Kurt had been upset, hurt and pissed. Not at Blaine, but at himself. HE opened himself up to somebody new and then just as quick shut himself off again. He knew he was being a hypocrite, and on top of it all he knew that he had hurt Blaine.

He wanted to be Blaine's friend, but as he had told him, he couldn't. He wasn't that courageous. Not anymore.

Blaine was ignoring him, and he was ignoring Blaine. That was fine with Kurt, but he also had told everyone about him, but not the truth. More like Blaine had helped him get to know his cousin Sally, she was really cool, and Puck already knew about his mother, so he didn't say anything. But one thing that Kurt was adamant about was they leave Blaine alone.

Blaine didn't deserve it. All he had tried to do was be nice to Kurt. Kurt wouldn't let it go back to the way it was. He thought about Sally and how she would feel if she found out that Blaine was being bullied by Kurt and it made feel sick to his stomach. His father had had a discussion about how he was treating Blaine.

His dad had seen how he had spoken to Blaine at the door, and when Kurt had got home he had let him have it. His dad liked Blaine, he knew that, and they were neighbours. Burt didn't like the bravado act he had when that Puckerman kid was around and he had told Kurt that it wasn't Blaine fault, whatever was going on, the kid had been decent and kind towards him.

Kurt knew all of this, which is why he found it so difficult to be around Blaine. He never wanted to bring Blaine into his world. It was fake. And no matter how much Kurt may seem like he doesn't like Blaine right now, he actually does.

He missed the chats, and Blaine's smile, missed talking to him. But Kurt didn't want to apologize.

Blaine had knocked him down in the corridor one day, and said nothing but Kurt was hurt by the amount of venom in Blaine's expression when he looked at him. He had sat on the floor staring after him for ages. Even when Blaine had disappeared out of sight, he sat there, until Quinn found him.

And now Quinn and Puck had joined Glee, and they were hanging out with Blaine. Just add insult to injury, in Kurt's opinion. Maybe it was Kurt's fault for not being strong enough, for not being himself, for letting Puck and Quinn believe he was something he's not.

Kurt was angry and upset as he walked home. His father had asked him what was wrong when he slammed the door shut and stomped to his room, but he ignored him. He sat on his bed for hours, staring at a picture of his mom and wondering just how much different is life would be, if he was to be himself.

Blaine had seen him for who he really was, well a small glimpse, but Blaine had enjoyed spending time with Kurt, while he was being open.

Kurt had to go and be an asshole. And now he felt like he couldn't fix it.

It had been 2 weeks now, since he had last spoken to Blaine, and he had started to miss him. Really miss him.

And now that Blaine had kind of infiltrated his group of friends, he couldn't really ignore it, it hurt. It hurt to be angry, it hurt to glare at Blaine, when all he really wanted to do was sit with him, tell him things, have him smile at him again.

But Kurt was a coward. He was. He couldn't do it.

He hadn't hung outwith Puck and Quinn for a few days, since finding out about their blossoming friendship with Blaine, and he had to admit that he missed them too. As he wasn't hanging around with them much at school he could feel the stares he was accumulating from the jocks.

He knew that soon, he wouldn't be able to hide the fact that he was alone. And they would soon be right there, ready to smash his face in.

What he didn't expect to find however, a few days into a new school week, was the jocks surrounding Blaine in the parking lot. His eyes widened when he noticed that none of them had slushies, which meant that they were even going to verbally abuse him or assault him. But Kurt couldn't move.

He was frozen to the spot, by the side of the school building, watching it all unfold. He couldn't help, he wasn't like Blaine. He was scared. He slunk back around the side and listened.

"...heard Puck joined Glee," one of them said to Blaine, "didn't take him for a faggot."

"Yeah Anderson, don't be trying to turn us Football guys, or you'll get your ass beat."

"Why would I want to turn any of you?" Blaine replied with venom and Kurt heard laughter, "You think I would go for anybody like you, sweaty, under-groomed morons are not my thing."

Kurt heard a thud, and then listened as a fight broke out.

Puck came out of a side door near where Kurt was standing, and sauntered up to him.

"Hummel, what are you doing?" Puck said as he paused next to Kurt, but as his eyes wandered to the parking lot they widened, "Fuck...not cool Hummel!"

Kurt winced as Puck ran into the parking lot, jumping into the fight, and Kurt couldn't stand there and listen to it anymore, so he ran.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Blaine hissed as Quinn dabbed another cotton bud against the split in his lip, as Santana was helping Puck with the cuts on his face. They were sitting in Quinn's backyard, Puck had literally dragged Blaine out of parking lot after helping him fend off the jocks, and into his truck and sped all the way to Quinn's house, texting Quinn and Santana about what happened, and about 10 minutes later the girls arrived.

"And Kurt just stood there?" Quinn turned to give Puck an incredulous look, and he nodded, hissing when Santana pressed against the cut on his eyebrow a little too hard, "I can't believe Kurt would do that."

"It has to do with me," Blaine spoke up as Quinn dabbed ointment around the bruises on his face, "He doesn't like me, why would he help me?"

"Hummel told us about when you helped him while I was...away," Puck said and then hissed at Santana again, "OW bitch!"

"Well hold still, Tarzan." She retorted and grabbed his face back into position.

"He told you about that?" Blaine asked a little shocked that Kurt would tell any of these friends of his about him.

"Yeah, and that you helped with his ribs and bruises, and hiding everything from his dad." Santana explained and Blaine sat there stumped.

"He's such a mystery." Blaine said and Quinn and Santana hummed in agreement.

Puck sighed.

"Blaine, things with Hummel...it's complicated, I don't-"

"I know." Blaine interrupted and they all threw a glance at each other before looking back at him confused, "He told me everything, I know about his mom, I've been inside his house, he showed me his mom's library...I just don't understand where it went so wrong."

"Kurt's been hiding behind his shell for so long, that I think he forgets sometimes to just live." Quinn said and Blaine smiled at her, wincing a little as it pulled on his lip.

"I thought you were his fake friends." Blaine grinned around at them all, and Puck snorted, Santana smirked and Quinn chuckled lightly.

"He likes to think that, but we like him." Quinn told him with a small smile.

"We're sorry we were dicks to you before." Puck spoke up, as he and Santana looked over to him a little sheepishly and he shook his head with a smile.

"That's ok, I think everyone deserves a second chance anyway." Blaine said and everyone relaxed, but Quinn sighed and he turned to look at her.

"Will you give Kurt one?" She asked and they all waited and watched him as he thought over her question.

Would he?

It wasn't a question of if Kurt chose to apologize to him, it was if Blaine had enough bravery to open his heart to him again, it had already been crushed once. But Blaine had always been a forgiving person, it was why he sometimes got hurt so much, but it wasn't in his personality to shut people out.

He smiled around at all of them and then he sighed.

"Well, it might end up being a mistake in the long run but...sure, I'd give him a second chance."