DISCLAIMER: I do not own Glee or anything related to it. I don't think there are any other

brands in this chapter, but if there are, I don't own them either.

"You have to give it time Kurt! I promise you: if you just let everyone see your fabulous self, they'll all love you as much as I do. They'd be crazy not to!"

"Thanks Mercedes," Kurt said with a small smile. Mercedes always knew how to make him feel better. And sure, their nightly skype sessions weren't nearly as good as seeing her in person, but virtual Mercedes was better than no Mercedes at all. "But I honestly don't know if that made me feel better or miss you even more." Kurt chuckled a little in an attempt to hide his obvious homesickness.

"Well homesickness at Dalton is still probably at least a hundred times better than slushie facials here. And you have Blaine to gawk at every day so it really can't be that bad," Mercedes responded with a wink.

"Excuse me," Kurt retorted acting disgusted. "I would never gawk at anyone. I may stare intently and laugh at his jokes more than is strictly appropriate, but I would never stoop so low as to gawk."

Mercedes just rolled her eyes and said sadly, "I'm sorry, but I have to go Kurt. I'm meeting Tina, Mike and Artie for dinner."

Kurt's face fell for a split second before he pasted on a too-big smile and said, "Oh, well have fun! And tell everyone I say hi!"

"I will. Stay strong Kurt. I love you!"

"Love you too Mercedes. Same time tomorrow night?"

"Of course," Mercedes said with a smile before ending the call.

Kurt sighed as he closed his laptop and curled up under the covers of his bed, not even bothering to change out of his uniform.

He hated this time of day. There was nothing left to distract him from how much he missed his old life. Dalton was great. No one shoved him into lockers. No one threatened to kill him. He had Blaine, and Blaine was great.

But he missed his friends. He missed the craziness of New Directions. Kurt had come to understand that the Warblers were a different kind of team than New Directions and neither group was better or worse, but everything was just so different. Sometimes, Kurt was overwhelmed at how quickly his entire life had turned upside down. His old crush was his new step-brother, his new family was moving into a new house, he was in a new school with a new glee club and he was kind of in love with his new friend. Kurt's head swirled with all of these changes as he felt the tears run down his cheeks and he almost didn't hear the soft knock as his dorm room door swung open.

"So a bunch of us were going to watch a movie in the common room and I was wondering if – hey, what's wrong?" Blaine's voice immediately softened as he saw Kurt curled up in a ball on his bed trying frantically to wipe the tears from his face.

"Nothing," Kurt responded quickly, sitting up while keeping his back to Blaine.

"Kurt, you know you can talk to me, right?" asked Blaine. He reached out to rub the Kurt's back, but at the last second, thought better of it and settled for a hand on his shoulder.

Kurt let out a quiet sob as his entire body shuddered under Blaine's touch. "It's just…ugh I don't know…never mind, it's stupid," Kurt choked out between tears.

"Kurt," Blaine whispered as he threw caution to the wind and pulled the younger boy into a tight embrace. "Anything that makes you this upset is not stupid. Please talk to me. Let me help you."

The concern in Blaine's voice and the warm hand rubbing up and down Kurt's back gave the latter the courage to take a ragged breath and say out loud the words he had only ever allowed himself to think.

"I just feel so alone."

It was barely a whisper, but it was enough to break Blaine's heart.

"At McKinley, I had my friends and my family," Kurt continued, pulling away from Blaine and sniffling. "But I was the only out gay kid so there was a part of me that felt lonely because no one really understood me. And now I'm here at Dalton with you –" Kurt looked Blaine in the eye for the first time and flushed a little bit "– and other boys who are openly gay and it's really great to have people who understand what I've gone through…but I still feel like I don't really fit in here. And I can't help thinking…if I don't fit in at McKinley, and I don't fit in here…maybe I'll never find a place where I belong. Maybe I'll just feel this alone and helpless forever." As he finished, Kurt just stared at his hands in his lap, letting his tears flow freely.

"No," Blaine said softly, tilting Kurt's chin so that he could look his friend in the eye. "You can't think like that. I know it's hard right now, but you have to believe that it will get better."

"I guess," Kurt responded, but Blaine could tell that he wasn't convinced.

"Listen to me Kurt Hummel," Blaine said so intensely that it startled Kurt. "You are amazing. You are beautiful both inside and out. You are talented and kind and compassionate and so much stronger and braver than you think you are. Even though right now it feels like everything is wrong, I know that you will find the place you were meant to be – and trust me: that place does exist. I can't even imagine a world that didn't have a place for someone like you in it. And in the meantime –" Blaine's tone softened suddenly "–you always have me."

This time, Kurt's tears meant something completely different as he threw his arms around Blaine's neck and hugged tightly.

"Thank you," Kurt whispered.

Blaine just smiled and held Kurt close. The two of them stayed like that for what seemed like hours until Blaine glanced at the clock on Kurt's bedside table and noticed that it was almost curfew.

"I should probably go," Blaine began reluctantly, loosening his grip on Kurt. "Are you okay? I mean, I could stay if you wanted me to. I could text Wes and get him to cover for me –"

But Kurt just laughed and said, "Go. I'll be fine, I promise. I wouldn't want you to get in trouble just because I'm in the middle of a nervous breakdown."

"Okay," said Blaine, a little disappointment coloring his words as he stood up to go. "But if you need anything, you just text me and I'll be here in ten seconds flat."

Kurt smiled shyly as Blaine headed towards the door.

"Blaine?"

"Yeah?" Blaine turned back to look at Kurt.

"Thanks again. For everything."

"Anytime."

A/N: So there's Chapter 2! Sorry that there isn't a song in it, but it was getting pretty long. I

promise there's a song in the next one so stay tuned!

As always, reviews would be awesome!