"UGH." Blaine dropped into the seat of Kurt's car, pulling the door closed with a slam. "You've got to talk to your brother before I-" he raged—"I—I don't know what. But he's pushing the limits of my patience!"

Kurt nodded, understanding but conflicted. "It's not that big of a deal, Blaine. Finn'll come around. He just gets full of himself thinking he's supposed to be a leader or something. And no offense, he's kind of right—a lot of things that might have worked at Dalton aren't going to work here."

"So I don't even get a voice? Just because I'm new doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing! He acts like I'm not even a member of the team!" Blaine complained, his volume rising.

"Hey!" Kurt snapped. "Stop yelling at me!"

"I'm not—" Blaine cut himself off, and leaned back against the seat of the car. He took a deep breath and tried to speak lower. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you. I'm not mad at you."

"He's my brother, Blaine. I can't get in the middle of the two of you."

Blaine pouted, feeling a little abandoned. Kurt put a hand on his shoulder.

"You get that, right?"

Blaine nodded, staring out the window rather than looking at him.

Kurt sighed and started the car. "I've never seen you have… such a temper," he said quietly.

Blaine chewed on his lip. "I really am sorry Kurt—I—I shouldn't have been yelling—"

"No, I know. I'm just saying, you're usually so… poised."

Blaine fidgeted in frustration.

"It's not just Finn. All those guys hate me. The Warblers was never like this."

"You'll win them over soon enough. You're just a little spoiled because the Warblers worshipped you."

"They didn't worship—"

"Come on, Blaine. How many other show choirs let a sophomore dominate all their competition solos?"

"I auditioned fair and square—"

"Yes, yes, I know. But even you said yourself last year—sometimes the Warblers got out of hand with making it all about you. It wasn't healthy. For you or the team."

"I'm not even asking for the spotlight in Glee at all right now. I've got plenty with the school musical. I just want to not be treated like a pariah half the time. No matter what I do it's wrong!"

"They're still getting to know you. It'll get better. I know you don't mean to sound patronizing when you give advice about how to fix things in Glee, but when you're new and you came from a place that never had to deal with some of the stuff we put up with every day—sometimes people are just going to take it the wrong way." Kurt shrugged, focusing his attention on the road.

"Sometimes I just want to get in Finn's face and tell him off. Half of the stuff he does is just passive aggressive—it's crazy making! I'd rather be bullied—"

"You don't mean that," Kurt admonished, a little exasperated with Blaine's drama at this point.

"At least a bully's honest that he hates you and not just complaining about you behind your back half the time. And if he was a bully he'd cut the crap and just try to shove me into a locker or something and I'd be able to fight back."

"You're not going to fight Finn. You're being ridiculous."

"I'm SAYING I'd rather he just hit me since that's what he obviously wants. Then I'd be able to do something about it rather than having to play nice. Sometimes I honestly just want to punch him in the-"

"Stop it. No more fighting talk. You're doing the right thing. Just keep being polite and let it roll off your back."
Blaine sulked. "He's going to turn the others against me."

"You're making it out to be a bigger thing than it is."

"Whatever," Blaine muttered.

There was a long silence. Kurt pulled into Blaine's driveway and turned off the car.

"Did you finish your math homework in study hall?"

Blaine rolled his eyes, wanting to talk about math even less than he wanted to talk about Finn.

"Hey, enough of that," Kurt reprimanded.

"What?" Blaine asked, surprised at Kurt's stern tone.

"You can be mad at Finn and the guys in Glee, but you don't get to take it out on me. I don't deserve to get an attitude when I ask about your homework. You told me to stay on you about Algebra, it's your hardest class."

Blaine squirmed, a little embarrassed. "I just have a few more problems left," he said quietly.

Kurt nodded, thoughtful. "You remember what you told me about how you feel about doing your best? It's not just school, right? You held yourself to a high standard in the Warblers—it's why you got so successful with them."

"I knew McKinley would be different. And hard sometimes. I just didn't think the Glee part would be hard. I kinda thought everyone would just be… excited I joined." Blaine admitted.

"Yeah that's what I thought when I joined the Warblers. Remember how everyone reacted when I started listing songs we should be looking at for sectionals on my first day there? A little humility isn't the worst thing in the world."

Blaine made a face. "You think Finn's right?"

"The point isn't who's right and who's wrong. It's about being professional no matter what. With Mercedes out we can't afford to have Glee dissolving further. We have to keep our eyes on the prize."

"I guess if I'm obsessing over every little slight from Finn I'm not exactly giving Glee my best. Yesterday I spaced when Mr. Schue was giving some notes in Booty Camp because I kept trying to listen to whatever Finn was whispering about me to Puck," Blaine admitted.

"When you got that C a few weeks ago, it made you work harder, right? Sometimes you just have to meet a hardship and learn from it what you can. I know Glee is difficult right now, but maybe having to earn people's trust in Glee will make you a better team player. I know it's important to you to be successful in school and performing, but what's most worthy of admiration is a person with good character."

Blaine nodded sheepishly. "It isn't fair for me to take out what's going on with Finn on you. Especially because it puts you in a difficult position being his brother."

Kurt took Blaine's hand. "Apology accepted."

Blaine smiled. "So now I've got you managing my homework and my integrity? I really didn't know what I was getting into with this boyfriend stuff."

Kurt leaned in and gave Blaine a quick kiss. "You know I'm always here for whatever you need."

Blaine felt better for a while, but after dinner he went on Facebook and saw that Finn had posted a rant about how frustrated he was with Glee and how some people need to stop acting like they know everything when they don't—which Blaine saw as a clear jab at him.

His hands shook a little, wanting to type back a biting reply… but he thought about what Kurt would say. I can't get into that.

He sighed, deciding to ignore it. He scrolled lower into his feed and tried to forget about it. He came across a photo that Nick had posted. It was a close up of his elbow, sporting a pretty ugly purple bruise, with the caption: "Battle scars." The breath left him for a moment, remembering the old feeling he used to get with his friends in Fight Club. He and his buddies had gotten together once or twice early in the summer, but he had to keep it under wraps from his folks. They would definitely never approve. He had felt a little guilty keeping it from Kurt but he didn't really think he'd understand. Besides, the whole idea of Fight Club was that you don't talk about Fight Club. He hadn't thought about it in a long while, and had sort of assumed transferring put his old Dalton hobbies in his past.

Blaine chewed on his lip. Kurt didn't want him to push it with Finn, fine. He'd have to get his anger out some other way. He picked up his phone and texted Nick.

Nice bruise.

Nick texted back a minute or so later.

Hey stranger. Thanks I guess lol. Hurts like a mother. Just because you're not a Warbler anymore doesn't mean you can't join some of us for other things you know.

Blaine hesitated a moment and then texted back. That's what I was hoping you'd say.