A/N: Once again, a big thank you to readers and reviewers, old and new, for continuing to support this little beast of a fic. Here's another two parter coming your way. This is the first part of the Prom Queen episode.

Disclaimer: Don't own Glee, its characters, or its plots. If I did, the show would not be as fabulous as it is.

Ch. 4 – Much Ado about Kilts

If you don't want to join me, I completely understand.

Blaine watched in frustration as Kurt spun on his heels and retreated upstairs. He turned to Finn, giving him a look that asked, how often does he do this? The gangly boy slumped in the couch simply shrugged.

"Kurt!" Blaine called out in vain, as the footsteps trailed off. Blaine lauched himself off the couch and sprung up the stairs two steps at a time to Kurt's room. The door was closed.

"Kurt," he pleaded, knocking on the door. "Can you please let me in? Let me explain."

The door slowly creaked open. Kurt's expressionless face greeted the short, curly haired teen standing at the doorway. Blaine gulped. To be honest, he wasn't sure which was worse: angry Kurt, or expressionless Kurt. He had a feeling that with angry Kurt, he would at least know where he stood. The expressionless version of his boyfriend, however, was much more difficult to deal with because he had no idea what might set him off on a tirade.

The tall, sandy haired boy had already changed out of his homemade kilt and jacket, and both items of clothing were laid out carefully on his work table next to the sewing machine. "Look, I'm not mad at you, Blaine. You're scared because of what happened to you before. I get that," he state impassively, but then paused for a moment.

"No, you know what? I take that back. I am a little mad at you," he resumed his speech, raising his voice slightly. "I shouldn't be but I can't help it. I'm really proud of my outfit, but then dad has to go and shit on my parade, and you just had to side with him. So what, you two think that by wanting to look my best I'm asking to be beat up?" he queried accusingly.

Blaine reached out to stroke the other boy's arm. "Kurt, you know that's not what I meant," he spoke repentantly. It wasn't that he didn't like the way the nymph-like boy looked in his kilt. He heart had fluttered when he first took sight of his teenage dream twirling around in his outfit. Those leggings wore – or were they just really tight pants? – accentuated the muscular curve of those slender legs, and sparked all kinds of undapper thoughts in his mind. He was only brought out of that fantasy and grounded to the reality of small town Ohio by Burt's reprimand. Cautious. Practical. Those adjectives ended up sticking the most in Blaine's thoughts.

"But that's sure what it sounds like to me."

Blaine opened his mouth and started to apologized, but stopped himself before any words came out. He pulled his arm away from his boyfriend as his annoyance at this whole situation began to turn into something darker. What is his problem? He thought to himself as he began to lose his cool. It's just stupid prom. Why does he insist on being such a drama queen? His next words tumbled out of his mouth before he had a chance to process them.

"Why are you throwing such a hissy fit at me? Can't you just be satisfied that I already said I'd go to this thing with you?" he yelled, the remorseful tone in his voice now gone. "Geez, Kurt, you don't have to turn everything into a grand statement. Didn't you say that if the idea of prom was uncomfortable for me you'd be happy to take in a movie? What happened to being supportive, huh?"

Blaine watched as Kurt clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white. "You know what, Blaine? Now, that's not fair. I said that because I thought it was the idea of prom itself that traumatized you. But that's not, is it?" The normally pale skinned boy began to redden as he spat out his words. "You're all too happy as to go to our prom, and be in the limelight on stage. You just don't want to go if you have to be seen with someone wearing something out of the ordinary. If I didn't know better, I'd think you were ashamed of me."

Blaine's muscles tensed at the shrill of his best friend's voice. The malicious look in those blue-green eyes, which normally gave him a sense of comfort, was more than he can bear. Who is he, to accuse me, of all people, of being insensitive? "Kurt, Don't you dare say- "

The angry countertenor cut him off. "Forget it, just forget it. You've made your choice and I've made mine. Maybe you should just go home." Kurt moved towards Blaine, forcing the shorter boy to step back until he was back at the threshold to the room. "I've got a lot of work to do on this outfit, and you don't seem too keen on it so I wouldn't want you to get bored watching me accessorize this suit," Kurt stated coldly, his hand on the door as if ready to slam it shut in his boyfriend's face.

Blaine starred in stunned silence. Kurt's words had stung. He didn't think he was out of line in suggesting that Kurt dressed more conservatively for prom. He had, after all, been roughed up before for going to a dance with another gay kid. Why couldn't Kurt just understand that's the way these things worked? Why did he always have to push his boundaries? Fighting tears of anger, he stormed down the stairs.

"Hey dude," Finn caught Blaine by the shoulders as he was about to thunder out the door. "Sorry you and Kurt fought. It didn't sound good up there…"

"I hate prom." Blaine muttered, looking down at his toes. His body twitched, seething with rage.

"Me too, man, me too. I'm going to go shoot some hoops. Wanna join? You know, blow off some steam and all?"

"Hmmmm," Blaine paused, glancing up at the massive teen. He thought about the offer for a moment. He had planned to spend the most of the evening with Kurt, but since the diva was obviously not speaking to him anymore, he realized he suddenly had a lot of free time. "Okay, thanks for the offer. I suppose I could use a good workout."

Two hours later, the boys had worked up a sweat at the basketball court down the street. Instead of thinking about the argument he just had with Kurt, Blaine threw his angst into every jump shot he took. Finn was much larger than him, but he was swifter on his feet, and he used that to his advantage in his one-on-one friendly challenge with the hulking teen. He felt good, having released his fury into vigorous exercise. Eventually though, he had to head back to Dalton, so he and Finn walked back to the Hudson-Hummel residence to retrieve his car.

"It's going to be okay, you know that, right?" Finn said suddenly.

"Excuse me?"

"Prom. You and Kurt going together. Nothing bad is going to happen, because we're not going to let it happen. Me, Puck, and the rest of the Glee gang – we got your back," Finn explained. "I talked to Coach Beist. She's on hallway patrol. She promised that anyone who so much as looks at you two the wrong way is off the team. Coach Sylvester is going to chaperone, and she likes Kurt for some reason. Nothing could possibly go wrong. You'll be safe, okay? You don't have to worry about a thing."

Blaine turned to stare at the massive football player and offered a weak smile. He was surprised and touched by Finn's concern for his and Kurt's safety.

"And can I be honest with you?" the larger boy prompted in an unusually soft tone that did not quite match his size.

Blaine nodded, giving him permission to continue.

"I know Kurt can be melodramatic sometimes. Okay, maybe a lot times. But I don't think he's unreasonable this time. He's really been looking forward to prom, and dressing up is a big part of it," Finn stated emphatically.

Blaine shot the boy a puzzled look. "Wait, why are you talking about this? I thought you hated prom."

Finn cringed, furrowing his eyebrows. "I do, but that's because Quinn's going all crazy scary with her Prom Queen obsession," he explained. He looked away from Blaine for a moment, bouncing the basketball on the sidewalk as he sauntered down the street. "It's not fun for me anymore because prom's become her stupid popularity contest. But with Kurt it's different. It's not about being prom queen, it's not about some popularity contest, it's not about pushing people's buttons like Burt said. It's about him being able to go to the event of the year in his best outfit and having a good time." He continued, this time meeting Blaine's eyes.

"Yeah, I get that but Finn, you have to realize this is Ohio, not New York or San Francisco where these things are normal. We live among a bunch of homophobes, and we have to live with the reality of that," Blaine sighed, staring at the ground. His words were not so much an explanation to Finn as a justification to himself. He thought he was in the right, so why was it so hard to convince himself of that?

Blaine heard a chuckle escape from the figure marching next to him. "Hey, you know what, bro, I said almost the exact same thing to Kurt last year when he tried to decorate our room," Finn recounted. "But living with Kurt all these months, it's made me realize how wrong that is. How wrong it is that you feel like you have to hide yourself, and try to blend in just to avoid getting your asses kicked. It's just not fair." His voice punched at the last three words.

"I could show up for prom in my football jersey and letterman jacket and nobody would bat an eye at it. Santana can show up looking like a hooker, and everyone would totally be down with that. So why can't Kurt go to prom wearing something that he likes, like any other kid would do?" Finn wondered aloud, a tone of resentment in his voice. "I can't accept that. Not after all he's been through. Yes, the homophobes will still be there. They will want to cause trouble. But that's why the rest of us are going to be there for you, because there's no way I'm going to let those Neanderthals ruin prom for Kurt."

Finn stopped walking and placed a hand gingerly on Blaine's shoulder. "Look, it's obvious that Kurt thinks the world of you, and I think it would mean so much to him if you would support him for this one. I know, I know. Not my place to meddle in your relationship. But just think about what I said, okay?" He urged, looking down at the hobbit-like figure.

Blaine scrunched up his face at Finn's "lecture." The way the football player put it, it kind of made sense. He hated admitting it, but he could not suppress his own intuition that the jock made some good points. His felt his face go warm, this time in frustration that he had failed to assess the wholes situation from Kurt's point of view before he yelled at the one person in the world whose opinion mattered most to him. Still, it was a lot to take in.

The Warbler lead singer and the New Directions co-captain walked in silence the rest of the way. When Blaine approached his car, he finally acknowledge what the other boy said. "Thanks, Finn. I guess I have a lot to think about." he said, patting the larger boy gently on the back. He nagging voice in the back of his head told him that he needed to make things right with Kurt. The question is, how?

A/N 2: This chapter was much harder for me to write than I had anticipated. The episode left me with so many thoughts about gender and sexuality that I found it difficult to do any of these issues justice. Questions or comments? Feel free to leave a review or PM!