A/N: Hey everyone! Here, take another chapter. :) If you're on the east coast, I hope Sandy didn't cause to much chaos for you- we just had some rain and wind here, nothing too awful, but NY and NJ had some crazy damage. :/

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Blaine felt better than he had all day. His calculus class had gone decently as he hadn't had to say a word when he was called on to solve a problem in front of the class, and his French teacher had allowed him to write out an explanation for his lack of participation in a dialogue exercise. None of the other students seemed to think anything of it; at least, none but a tall, slender brunette boy wearing knee high Doc Martens over bright red jeans and a hippo head broach, which Blaine found to be a toss-up between humorous and morbid. The boy had continued to glance curiously at Blaine for the remainder of the class, all while, as far as Blaine could tell, insulting his conversation partner, a large, beefy boy in a football jersey, in casual French.

As soon as French was over, Blaine darted from the room, not wanting the boy to try and strike up a conversation that he couldn't have. However, he found his attempt at avoidance to be in vain when the boy followed him into AP Chemistry and took the seat next to his. Shifting uncomfortably, Blaine mentally willed the boy not to speak. But, for the umpteenth time in his life, he had no such luck.

"Hi," the boy said as he set his satchel down by his feet. "You must be new here."

When Blaine only smiled in response, the other boy's eyes widened. "Or- are you not? Oh god, I'm sorry, I just assumed, that's embarrassing-"

Confused, Blaine shook his head, feeling his face flush under the gaze of the other boy's mystic blue eyes.

For the second time that day, he found himself opening his mouth and having the ability to say nothing; though he had a sneaking suspicion that even if he was physically capable, he still wouldn't have been able to speak to the other boy. Luckily, the teacher walked through the door at that moment, saving Blaine from gaping wordlessly like a fish at the admittedly attractive specimen of boy sitting next to him.

"Alright, class," the teacher, Mrs. Myers, said. "We're going to split into pairs, which will last, barring any unforeseen issues, for the entire year. You and your partner will be working together on all labs and lab reports and any projects I might be assigning.

Now, before I go any further, and because I know you're all already trying to find partners and not paying attention to a word I say. So, you now have five minutes to sort into pairs and take seats next to each other."

Blaine chuckled silently- he felt like he would enjoy this class with Mrs. Myers as the teacher- and his eyes drifted around the room as he watched people happily (or, in the case of a short brown-haired girl and a blonde in a cheerleading uniform, reluctantly) split into groups of two. He waited quietly for the boy next to him to leave and sit next to someone else, probably a pretty girl, and resigned himself to taking the leftover classmate as his partner. He was therefore surprised when the boy waved away a dark skinned girl, who raised an eyebrow at him before stalking off to join a blonde-haired boy, and was even more surprised when the boy turned to him.

"I don't suppose you would want to be partners?" he asked, lips quirked into a slight smile.

Blaine smiled back and he nodded, relieved not to be the last to have a partner as he had expected.

The boy's smile turned into a full-blown grin. "Fantastic!" He held out a hand to shake. "I'm Kurt."

Shaking his hand and nodding, Blaine held up the index finger of his other hand, signaling for Kurt to wait, before reaching into his bag. He pulled out his legal pad and picked up Kurt's pen from his side of the table. Kurt watched as Blaine hastily scribbled out his name.

Though he looked confused, Kurt didn't say anything about his method of communicating, and Blaine appreciated that. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Blaine," he said. "I'm glad we're partners."

Blaine flushed once more and nodded. Maybe this school would be better than his last; maybe he could start over, do it right.

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Settled on the floor of Peter's room with textbooks and papers scattered around them, Blaine and Peter ignored all the schoolwork and focused on each other. Or, more accurately, Peter was focused on Blaine, who was focused on the tips of his shoelaces.

"Blaine-" Peter began, watching as the other boy twisted the lace of his Sperry Topsider between his fingers.

"No."

"Blaine, come on, it's okay."

"It's not." Blaine didn't look up. He let go of the shoelace and watched as it spiraled into a small curl on the top of his foot.

"Why?" Peter asked, shifting to his knees and leaning forward.

Blaine straightened the shoelace out and began twirling it once more. "Because."

"You're gonna have to give me more than that."

"Peter, I don't… I don't like it, hiding part of who I am." Blaine finally looked up through his dark lashes, winding the shoelace around his finger to the point of cutting off circulation.

"I know, B, I do. I don't like it either." Peter sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "But we can't just… come out, you know that."

"But why can't we?" The curly-haired boy turned back to his shoes.

"Blaine, don't be like that. Please." Peter leaned forward and grasped Blaine's chin gently in his hand, forcing him to make eye contact. "Don't you know I see? I see how they treat you, I do. Now just imagine adding the fact that you're gay on top of that. They'd murder you."

Blaine kept eye contact, and it became increasingly hard for Peter to keep gazing into his hazel, speckled eyes, slowly becoming wet. "Would you come out with me?" Blaine asked softly.

Peter started, dropping his hand. "What?"

"Would you come out with me?"

Peter's chest hurt at the brokenness he heard in the other boy's voice. "I- Blaine-"

"It's a simple question, Pete. It just needs a yes or no."

"I don't… Blaine, we don't need to worry about this." Peter turned away, ashamed. But he couldn't. He knew he couldn't. He wasn't strong enough.

Finally, Blaine looked away, disappointed. "So you wouldn't."

"I… I didn't say that," he said hesitantly.

"But you didn't say you would."

"We don't need to worry about this."

"No, we don't. But I do," Blaine said. He slipped his papers inside his textbook and closed it, shoving it in his messenger bag and standing up.

"Why-" Peter started, climbing to his feet also.

"I- Peter, I have to go," Blaine said, turning and shuffling to the door. "I have to… I have to think about things."

"Blaine, please don't be mad," the other boy begged. He followed Blaine to the door of his room, grabbed his hand. "I'm sorry, I… I'm sorry."

Blaine stared down at their joined hands, as if surprised at Peter's show of affection, even if it was in the privacy of his own bedroom. "I'm n- I'm… I-bye, Peter." He tore his hand out of the other boys and turned the doorknob.

"I'll see you tomorrow?"

"…sure."

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A/N: Budda bum. And there ya have it. Again, it's rather short, but most chapters in this story probably will be.

Please, let me know what you think! And let me know what you think I should update next- this, or The Changes We've Made? ;)