'I was supposed to be safe here,' Kurt thought as he picked his Dalton jacket off the floor. Kurt glanced at the clock. It was almost time for Warbler practice, and Wes did not tolerate tardiness. He'd just have to explain. Mr. Miller kept him late to discuss his midterm grade and…
That would work. Wes wouldn't have to know what Brian really wanted to discuss. Not that discussion was really something that was accomplished in their typical meetings, Kurt thought with a wince as he shrugged on what his Dalton jacket. Hopefully it wasn't too wrinkled that people started asking questions.
Brian Miller had been one of the 'cool' teachers. He was the youngest of the faculty at Dalton and all the boys liked and respected him. Kurt thought he was good-looking and he had a kind smile. And when Kurt's grade on his research paper wasn't what he'd been expecting, Mr. Miller had said he'd be more than happy to give Kurt whatever help he needed.
He so wished it could be different. He wanted Blaine to be his first. But now, Kurt just felt guilty every time he saw him. He started avoiding Blaine like the plague. He ignored Blaine's texts. It was the next week that Brian began hitting him. It was his fault, really. Kurt had to be late because there was a Warbler's performance.
Kurt texted him to let him know that he was studying and wondered if he would like to join him. He decided he had to 'Break up' with Blaine…but that was stupid, because they weren't even going out, but if Blaine didn't back off, he didn't want to think about what would happen. So it was settled. He had to tell Blaine they were through. Or at least give the other Warbler a reason to hate him. He could just spout biphobic stuff at him again. That would be easy enough.
He tried to read A Separate Peace, but couldn't really concentrate, and jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
An apologetic look flashed across Kurt's eyes for a split second. "You startled me."
"Good book?" Blaine asked, eyes flickering to the battered copy of A Separate Peace Kurt was reading.
"I don't get it. How does somebody die from a broken leg? And more importantly, why didn't Gene just make OUT with Finny already? Good GAGA you'd have to be BLIND to not see that Gene's in love with him."
"Maybe Gene's just scared," Blaine hedged, daring to inch closer. "Maybe he thinks after all Finny's been through, Finny doesn't need relationship drama. Maybe Gene doesn't know what he's doing. Maybe Gene thinks he's too screwed up to make anything work, and because of that, he's scared that he'll lose the most important person in his life," Blaine sat on the table across from the couch where Kurt was sitting, and clasped Kurt's knees in both of his hands. Kurt's breath hitched and he stiffened. "Maybe he's worried Finny won't feel the same way, and if he says something, if he crosses that line, it'll ruin everything they have, and Gene couldn't bear it if that happened."
"Blaine…I…"
That was all the other boy needed, apparently. He grabbed Kurt by the shoulders and kissed him. It was the kiss Kurt had been waiting for since he sang Teenage Dream to him that day on the staircase.
But Kurt didn't return the kiss. He couldn't
And he ran.
The door slammed shut. Blaine leaned against he wall, and slid down, pulling his knees up to his chin and buried his head in his arms.
Blaine almost didn't notice Alex Wheaton walking in. He only knew Alex because he was sitting in the back in Calculus and was always getting written up for sleeping in class since they sat alphabetically.
"Uh, Blaine…you okay, man?"
Blaine panicked. Sure, Dalton kids were tolerant of the fact that he was gay and didn't really care that he preferred Brad Pit over Angelina Jolie, but Dalton campus was tiny, and if he was caught crying, everyone would guess it was over Kurt, and the gossip would spread like wildfire.
Blaine straightened up and stood, blowing his nose loudly and far longer than he probably should have in the company of a near-stranger, but he needed to buy some time to think of a plausible answer, and Alex was probably high because that's what Alex was known for, so it probably didn't matter.
"Hey, is that yours?" Alex nodded at Kurt's forgotten book on the floor.
"Oh yeah…" Blaine sniffed. "Sad book. Tragic, really. Oh, FINNY! WHYYYY!"
David Harris dug his phone out of his pocket, checked the time, and smiled. "Quitting time!' he sang to himself as he put (what he hoped, but never was) the last of the returns for the night away. It was 10:50, and that meant in ten minutes, although why he was particularly happy about going back to his dorm was a mystery, because as soon as the library would be closed, it would be time to study. That Biology test in the morning was going to be a bitch and between Warbler practice and work, he'd hardly even glanced at his notes. Usually, his library job afforded him plenty of time to finish his homework, but now, it was Midterms, which meant that the entire school was checking out books and burning the midnight oil.
Including Kurt Hummel.
Kurt wasn't exactly the most approachable person on the planet. For one thing, Kurt could be kind of bitchy when he wanted to be, and lately, he'd been in rare form. He would only eat the salad in the cafeteria, and pizza was out of the question. The way he carried himself let the world know that he was untouchable, that he was somehow better than everyone else, and who the hell did the guy think he was, auditioning for a solo his second…maybe third week in the club, and with a song like 'Don't Cry For Me, Argentina,' for crying out loud? They chose their songs by whatever was the most-played on everyone's iPods. Broadway songs nobody knew that were traditionally sung by girls (he had to look it up on YouTube later to find out what that song was even from) didn't exactly…cut it. David had to admit that he wasn't entirely talentless, but to be a Warbler, you needed to be more than talented. You needed to fit in. And Kurt, David decided, was a square peg in the round hole of life.
The truth was, he didn't know quite what to make of Kurt Hummel. He didn't exactly HATE the guy, but the way Blaine's life suddenly began to revolve around this kid was starting to piss him off.
Except lately, Blaine and Kurt had made ignoring each other a damn artform and that was pissing him off even more. Blaine didn't even have the decency to tell him why, and he sure as hell wasn't going to drill Kurt for that little tidbit of information.
Although given that Blaine and Kurt BOTH missed Warbler practice that day, Wes figured they finally made up and were making out somewhere. David did not want to be them given the lecture that was coming to them both, but whatever. At least Blaine would be easier to be around.
But whether David liked it or not, Kurt wasn't going anywhere any time soon. Once Blaine explained why Kurt wound up transferring, David tried a little harder to understand the guy, and he had to appreciate his dedication and drive. Kurt was nearly ALWAYS in the library bent over textbooks and notes, but now with the latest drama with Blaine, he had half a mind to walk right up to him and demand to know what the hell was going on.
He'd seen the newest Warbler arrive shortly after the dinner break, and that was five hours ago. A half an hour ago when he had books to return to their rightful spots on the shelves in the line of sight of the alcove of leather couches Kurt had claimed, he noticed he had only shifted to the opposite side of the couch.
The ten-minute bell rang (the pitch it sounded on was a 'D.' David had figured out on the baby grand Steinway in the front of the library one day when it was particularly slow), and he gathered the last of the books to be returned, and that's when he found Kurt, slumped over. His head was resting on the arm of the couch. His Dalton jacket was being used as a pillow, and his button-down shirt was hanging uncharacteristically sloppily out of his pants.
David shook his head in amusement until something caught his eye. His un-tucked shirt revealed barely a sliver of skin, but there were a couple of different bruises. Judging by the tinge of yellow around one of them, they were different ages.
"Dude, what happened to your back?" David blurted out before he could think better of it.
Kurt bolted up and then winced. "Huh?" he asked stupidly, packing up his things has quickly as humanly possible.
"What's with the bruises?" David asked.
"Oh. Those," Kurt stammered. "It's nothing. I…uh…I fell."
David wanted to call bullshit and point out the whole stammering thing didn't exactly sell a person on one's truthfulness. Neither did the deer-in-headlights look Kurt currently sported. David knew Kurt wasn't stupid; the other Warbler had to know he had options. He was going to tell him that Wes was Vice President of the Student Government Board, and if it was another Dalton student who put those bruises there, they needed to bring it before the Student Court and get the son-of-a-bitch who made a human punching bag out of him expelled. If it was an adult, then the adult needed to be brought before a real judge and thrown in jail, and whatever the case was, nobody did that to a Warbler and got away with it.
But David never had the chance to say any of those things, because before he could even form the words, Kurt was gone.
David considered his options as he put each book away with an emphatic thud.
True, he didn't particularly like Kurt, but Kurt didn't do anything to deserve whatever happened to cause those bruises. David wasn't born yesterday. He knew bruises like that didn't happen because you fell. There was no WAY Blaine had done that to him, even if there was some kind of drama going on with the two of them now, Blaine had accidentally thwacked Kurt in the nose once with a notebook and apologized every day at least four times for two weeks. He knew Kurt didn't board, so it had to be someone at home. Blaine told him there were issues in the past with his stepbrother and that he was bullied at McKinley…maybe…
David shook his head.
He didn't know Kurt very well at all, so dragging the boy aside and asking him point-blank what had happened clearly wasn't the answer, especially since he'd already done that and the only thing he got out of it was the realization that Kurt was quite possibly the worst liar ever.
No matter what it took, he was going to get to the bottom of this.