"Mercedes wants to visit soon." Blaine told his boyfriend, idly playing with his fingers. He sighed when the only reaction he got was the steady beeping of the monitors and the whirring of the machines next to Kurt's hospital bed.

"Well, the fracture of his sternum is quite neat, so it should heal quickly without any help." The doctor had said, when Blaine had asked him how his boyfriend was doing. Blaine had nodded quickly. "And for the rest? To be honest, I'm more concerned about the fact that his heart stopped than that his sternum is cracked." he had said, at which the doctor had flipped open Kurt's chart and summed up the condition and current treatment of the patient.

It basically meant that the machine on the right side of Kurt's bed was meant to filter the extra water out of his bloodstream, along with the 'exploded red blood cells' or something.

And that Kurt was in a coma.

Blaine involuntarily squeezed Kurt's limp hand when he thought of the cause of all this. If he ever saw Azimio again, he would kill him personally. See how he would like to have his head stuck into a toilet and be drowned that way.

Blaine sighed and stroked the back of his friend's hand. "I miss you, Kurt. We all miss you at school. Glee club isn't the same without you around. Rachel's clothes are already starting to head to 'downright idiotic' again, without your fashion tips." He smiled to himself. "And Mercedes refuses to put on any makeup as long as you're not back. So hurry. Get better."

He just leaned over to press a soft kiss to Kurt's forehead when someone in the door opening cleared his throat. Blaine looked over and saw Burt Hummel standing there, arms crossed in front of his chest.

Blaine stood up from the edge of the bed and smiled. "Hi, Mr. Hummel." he said politely, while Burt simply nodded back and said: "You can say Burt. That mister stuff gives me the creeps."

Blaine smiled. "Alright, I'll try to remember." he said. He looked back at Kurt for a moment before meeting Burt's eyes again.

"I want to thank you." he said, causing Burt to look confused.

"Why would you do that?" he asked. "You're the one who saved my son's life. Along with that teacher, but still..."

"I want to thank you for... taking my advice, by lack of better terms." Blaine said, shaking his head. "You know, giving Kurt 'the talk' and all that. And for not hating him for what he is, or finding him a stranger because of it."

"The only thing Kurt is, is my boy." Burt said, a frown on his face. "The fact that he's homosexual doesn't define who he is..." he paused. "Well alright, it does define a lot of him, but you know what I mean." he then decided.

Blaine grinned. "I know what you mean." he assured Burt. "I didn't mean it like that, though. All I wanted to say is that you're a good father. Kurt's really lucky to have you." With that, Blaine started to move towards the door, sensing that Burt wanted some time alone with his son.

By the time Blaine had already set one foot out of the room, Burt said: "Hey, Blaine, how come you didn't say goodbye?"

Blaine turned around, looking slightly surprised. Burt grinned. "I'm not a homophobe, in case you hadn't noticed before." he said, stepping aside so that Blaine could stand by Kurt's bedside.

Blaine flushed slightly, suddenly not so dapper anymore. He slowly moved back to Kurt's bed and took his boyfriend's hand in his again. He looked at Kurt's pale face for a moment, realizing that his skin really did look like porcelain, before leaning over and softly kissing him on the lips. "I love you, Kurt." he whispered, breath ghosting over Kurt's still features. He straightened again, squeezing Kurt's hand softly before letting go again. He swallowed thickly and rubbed his face, willing the moisture in his eyes away. He shook his head, trying to smile because he knew Burt was looking at him. God, he felt like an idiot.

"Hey." Burt said softly, placing a hand on Blaine's shoulder. "Don't be ashamed to cry."

Blaine turned around, facing Burt. "Sorry." he said with a choked voice. "I just- I can't stand this... this waiting..." His voice cracked and he quickly looked down, squeezing his eyes shut. He really didn't want to lose it in front of Kurt's dad, because, well... it was Kurt's dad.

Burt softly squeezed his shoulder. "It's alright." he said. "I guess we all feel the same here."

Blaine looked up and saw that Burt's eyes were wet, too. He nodded. "I guess." he said. He cast a look at his boyfriend again before clearing his throat and rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. "Right." he said, trying to keep his composure together. "I'd better go."

Burt nodded. "We'll give you a call when anything changes." he promised. Blaine nodded and, after one last look at Kurt, he left the room.

During the days that followed, Blaine's results at school started to get worse dramatically. He found himself staring into space more often than he could afford during classes, and even in the hallways he bumped into people without really noticing, or just muttering a hollow 'sorry man'.

It was the Tuesday after Kurt had landed in the hospital, and Blaine was wandering trough the hallways towards his locker. He turned a corner and ran into no other than coach Sylvester.

Blinking, Blaine looked up at her threatening figure. "S-sorry." he brought out. "I wasn't- paying attention, I-"

"Spare me your pathetic excuses." Sue sneered. "Listen, Frodo, I don't care who you saved, or whom's locked you've placed your little gay rainbow in to cheer them up, you..." a threatening finger poked Blaine in the chest. "You stay out of my way unless you have something to share that has to do with the cheerleader's regionals, or that annoying William Shuester finally dying, because then I need to buy myself flowers."

Blaine stared at her before frowning. "My 'little gay rainbow'?" he repeated. "I'm sorry, coach, but I think I'm actually offended by that."

A few people paused on their way to their classrooms to watch the discussion with interest.

Sue pulled up her lip. "Are you now?" she said with a leer, taking a step towards Blaine, who immediately backed up against the lockers. He glared at her. "Yes, I am." he answered, trying not to let his voice falter. "I think that you're judging people on their sexuality."

A small group of students had now formed around him and Sue Sylvester, practically trapping them.

Sue smirked, although her eyes stayed ice-cold. "You have no proof." she said. "Unless you find this offending, too. What do you think, that you're special because you like ballet more than basketball? Well let me tell you something, Frodo..."Sue took another step towards Blaine and poked him in the chest again. "You're not as special as you think. Sure, you may have saved your porcelain boyfriend by getting some guy-to-guy action out of it, and you may be in that Glee club with him, but that doesn't earn you anything! You're just another little brat who just happens to like the colour 'rainbow' instead of bl-"

"Sue!"

Blaine, who had been staring at Sue's face, which was only inches away from his, quickly looked around, recognizing Mr. Shue's voice.

"Leave him alone, Sue." Shuester was now in between Blaine and Sylvester, his back turned to Blaine and looking angrily at Sue. "Leave him alone." he repeated. "He's been trough enough lately."

Blaine looked down, not wanting to take the risk to meet coach Sylvester's eyes now. He heard how Shuester started sending the students on their way again and closed his eyes, taking a deep, relieved breath. He hadn't thought to get out of that situation anytime soon, but thank God for Shuester, he had. He could hear Sue stomping away, roaring insults at the kids that happened to be in her way, throwing them aside against lockers.

"Blaine?" Suddenly, Shuester's hand was on his shoulder, squeezing slightly. "Are you alright?"

Blaine looked up, nodding dazedly. "Yeah." he muttered. "Sure. Thanks, Mr. Shue." He wanted to walk away, but Shuester's hand was still on his shoulder. He cast a glance at it before looking back at his teacher's face again.

Shuester looked grim and worried and angry. "What did she say to you?" he asked, causing Blaine to shrug. "Nothing special." he muttered. He took a deep breath, snapping at himself in thought. What the hell, Anderson, courage, remember? Be dapper!

As Shuester narrowed his eyes, Blaine said: "I ran into her, apologized to her and she started ranting..." Blaine suddenly frowned. "I don't really look like Frodo, do I?"

"She...?"

"She called me Frodo." Blaine shrugged. "Told me that no matter whom's life I saved, or... or whom's locker I'd placed a rainbow in or something... She said that unless I had something interesting to say to her, I had to stay out of her way."

Shuester rolled his eyes, looking exasperated. "Typical." he muttered.

"I said I found her offensive." Blaine continued his story. "She backed me up against the lockers and told me that... that no matter if I'd saved my 'porcelain boyfriend' by getting some-" Blaine paused for a moment. He needed to get his sudden flash of rage under control. Shuester waited for a moment, and Blaine could see the anger in his eyes, too. After a deep breath, he continued: "According to her, I saved Kurt by getting some guy-to-guy action out of it. And just because I'm in Glee club doesn't earn me anything... and that I'm just a little-"

"Yes, I caught it from there on." Shuester said trough clenched jaws. "Blaine, I've heard enough. I'm going to see principal Figgins right now. Sue's going to get it this time!"

Blaine sat next to Finn at Kurt's bedside that afternoon. Rachel and Mercedes sat on opposite to them.

"So he still hasn't shown any sign of waking up?" Mercedes asked. When Blaine and Finn shook their heads, she sighed and said: "Like father, like son, I guess."

"You mean you hope." Finn retorted. "Because that would mean Kurt's gonna wake up soon."

Blaine didn't say anything, but simply sat there, chin resting on his hand as he stared at his boyfriend.

"I'm so glad they're finally going to have a gay-awareness week." Rachel said, wiping a strand of hair out of her face. Finn and Mercedes nodded, while Blaine still didn't really react. Not that he didn't agree with Rachel, it was just... Apparently something like this had to happen to open the principal's eyes. Blaine frowned and grasped Kurt's limp hand in his, stroking the pale skin with his thumb. God, how he wished Kurt would just return the gesture right now...

"Blaine?"

Blaine looked up, meeting Mercedes' eyes. "What? Sorry, I was... distracted..." he made a vague gesture with his hand. "What were you saying?"

Mercedes smiled softly. "I was asking if you were seriously requested to speak next Monday. You know, at the start of that week." she said. Blaine shrugged. "Only if Kurt's not... in the condition to do so yet." he answered blankly, before sighing and shaking his head. "I really don't want to do this." he muttered.

"What, the talk?" Finn asked. "Dude, it's totally awesome if you do it! You get a chance to get trough those shitheads, man!" He bound in, seeing Rachel's shocked glare. "I mean- idiots." he muttered.

Blaine grinned slightly. "I know." he said. "And that's cool and all, but... It's just that I'd rather do it together with Kurt. I think that would make a lot more impression."

"He's right." Mercedes said. "Specially with the way Kurt looks now..." her voice trailed off and she got that look on her face. Rachel saw it and looked suspicious. "What is it now, Mercedes?" she asked, rolling her eyes dramatically. Blaine, on the opposite, looked quite interested. Mercedes looked at him. "What if we take some pictures of Kurt, show them during your talk? Tell them what really happened?"

Blaine looked at Kurt. "I don't know, Mercedes..." he slowly said. "He'll never forgive you for that..."

"It's for a good cause." Rachel countered. "I'm sure he'll be fine with it."

Finn and Blaine exchanged a knowing look - there was no way in hell Kurt would be fine with something as a picture being taken without him having his hair done. Blaine shook his head. "No." he said. "If he wakes up before that speech I'll ask him, but I just... let's just hope the story alone is enough to make them think about it."

Blaine took a deep breath to try and soothe his nerves. Principal Figgins was almost done with his introduction and after that it would be his turn to speak and tell the school about what had happened to Kurt.

Even from his position next to the stage he could see that people were already bored out of their minds. He swallowed, gnawing his lip and checking his cellphone one last time before he'd have to get up and talk. Burt had promised to call whenever something about Kurt's state changed, so Blaine had made it a habit to check his phone every half an hour.

"So now, without any further ado: your fellow student, Blaine Anderson." Figgins said in his usual monotone way.

Blaine quickly shoved his cellphone back into his pocket before stepping up on the stage. He could see Sue Sylvester standing by the exit with a sour look on her face and he grinned slightly as he walked to the microphone on the middle of the podium. To his content, it was wireless, so he could walk wherever he wanted and it would still work.

Right. So...

"Hi." he said, trying to ignore the fact that he could hear his voice three times as loud as normally. "I'll introduce myself properly first, I guess... My name is Blaine Anderson, I'm new here, this is my first year at McKinley High. I'm seventeen years old and gay." There, the first threshold was stepped over. "You know, for the ones who didn't know yet." he said with a faint grin.

A couple of people snorted and chuckled, and Blaine smiled when he saw that it were mostly friends from Glee club.

"So, um... Principal Figgins has asked me to hold a short speech that fits in with the upcoming week. I'm sure you've all heard it's gonna be the gay-awareness week, so yeah... No newsflash there." Blaine looked at his audience and briefly bit his lower lip. God, they were quiet... Courage. "I'm sure all of you know Kurt Hummel." he said, gripping the microphone tightly. He sat down on the edge of the stage and then slid off it, so he could stand against it instead of on it. He liked it better this way. "About nine months ago, he came to Dalton, the school where I previously boarded as a student. He had found it almost impossible to stay at this school because of being bullied for his sexual preference. He joined the Glee club there, to my great pleasure, I might add."

There was a loud giggle from somewhere in the audience, and Blaine was able to make out a young girl somewhere in the middle of the students. She flushed to the roots of her brown hair when Blaine made eye contact with her, and pressed her hand against her mouth. Blaine flashed a grin to let her know it was alright.

"Kurt and I got together after a couple of months." Blaine said. "Because it took me - as thick-headed as I usually am - that long to realize how special he is. About a month later, Kurt transferred back to McKinley, as the Bullywhippers were invented. I'm sure you all know who they are and what they do." Blaine looked around and saw most of the students nod indifferently.

"During the summer I realized that, no matter how great a zero-bully tolerance is, I really wanted to get away from Dalton. McKinley is closer to my home as well, so it would spare the trouble of having to board." he continued. "Anyway, I transferred to this school directly after summer break and I must say, I really liked it here... And I really thought that the whole idea of having people around such as the Bullywhippers had helped to... beat some sense into people's heads."

Blaine took a deep breath. Here began the hardest part.

"When you're under the impression that you're safe, you start to relax. That's what you guys to, right? At school. You're relaxed, you know you're safe. You know you're not going to be bullied anymore, because the two people who form the Bullywhippers do their jobs profoundly." He smiled in the direction he knew Santana was.

Blaine couldn't help but notice that it was dead silent now. In the beginning, people had been muttering to each other, whispering and snorting sceptically, but that was over. People were listening.

He had the chance to get to them now.

"So..." Blaine started to walk around in front of the podium, pretending he was loosening up. "So you feel safe, you're relaxed... you're being yourself because you know you can be. After all, no-one bullies anymore." He suddenly stopped dead in his tracks when he felt his cellphone vibrated in his pocket. His free hand automatically reached for it, but when he looked at all the people listening to him, he knew that he shouldn't pick it up. The chance that it was Burt was zero anyway.

He had to make a change here.

"So imagine." he started again, trying to keep his voice steady. "Imagine you're just going to the toilets. You've been minding your own business, nothing else." Blaine walked towards the front row, upon a puny guy who was fifteen, tops. "What's your name?" he asked, holding the microphone towards the boy.

"Uh... Jared." the boy answered, taken by surprise. He got red spots in his neck, though.

"Right, Jared. So imagine you're just going to the toilet. You've done nothing weird all day. What do you expect when you open the door?" Blaine asked.

Jared stared at him stupidly, then at the microphone. "N-nothing, just... toilets?" he said.

Blaine nodded. "Nothing, okay. What about you?" he asked the guy sitting next to Jared. He, too, shook his head. "Nothing."

Blaine nodded, taking a few steps back. "They probably say nothing because they feel safe enough at this school." he said. "But what if you expect nothing and suddenly you get grabbed from behind, pushed into a stall, punched in your face and pushed face-first into a toilet? What if you're held underwater while the toilet gets flushed over and over again and all you can do is pray that someone might notice that you shouldn't be gone for such a long time?" He looked around, his hands trembling now. "That's not something you'd expect to happen, is it?"

His voice was hard, and so were his eyes.

"Well it happened to Kurt." He spat out. "He got grabbed from behind and punched, and pushed into a stall on his knees. He nearly got drowned."

His cellphone buzzed again, but this time he could ignore it completely.

"I know that there's been a rumour right after he was brought to the hospital. That he and I were just getting it on in the toilets, on the floor. For the ones who interpretate mouth-to-mouth resuscitation as making out, I advice you take home one of those pamphlets from Mrs. Pillsbury's office and read them before making stupid assumptions like that." Blaine took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down enough not to go into the attack. It wouldn't be fair.

"Kurt's heart stopped twice because of all the water that entered his body. At the moment he's in a coma and the doctors have no idea when and if he'll wake up again."

Was his face getting wet now? Blaine had no idea. He brought up his hand to wipe his fingers over his cheeks, and saw that it were indeed tears. He cleared his throat and brought down the microphone as he sniffed, the image of his boyfriend in the toilet stall suddenly clear in his mind again.

"All this happened because someone figured that being gay equals being sick." Blaine said. "And he's not the only victim. Ohio has hate crime laws that don't include crimes based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Gay marriage is not allowed and no form of partnership recognition are banned as well. In 2009, the FBI came out with a report they made over fourteen years of studying hate crimes against homosexuals. They said the chance of a gay person being attacked is at least twice as big as the chance of a 'normal' person being attacked. And I know that out of experience. Put up your hand if you find this normal."

Blaine looked around, radiating self-confidence, even though the tears had only started to fall harder while he was summing up the previous facts.

No-one moved a muscle.

Blaine relaxed slightly. "I'm glad." he said. "I hope you're going to do a lot of thinking about the subject this week, because from the looks of it that was quite necessary." He tried to smile. "Thank you."

He walked back to the stage to place his microphone in the holder when he heard the first insecure clap of someone's hands. Slowly there were more people clapping and by the time Blaine turned, the whole group was making a standing ovation to him.

The best part was, as Blaine would later recall, that no-one smiled.

Five minutes later, Blaine stood in a toilet, trying to get his breathing under control after a fit of crying. He looked in the mirror to check if he wasn't too pale, or if his eyes weren't too red-rimmed. He knew the whole school had already seen him cry, but that didn't mean he wanted to be seen like that again.

For the third time that hour, his cellphone rang. Blaine sighed and picked it up, flipping it open.

He froze when he saw the name on his screen.

'Burt'

He immediately hit the 'accept' button and pressed the phone against his ear. "Yes?" he asked breathlessly, feeling his hands start tremble all over again.

"Blaine, it's Burt."

"I- I know..." Blaine stammered. "I saw- I- is Kurt...?"

"Awake and well." Even trough the phone, Blaine could hear his boyfriend's father grinning like a madman. He sounded like he had a stuffed nose, too. The moment his breath hitched in his throat, though, was when Blaine heard a faint mutter from in the background and a: "Sure. Blaine, Kurt wants to talk to you." from Burt.

"O-okay..." Blaine brought out.

There was some fumbling with the phone and then there was the most beautiful sound Blaine had ever heard in his whole life. "Blaine...?"

"Kurt..." Blaine croaked, before bursting out into sobs. "Kurt... Oh God, you're really... It's really you..." He wandered to an empty stall and crashed down on the toilet, not even bothering to lock the door. "I'm... I missed you so much..." he brought out in between sobs.

"I missed you too." Kurt said in a hoarse voice. "I want to see you..."

"God, I want to see you too." Blaine said, smiling broadly trough his tears. "How are you feeling?"

"Like someone broke my sternum." Kurt muttered, and Blaine just had to laugh at the sulking tone his boyfriend used. "Yeah, that's probably Mr. Shuester's work." he said. "You don't remember that?"

"I don't remember anything but my head being pushed into a toilet." Kurt said. "Disgusting."

Blaine grinned faintly, ran a hand over his face and stood, straightening his shirt. "I'm coming your way right now." he said determinedly. "I need to see you."

"I'll probably be asleep..." Kurt said, sounding hesitating.

"I don't care. I'll wait till you wake up again." Blaine said warmly, smiling when he heard Kurt yawn and breathe out with a content hum again. "Morphine really is awesome stuff, did you know?"

And Blaine laughed.