurt could see the full extent of the bullying. Santana's eyes, so usually filled with fire and spirit, were empty. She was broken.

Kurt sat down opposite the girl and rested one of his hands lightly in the middle of the table. He took a deep breath and sighed.

"Ok, start from the beginning."

Kurt sat and listened as Santana described the daily slushie facials, the taunts, the name calling.

"The whispers suck," She continued. "I know what people say to my face but how can I even start to defend myself when I don't know what they're saying behind my back?"

"But that's not the worst." Tears began to well in the girl's eyes. "Not even the Cheerios will look at me. They refuse to touch me or to throw me. Britanny is the only one who sticks by me and then all of this crap gets pushed on to her." Her voice broke. "I can't stand it. Not only are they hurting me, but by being who I am, I'm hurting her."

At this point Santana's tears were flowing freely and Kurt stretched his hand further across the table to hold hers. He rubbed his thumb comfortingly over her knuckles like Blaine did for him when he was worried.

He waited for her to calm down a little before he spoke.

"First of all, you have to stop thinking like that Santana. You are not the one hurting Britanny. In fact, I couldn't think of someone less likely to hurt her. It's that hatred inside people that is hurting her. You need to remember that, ok?"

Santana gulped, trying to control her sobs and nodded slowly at Kurt.

"Second of all, I'm really proud of you for lasting this long. I know what that school is like, I know what they do to kids like us. It takes a lot of guts to keep going back there day after day and honestly, I'm really proud of you for it."

Santana looked back up from the table at Kurt and he could almost see a glimmer of the old Santana tucked away behind the pain in her eyes.

"Thirdly," Kurt paused for a moment to gather his thoughts. "Thirdly, I want you to know that I'm willing to help you. I know what it feels like to feel alone and for it to seem like no one is there to support you. I'm here for you but," he paused again. "I need to know what I can do. You need to help me to help you."

Santana sighed and clutched a little tighter at Kurt's hand.

"This." Santana's voice was quiet but firm. "This is you helping. I can't tell you how nice it is just to be able to tell someone all of this. Someone who understands." She smiled up a Kurt, a real smile this time, one that reached her eyes. "I don't need you to be my knight in shining armour Kurt. You're safe where you are, you're happy. The last thing I want is for you to get involved in this crap all over again. Thank you for listening to me though." She gave his hand a tiny squeeze. "It really means a lot."

Kurt smiled and looked down at their hands. "Anytime."

But something Santana had said stuck with Kurt all the way back to his house and up to his bedroom where he and Blaine were attempting to study for their upcoming algebra test. Blaine was lying right in the centre of Kurt's bed, limbs splayed everywhere, his algebra book lying on his face.

"Maybe if I leave it here long enough, I'll just absorb it through osmosis," Blaine mused to no one in particular.

Kurt lifted his head from his notes and smirked at his boyfriend's form.

"Maybe if you actually attempted to read the notes I wrote for you, you wouldn't be having this problem."

Blaine sighed, turning over on his side to face Kurt who was stretched out on the window seat across from him.

"But it's so boring," Blaine whined. Kurt couldn't help but notice how adorable Blaine's bottom lip was when it stuck out.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Fine. Come over here and I'll explain the exponential function to you." He shifted himself upright so as to leave room for Blaine to sit beside him.

"Oh you and your romantic words," Blaine teased as he lifted himself from the bed and moved over to the window seat. He pressed himself right up against Kurt's side. Kurt blushed again.

"Blaine," he sighed. "We're never going to pass this test if you don't concentrate."

"I am concentrating!" Blaine sounded personally affronted. Kurt raised an eyebrow at him.

"Honestly," Blaine's voice dropped a few tones. "You have my full attention."

If Kurt had been blushing before it was nothing compared to now. He internally cursed his perfect but pale skin. He averted his gaze back to his notes.

"So the exponential function really isn't all that complicated," Kurt attempted to ignore the feeling of Blaine's breath on his neck. "And as long as you think of it in terms of natural logs it should start to make-" But the end of his sentence was lost as Blaine's lips found his neck.

He stretched his neck upwards to allow Blaine to plant five more kisses before he tossed his notebook to one side.

"Screw math," Kurt breathed and turned so he could kiss his boyfriend properly.

He could almost feel Blaine smirking into the kiss. Usually Kurt hated losing, but in this case it was rather hard to be angry with someone who could do such marvellous things with their tongue.

Kurt reached up and pulled his fingers through Blaine's curls, trying to force him closer. But Blaine needed no encouragement. His tongue traced around the inside of Kurt's mouth, drawing pictures on his pallet. Kurt moaned and moved his hands down to tug Blaine's blazer off his shoulders.

Blaine moved his mouth back down to Kurt's neck, nipping gently as he went. His hands moved to undo the top buttons of Kurt's shirt and he continued his path down to Kurt's collarbone. Kurt made a little squeak as Blaine bit down hard when he reached the hollow of his neck.

"Ok, wait," Kurt managed to calm his breathing enough to string some words together. "Before we continue here, I need to talk to you."

Blaine had other ideas. "Screw talking." He bit down again. Kurt gasped. Yep, he thought, that was going to leave a bruise. But this was important. Using every ounce of strength and will power he possessed he moved back, putting his neck out of Blaine's reach.

Blaine groaned in frustration. "All right spoil sport, what is this question that is so important that can't wait for me to finish making out with my adorable yet frustrating boyfriend?" he asked, leaning back slightly to rest against the window pane.

Kurt looked down at his hands. He really didn't want to ask this question. Actually it wasn't the question that was the problem, he was afraid that he wouldn't like the answer. He sighed and shifted a little uncomfortably, trying to stall.

"Kurt?" Blaine's voice was soft now, concerned. "Is something wrong?" Blaine put his hand under his chin and lifted his face up. Kurt's eyes were still cast downwards.

"Kurt? Will you look at me?" Blaine's voice was tinged with a note of anxiety. Kurt sighed and lifted his eyes to meet Blaine's.

"Can I ask you something and will you promise to tell me the truth?" Kurt whispered, his eyes searching Blaine's face.

"Of course. Anything you want." Blaine's reply was definite.

"Do you- do you think leaving was selfish?" Kurt dropped his gaze quickly back down to his hands. "Do you think it was the wrong thing to do?"

Blaine did a double-take. "Wait- what? Just to be sure, are you seriously asking me if moving away from the school in which they threatened your life was selfish?"

"But that's exactly it Blaine! They scared me away, chased me off. They won."

Blaine made to speak again but Kurt cut him off.

"Think of what I did by leaving. Yes, I saved myself. I'm happy." He took Blaine's hands in his and stared into his brown eyes. He smiled slightly. "Really and truly happy." Blaine's mouth curled up a little in the corners.

"But think of the other kids I left behind. Think of Santana, Britt. They're my friends Blaine. I know there's other kids like them too. Think of the example I left them with. If you're gay you have to either make yourself invisible or make yourself gone. I hate that I've done that."

There were tears creeping into the corner of Kurt's eyes now as he cast his mind back to the pieces of a girl that were once Santana. Blaine sighed and pulled Kurt into a tight hug. He let his arms rest around him and his head rest on his shoulder.

"You are not the reason that these kids have to go through this Kurt," Blaine whispered into his ear. "It's not running away if there's no other options."

Kurt snuggled in closer to Blaine until he had curled up into a little ball against his side. Blaine always made him feel safe that way.

"I just can't shake the feeling that I'm making things worse by not being there. You didn't see what Santana looked like Blaine. I can't even explain how... broken she was." Kurt's voice was cracking again. He pressed his face into Blaine's side muffling his next sentence. "I just hate not being able to help."

Blaine rubbed one of his palms in small circles across Kurt's back.

"Hush now," he soothed. "You are helping. Didn't you come home today saying that Santana looked better after getting it all off her chest? And that you made sure she ate lunch before you left? That is helping, Kurt."

"But it's not enough." Kurt's voice was barely a whisper now.

Blaine pressed a kiss to the top of his head, his face remaining buried in the silky brown locks.

"What is that you want me to say Kurt? Do you want me to tell you that you're selfish? That you were wrong? Because I can't do that, I just can't."

There was silence for a few minutes, each just focusing on the other, appreciating their presence. Kurt was the first one to speak.

"I think that I want to go back."

Kurt winced as he felt every muscle in Blaine's body tense instantly. He moved to his knees to face his boyfriend again.

"Hear me out please." Blaine looked ready to do anything but hear him out, but he nodded once.

"If I was there, right there with the others, I could be a proper role model. I could really help them. Prejudice is just ignorance. Someone very wise once told me that." He smiled tentatively at Blaine but he didn't receive one in return.

"And just how much of a role model do you expect to be when they start attacking you again? When people ignore the bullying? When Karofsky starts beating on you again?" Blaine hated mentioning Kurt's tormentor but the time had come for drastic action. "It's not safe for you there Kurt. Don't you remember why you left in the first place?"

"Of course I remember," Kurt snapped. He couldn't understand why Blaine was being so difficult about all of this. "But surely you of all people should understand why I want to do this. I need to face them, Blaine."

Blaine was quiet again. Kurt knew he had hit a nerve but he wanted Blaine to understand. He needed to do this. For everyone.

"I just don't want you to get hurt." Blaine's voice was painfully small.

Kurt placed one hand on top of Blaine's.

"I'm going to be ok. You need to let me learn to fight for myself sometimes. I have a wicked way with words when I want to." He grinned at Blaine.

"You still have to discuss this with Burt and Carole you know," Blaine reminded him. "And just know that I still don't like this. I'll support you every single step of the way, but anything putting you in harms way goes against my nature."

Kurt chuckled and placed a kiss gently on Blaine's forehead.

"It's a good thing I find your weird protective nature adorable Blaine Anderson."

"One more thing."

Kurt raised an eyebrow quizzically. Blaine's grin was rueful now.

"I'm really going to miss you."