Title: If That's What You Need
Summary: When Blaine went to go check on Kurt in Mr. Schue's office, he saw something that shocked and hurt him. Why would Kurt cheat on him? AU since episode 2.09 with elements of most recent episodes. Warning: mention of statutory rape, dub-con, verbal abuse, sexual harassment.
Warnings: Mention of statutory rape, dub-con, verbal abuse, sexual harassment, language.
A/N: Based off of this prompt, I couldn't help myself: "Blaine discovers that Kurt's been having a ~thing with Will by catching them after school. Kurt absolutely does not want to lose Blaine. ANGST ENSUES."
So by no means am I an expert when it comes to the legalities of Ohio State law, I just tried to write with my background knowledge and a few Google's researching sessions. If I offend anyone with how I handle Kurt's situation, I am very sorry, and would never mean to do so intentionally. I hope that you can take into consideration, yes, it's a fictional story, and by no means would I ever wish this to happen to anyone.
Kurt had been staying after school later and later as his campaign for class president became more "like a stand-off between the Pontipee brothers and the townsmen," as Kurt had described it. Blaine understood that this was important to Kurt, and tried to support him in ways that he could. Little notes in his locker, helping out with posters, wearing Kurt's campaign buttons proudly on every outfit. Blaine knew that Kurt must really care about this when he started to go to Mr. Schuester for advice and ideas. For all that Kurt complained about Mr. Schue's favoritism, he had admitted that he could be a pretty good teacher when he wanted to be. And if that's what Kurt needed to do, he was willing to give up some of their "couple time" for the campaign.
But then a wonderful thought came to him- he could go see how Kurt was doing with Mr. Schue, possibly even bring a snack they could all share and help out any way he could. Sure, he would've loved to spend the afternoon with Kurt snuggled up against his shoulder with the latest episode of Project Runway to mock and criticize, but just being with Kurt was enough.
Making his way to Mr. Schue's office, he was surprised to see the door closed, what with Mr. Schue's "the door is always open" policy, but shrugged. Kurt probably just didn't want his plans figured out by the student body, which was smart. Figuring a quick knock and enter would do, Blaine did just that. But what he saw when he opened the door was the least likely thing he could have guessed to see.
Kurt and Mr. Schue were way closer than he would have thought was strictly necessary, to the point where Mr. Schue's arms were around Kurt possessively. Kurt's collar was askew, turned the wrong way, and that just wasn't Kurt's style. Mr. Schue's hair was even more of a curly mess than Blaine's was in the morning, as if someone had been running their hands through it. Kurt's lips were red and puffy, and dimly he realized so were Mr. Schue's. There was a moment when his brain had completely shut down, not even daring to think what this all meant. But eventually his mind went into overdrive, leaving Blaine confused and upset. When Blaine's eyes traced over their close proximity to each other, the hurt look on his face became more apparent, and Kurt quickly stepped away from Mr. Schue, nearly yanking himself away.
"Blaine, if I could just explain…" started Kurt, but was cut off.
"Explain? Explain what, that you're kissing our teacher? That's not even what gets me, it's the fact that you were cheating on me, when we both promised each other to be faithful, or be honest about liking other people," rambled Blaine, going off track in his hurt and shock.
"Blaine, please, I just really need to tell you," blurted out Kurt, walking over in front of Blaine. He tried to take his hand, but Blaine quickly withdrew it out of Kurt's reach.
"No, you don't need to explain, I think your actions spoke louder than any words could," Blaine said harshly, and turned to run out the door.
"Blaine, wait!" called Kurt, but Blaine didn't listen. He kept running, out of the hallway, out of the stupid school he had transferred to, to his car. He could hear his phone going off, but he ignored it. He wasn't going to talk to anyone, least of all Kurt.
He had thought they had something special, something that was going to last past high school, maybe even college. And look where that had gotten him- a cheating boyfriend. A boyfriend that cheated on him with a teacher; a teacher that Kurt had even admitted to disliking at times. It just made it hurt even more, the fact that Kurt had disregarded all that they had for some stupid teacher's crush or lust, or whatever that was.
When Blaine got home, he had a plan, one that involved ice cream, horror movies, a big blanket and not leaving his room for at least two days. But as he sat there watching guts and blood spew, Blaine realized he should have noticed something. Kurt had been doing the whole "I'm busy" spiel almost since Christmas, now that he thought about it. Kurt would say that he had been with the girls, but sometimes, it hadn't added up.
"So this had been going on from before we got together?" muttered Blaine into his toffee ice cream. The questions were eating Blaine up inside, causing him to think of all the possibilities that only left him feeling more sick than all the ice cream he had consumed. Blaine continued to stew over his thoughts, his attention not really on the TV as another shower of guts continued to spray. After two movies he hadn't even bothered to pay attention to, he heard the doorbell ring. He wasn't sure how much time had passed before he heard the doorbell ring again. And ring again. And begin to ring frantically.
Sighing, Blaine got up to answer the door, knowing who it was. Sure enough, when he opened the door, he was greeted to the sight of an upset Kurt, eyes shimmering with unshed tears and rucked hair. Slamming the door shut again, he heard the cries of "Blaine, please! Ten minutes, that's all I ask for! I know I don't deserve it, but can I please come in and explain?" asked Kurt quietly, his eyes beseeching him to say yes.
Blaine stopped, debating. Ten minutes to let Kurt explain his behavior, or completely ignore him for the rest of his high school life? Considering the fact that they had three classes and glee club together, that would be difficult. He was entirely too curious as to why Kurt would do this, and despite being hurt himself, he didn't want to see Kurt upset. Blaine sighed and opened the door again, noticing that there were now tear tracks running down Kurt's face.
"Ten minutes," muttered Blaine, gesturing for Kurt to come in.
'At least one of us is being a good boyfriend,' thought Blaine bitterly.
Blaine shuffled over to the living room where the comfier couch was. Kurt sat on one end of the sofa and Blaine immediately sat on the other end, as far away as possible. He saw Kurt's face crumple even more with hurt, and Blaine felt grimly pleased for a second, but then felt bad about it. 'Why should I feel bad, I'm not the cheater,' thought Blaine angrily. When they were situated on the couch, a great distance between them, Blaine began to speak. "So, do you have a good reason for cheating on me like this? When did it all start?"
"I have reasons, I'm not quite sure you would say there were good," said Kurt quietly. "Since before Christmas, when I first started at Dalton."
"Before Christmas…" said Blaine, lost in thought for a moment. Suddenly, something clicked. "When he came to visit you, after our duet?"
"Yes," said Kurt, looking down at his hands nervously clenching around his elbows, hugging himself tightly. "It started with little comments here and there before that. For every time he wouldn't give me a solo, or ignored my needs, he'd be there with a compliment, or a little knick-knack. And once he heard me talk about you being gay, calling it "progress" from my other crushes, he started to become more… determined."
Blaine's breath hitched, not liking where this could be going. Kurt seemed to draw in on himself even more, shrinking away from Blaine as he had moved forward.
"After Valentine's Day, I was feeling ignored, unwanted. I mean, who would ever want me?" Kurt laughed weakly, his voice distorted from the tears he wasn't allowing to fall. Kurt rubbed at his eyes quickly, and coughed. "So when he started to get even closer, preying on the fact that he was the only one that could ever really love me, I took it, Blaine. Because clearly I wasn't good enough for anyone else, and Will wasn't getting any from Emma."
"Unwanted?" whispered Blaine. "You mean from the Gap Attack? Oh Kurt, I never meant for that to hurt you." Was this slightly his fault? He had pushed Kurt into Will's crazy grasp?
"No, no, it wasn't just you!" said Kurt frantically, looking into Blaine's eyes for the first time since the conversation had started. His eyes were filled with panic and shame, two things Blaine had hoped never to see Kurt feel in his presence. "I'd felt like this for a while, it was just a buildup. I was feeling rejected after what Finn and I argued over, and I just wanted to be loved and wanted in some way, even if it was a twisted way," rambled Kurt, trying to make Blaine feel better. All it was doing was making Blaine feel even sicker to his stomach.
Kurt looked down again, now holding his own hands tightly. "And then… You kissed me." Kurt looked up, one tear falling down his cheek. "I felt so loved, so happy inside, Blaine. You liked me back, and I finally had an excuse to get away from Mr. Schuester." Kurt's head dropped slightly, and muttered, "But that wasn't enough for him, he still wanted more."
"Why couldn't you just leave him, Kurt?" asked Blaine, confused. "Why couldn't you just break it off now that we were together?"
"He blackmailed me." Blaine looked at Kurt, stricken. Kurt bit his lip, lifting his head again to feel Blaine's stare on him. "He said he'd tell my father, tell you, because no one but him could truly understand me and what I needed- what we needed," Kurt said bitterly.
"But we can do something about it now," urged Blaine, gripping Kurt's shoulders firmly. "You don't have to deal with this alone anymore, you have me. And you know your father will love you no matter what. In fact, he's been your biggest support through all these years, I think he'd be more heart broken that you didn't go to him."
Kurt's face crumpled a little at the thought, how he had shut his father out of that part of his life. So many nights he had curled into himself, desperately wishing he had someone to hold him tight and tell him everything was alright, even if it wasn't. A support, a beacon of light. And he had just pushed the two men who cared for him out of his life, until now.
"You're right," said Kurt, lifting his head to give Blaine a weak smile. "I'm not sure how to tell him, but you're right. This needs to end; it isn't healthy, for me or him."
"We'll try talking to him after class, that sound good?"
"Yeah," agreed Kurt. "We'll try then."
ITWYN
That night, Kurt lay curled up in his bed, thinking of all that had occurred that day. Finally, someone had found out about him and Mr. Schue, just not in the way he had hoped. He just considered himself lucky that Blaine hadn't broken up with him after he had found out how disgusting he had been. He had allowed himself to be touched and used in ways that made him ill, just because he craved some kind of attention.
After he and Blaine had gotten together, Kurt had hoped that would be the end of his time with Mr. Schue. After all, he was now in a committed relationship, he had someone to love and love him back. He couldn't keep him, could he?
But when he had tried to break away from the older man, he started to put even a firmer grip on their time together. Before, Kurt could at least trust that Mr. Schue wouldn't hurt him or go too fast, but now all he could hear when he touched the bruises were whispered, hateful things.
'Slut,' Kurt heard echo in his head as he briefly touched the darkening skin of his shoulder.
'Whore,' whispered harshly through his ears as he felt the pain on his back.
Kurt scrunched his eyes closed, curling himself into a tighter ball. "Shut up," he muttered to himself.
'Filthy faggot,' screamed through his mind as he endured the pain in his lower body.
"Shut up," he cried out, his body racking with sobs. "Shut up, that's not true, it's not," he muttered, his arms covering his chest, his fingernails digging into his arms. "It's not," he repeated, and slowly, he looked up at his phone.
Should he bother Blaine? It was already so much to handle, Kurt didn't want to make the burden even harder to bear. But if he just didn't tell him, and just texted him as he usually did before he went to bed…
Before he could really think about it, he heard his phone ping, signaling a new text message. He clicked on his phone, and saw the message was from Blaine.
Hey, I was thinking of you, and how wonderful you are. You may not think it now, but I promise you, you are one amazing person.
Kurt bit his lip, the tears still rolling down his face. "Oh, Blaine, if only I could believe you were right." He started to type back, thinking of the proper way to word it.
It's nice of you to say that, but I know that isn't true. Why would I allow this to happen for so long?
Kurt set the phone by his cheek and closed his eyes. He felt pathetic, disgusting, useless. He shouldn't have been in this situation to begin with, and yet here he was. Why couldn't he have been stronger, have resisted the temptation to be loved by someone, anyone? Kurt felt the phone vibrate, and he looked to see Blaine's next message.
I never said you were perfect, even if you're perfect for me. This is not your fault, Kurt. There is no way this is your fault- he took advantage of you in a state of weakness. You have NOTHING to be sorry for.
"Oh Blaine," muttered Kurt, giving a little laugh after he sniffed. He got enough energy to actually sit up and blow his nose, trying to think of what to type next.
Thank you, that made me laugh. Though that line about being perfect was maybe a little too cheesy.
You knew what you were getting into when you agreed to be my boyfriend! Now we should go to sleep, we have a lot to do tomorrow. Good night!
Good night, Blaine. :]
ITWYN
Maybe things would be okay, thought Kurt as he drifted to sleep. One could only hope.
"What you're doing is wrong, Mr. Schue," said Blaine as he glared at the older man. "You took advantage of a student, someone who, while not your student in the beginning, is now in the position of being a pupil. And you're sick; you preyed on him when he was weak. What kind of person are you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, Blaine," said Will mildly, looking at him as if he were wrong in the head.
"You can't just ignore this, this isn't something to be taken lightly," said Kurt, glaring at the man. "I could sue for this."
"And what would happen then, Kurt?" asked Will. "I'm kicked out of this school, there's no one to take care of glee club. I'm the only one that truly cares about you in that club, Kurt. What will you do when I'm gone? Get Sandy again?"
Kurt and Blaine stood there in shock at the new maneuver. Who would take over glee club? There weren't many teachers that would even grudgingly take the spot, and without a teacher, the club wouldn't continue on. And if the club didn't continue, there was no way of even trying to get to any performance at all. The whole group would fall apart, never talk to each other. They needed Mr. Schuester.
Will smiled, seeing that the two had caught on. He walked over to Kurt, rubbing his shoulder for much too long, causing Kurt to tense up. He leaned in and whispered in his ear. "If you get rid of me, they'll all blame you; no one will be with you. Remember that."
Kurt's breath hitched, and Mr. Schue gave a small chuckle. "I think we understand each other now. Now I have to help your father with his campaign now, I'm sure I'll see you later tonight." With that, Mr. Schue walked out of the room, leaving a very angry Blaine and Kurt distraught.
"He's right," whispered Kurt, his hand clenched in fists. "If I do anything, it will jeopardize all of our chances for Sectionals, Regionals, Nationals..." He trailed off for a moment, thinking. "It's only senior year. That's what, seven more months? I can do that, I can get through it."
"Oh, Kurt." Blaine took him into his arms, holding him tightly. "You shouldn't have to," Blaine said fiercely, gripping onto Kurt with all his might.
"I can't think of any way other than him to get away with it," said Kurt, his voice muffled by being in Blaine's shoulder. "I don't want to be known as the gay kid that slept with his teacher. God, I'd be even more of a laughingstock."
"Kurt."
"What?" asked Kurt, mumbling.
"You are gorgeous, wonderful human being," said Blaine. "So what, if someone thinks otherwise? The people here in this little town don't realize how amazing you are, because they've never been amazing themselves. You, Kurt, are going to get out of here, do everything possible that you set your eyes on." Blaine grinned at Kurt. "Everyone goes reaching for the moon, Kurt. But you? You're your own sun; you don't need any of them."
"You're such a sap," said Kurt with a small giggle. "That almost makes up for everything."
"Well, almost doesn't cut it," said Blaine. "We're going to find a way, okay? I don't know how yet, but we will. You said you wanted your senior year to be magical- I'm going to make sure it is."
"Blaine, that's really sweet, but how? And can you handle the fact that I'm not just going to be yours? That someone else has done things to me, which we haven't even done yet? Things that I didn't want yet, things that are so hard for me to even think about…" Kurt bit his lip, trembling. "Blaine, I'm not a virgin."
Blaine sucked in a breath, shocked. He had known that Mr. Schuester had taken advantage of Kurt, but he hadn't realized how far.
"God, Kurt," said Blaine, taking Kurt back into his arms. "None of that matters, I don't care about that. I care about you, and how you feel. You know none of this is your fault, right?"
"But if I hadn't been so weak, if I had just dealt with being alone like I had planned…"
"Kurt, no one should ever feel alone, never," said Blaine. "You were vulnerable, and you trusted him, and while you think you're a willing participant, don't you realize what this is, Kurt? It was rape. He used your insecurity just so he could get laid, the bastard," growled Blaine, letting the curse word fall from his lips with disgust. Blaine wasn't one to typically swear in front of other people; much less Kurt who didn't seem keen on swearing himself, but Mr. Schue deserved it.
"What he did to you was wrong, we should go to the police and report it," coaxed Blaine. "I know that you don't want to lose glee club and all the friends you've made in it, but this is a crime, Kurt. Statutory rape, and while he might say that you're of legal age, he's still your teacher." Blaine squeezed Kurt closer to him, trying to convey his message through the hug. "What he did was wrong, and you never, never deserved this."
"But Blaine, I just wanted someone to touch me without disgust, without malice," sobbed Kurt, clinging to the front of Blaine's sweater. He could hear Kurt sucking in a deep breath, evening out his breathing to say the next part with a trembling voice. "He could say I wanted it, that I'm just a tattletale whore looking for some way to rat on him."
"What?" asked Blaine, shocked at Kurt's wording. Kurt's head was lowered, looking down at his shoes, his nose sniffling. "Why would you even think that? I don't care whatever lies Mr. Schue has put in your head, you are not a whore."
"Aren't I? I let my teacher, Blaine, my teacher; touch me in ways that I wasn't even comfortable touching myself just because I wanted affection. If that's not a whore, I don't know what is."
Blaine pulled Kurt out of his embrace for a minute to firmly grip his shoulders, and look straight into Kurt's teary eyes. "Kurt, you are a beautiful human being. You are not a whore, or whatever names he called you. When it comes to calling you anything, whose opinion matters other than your own, or your dad's? Mr. Schue is filth, Kurt. Someone that is so desperate, he preys on his own students. I know that you don't want to go to the police, but can we at least make a plan on how to avoid him for the next seven months?"
Kurt was silent, mulling over what Blaine had said. After a few moments, he nodded his head in agreement. "Alright, that sounds like a good plan for now," said Kurt, his voice still a little hoarse. "But can we plan this at my house, maybe with some low-fat frozen yogurt? It's not often I eat my feelings, but now sounds like as good a time as any."
Blaine chuckled, relieved by Kurt's assent to try avoiding Mr. Schue as much as possible. "Sounds like a date," said Blaine with a wink. They began to walk out of the office, the hands dangling near each other before Blaine took Kurt's hand in his grasp. Kurt squeezed back, and looked over at Blaine with a half-smile.
"I don't know what I'd do without you, Blaine Warbler," said Kurt.
"Hmmm," said Blaine, tapping his chin in thought. "Move on to all those New York city boys, leaving me to be jealous of all of them? Nope, I don't like the sound of that; I think I need to stick around."
Kurt snorted, looking at Blaine with a look of derision. "You're a goof, you know that, right? A total goof."
"Ahh, but I'm your goof," said Blaine with a grin. "Now since you got to pick the music on the ride here, I get to pick for the ride home!" Blaine hummed with happiness, whistling out a Katy Perry tune.
"Teenage Dream again?" asked Kurt. "I know it's our song, but really."
"Well, with that song, I promised to be your teenage dream, right? And there's another version, y'know."
"Really? Do tell."
Blaine steered Kurt towards the side of the car, leaning against it as he began to sing the words. "Let's just talk throughout the night, there's no need to rush, we can dance, until we die, you and I, will be young forever," sang Blaine, looking at Kurt. "When you're around me, life's like a movie scene. I wasn't happy, until you became my queen," sang Blaine, winking at the reference to their prom night. "I finally found you, my missing puzzle piece—I'm complete." Jumping ahead to the end of the song, he continued. "I'mma get your heart racing, if that's what you need, in this teenage dream tonight." He squeezed Kurt's hand, and sang out the last part.
"Let you rest your head on me, if that's what you need, in this teenage dream tonight." Tentatively, Blaine leaned forward, gently kissing Kurt. Kurt closed his eyes, relishing the Blaine's hand cupping his cheek. Blaine swayed back a bit to look into Kurt's eyes.
"We're going to figure this out, I promise. We'll rely on each other, okay?"
Kurt nodded, leaning his forehead against Blaine's. "Yes, we've got each other, Mr. Puzzle Piece," teased Kurt. "I think things may turn out for the better, if you're here with me."