Title: Hoping for a Change

Fandom: Glee

Pairing: Technically Klaine, I suppose, but this isn't a pairing-centric fic.

Characters: Kurt, Karofsky, Blaine

Pre-Story A/N: This was inspired by a wonderful drawing by Muchacha10. You can find it in her dA gallery, entitled "Glee: Redemption".

"You know, PDA's bad enough with normal couples. I don't think we need it from homos."

Kurt tensed up at the sound of the mocking voice, and felt Blaine squeeze his hand gently. They turned around together to face Karofsky.

"I hardly think that holding hands with the person you're dating is a crime," Kurt said as calmly as he could. But he could still hear the anger and fear creeping into his voice.

"Well, maybe it should be. It's gross, flaunting it like that." Karofsky sneered.

"David, why are you doing this?" Kurt saw Blaine reacting to his use of Karofsky's first name out of his peripheral vision, but he didn't look at him. He kept his eyes on Karofsky.

"What are you talking about?" His expression shifted slightly, that tell-tale sign that this was all just an act. That underneath it all, he was just scared and confused.

"You and I both know that every time you make fun of me for being gay, you're insulting yourself, too."

"Yo-you're wrong. You don't know what you're talking about. I don't want – I'm not like you guys, okay?" His cool composure was breaking.

"No," Blaine said quietly, "you're not like us. Because you're ashamed. You're ashamed of who you are, when you could be so proud. Proud of who you are and who you could be."

Karofsky shook his head, looking confused, and a little frightened. Kurt looked at him sadly.

"David, you can change."

"I-I-" Karofsky coughed a little and his eyes darted away from Kurt's. "I don't think I can..."

Kurt slipped his hand out of Blaine's. "Kurt..." Blaine said gently.

Kurt ignored him. He walked up to Karofsky, who was looking at him, bewildered. He hesitated for an instant, then leaned forward and wrapped his arms around him. Karofsky's arms hovered awkwardly in the air for a moment, and then, getting over the initial shock, he returned the hug.

"I think you can," Kurt whispered. He hugged him a little tighter, and a moment went by.

"I- uh-" Karofsky pulled away roughly, staring at the ground. "I've gotta go..." He walked hurriedly away, without so much as glancing back. Kurt watched him go.

Blaine walked up behind Kurt, and spoke quietly. "Do you think he'll ever accept all this? Come out?"

Kurt took his boyfriend's hand. "I hope so. For his sake, I hope so."

A/N: So, hey there.

This piece, as I previously mentioned, is based on a piece of the fabulous Muchacha10's artwork, all of which I love to bits. I asked for her permission to post this, and she granted it, so here we are. There is a little bit of dialogue in hers, as well, which mine does stray from... but I hope that's forgivable.

I actually had this basically written for quite a while, but procrastinated on posting it for a couple reasons. The main reason, however, is that it's more like most of what I write.

Let me explain. I write all the time – and some of you who follow me are probably looking at this skeptically right now – but the thing is, I have a hard time writing stuff that doesn't seem like it's an excerpt from something, even if it's not. I write an idea I have down, but then it seems like you're in the middle of a story and the beginning and the end went missing.

I didn't really want this to be like that, but the longer it sat, the more I realized that I wouldn't be able to write anything more for it and that I actually sort of liked it and wanted to share. So I typed it up, edited it a little, and said, "Good enough."

So, sorry about my weird writing. Hope you enjoyed none-the-less.