Author's Note: I'm going on a trip to the States for the month, so I most likely won't be able to update as much. As always, I don't own Glee, or the characters. Only the plot of this story. ;) Love you guys, and thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed so far. I'm always open to prompts, if you want me to write anything in particular. Please read and review! Your feedback gives the motivation to keep writing. ;D

Mercedes had decided that interfering (at least, when she did it) was a very good thing. She was actually rather pleased with the way the plan she had made with Santana had turned out. No one had been murdered, anyway. She knew that Kurt had been a bit annoyed with her for not telling him that she was going out with Sam, so she decided to make it up to him.

"Hey, Kurt?" she said in History. It was one of her favorite subjects, only made better by the fact that she could gossip with Kurt the whole time, and copy off his excellent notes when she felt like it.

"Yup," Kurt said, not looking up from his doodle of the Treaty of Versaille.

"Do you want to go on a date with me and Sam?"

Kurt tried not to groan. He would never understand why people invited more than one person on a date. "Wouldn't it be a bit awkward with just the three of us?"

"Blaine's invited too," she said, wondering why Kurt hadn't assumed that in the first place.

"Oh!" He kicked himself mentally. "Of course!"

"Tomorrow night at seven? If Blaine can come," she added.

"I'm sure he can," Kurt said. In fact, he would do everything in his power to ensure that Blaine could make it.

At lunch, he told Blaine of Mercedes' invitation. "You can come, right?"

"Even if I wasn't free, I'd never miss a chance to hang out with Mercedes."

Kurt pouted. "You like her better than me."

"I'm sorry, Kurt," Blaine said emotionally. "I'm leaving you for your best friend who is happily dating Sam and also a girl." He turned away, a hand to his forehead as though he might faint from the drama of it all. Then he looked back at Kurt, who had raised an eyebrow skeptically. "No, no, I can't do it. I can't resist your powers of persuasion." He clasped his hands over his heart. "You have too much of a hold over me, Kurt."

"You're an idiot," Kurt told him.

"You love me," Blaine assured him in return.

"Of course I do," Kurt sighed.

Blaine picked Kurt up at his house the next evening. "You ready?" he asked his boyfriend, whose fashion sense was impeccable as usual.

"Is my hair okay?" Kurt asked, trying to examine his reflection in the window.

"It's fine," Blaine told him. "Although..."

"What?" Kurt asked, running his hands over his head critically. "What's wrong?"

"Why don't you wear it like you did during 'Born This Way'?" Blaine asked, remembering how sexy Kurt had looked with the wild hairstyle.

"How did you know about that?" Kurt asked suspiciously.

Oh, shit. "Um..." Blaine tried not to look embarrassed, while quickly thinking up a lie. "I searched you on Youtube?"

"Oh, no," Kurt groaned. "Some of that stuff is mortifying."

"It looked good to me," Blaine said truthfully. Really good, in fact.

"Uh, huh," Kurt said doubtfully. Blaine was obviously lying to spare his feelings.

"Really, really good," Blaine said, reassuring him while attempting to avoid letting on exactly how good it had been.

Kurt decided to accept this. "We should get going."

They met Sam and Mercedes at Breadstix. Both of them looked very nice. Obviously Mercedes had been helping him with the clothing issue.

"Is that my tie?" Kurt asked.

Sam blushed. "I thought you wouldn't notice."

"I'd never forget anything that I once owned, Sam."

Blaine gave Sam a sympathetic look, even though it had been naive to assume that Kurt would overlook the fact that he was wearing Kurt's old tie.

Their table was next to the window, and they watched the sunset while they waited for their food to arrive. Kurt and Mercedes chatted about school, leaving Blaine to make conversation with Sam.

"So... how's football?" he asked awkwardly.

"It's cool," Sam shrugged. "Karofsky's not quite as much of an asshole as he used to be."

"Really?" Blaine said. He hadn't been aware of an improvement in Karofsky's behavior, aside from not pushing Kurt around anymore, but he knew the real reason for that.

"Yeah. Some of the guys are giving him a hard time, though."

Kurt and Mercedes looked over at them.

"What have they done to Dave?" Kurt asked.

Dave? Blaine thought. Where did that come from? He was also slightly disturbed by the real concern in Kurt's voice.

"Just insulting him," Sam said. "Calling him-" he hesitated, not wanting to say the word in front of Blaine and Kurt, "-names."

"Maybe they've guessed," Kurt breathed.

"Guessed what?" Mercedes asked curiously. Then she remembered what Blaine had told her a few weeks ago, and felt guilty for not keeping as much of a watch over Kurt as she'd said she would. She'd tried at first, but hadn't noticed anything in particular, and had slowly forgotten about Blaine's suspicions.

"Nothing," Kurt said, trying to cover his slip.

"Kurt. Whatever it is, you can tell me."

He looked around to make sure no one was listening into their conversation. "Dave's gay," he said quietly.

Mercedes was shocked. Kurt knew? Blaine had told her that Karofsky had a crush on Kurt, but he hadn't mentioned that the former bully was actually gay, so she'd dismissed his concerns. Maybe there was more to the story than she'd thought.

"How do you know that?" she asked.

Kurt flinched.

Mercedes continued to look at him questioningly, while Blaine motioned for her to shut up. Obviously, there was something going on here. "You can tell me," she said softly. What could be so bad that Kurt wouldn't want to tell her about it?

"He kissed me," Kurt whispered.

She put a hand to her mouth. She'd had no idea.

"When was that?" Sam asked, looking murderous.

"Last year," Kurt said, shuddering with horror. He was friends with Dave now, but when he thought of what had happened in the locker room he only recalled the bully who had stolen his first kiss.

"That's why he transferred," Blaine said, feeling horrible that his innocent question had provoked the memory Kurt's ordeal.

"I'm so sorry," Mercedes said. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I-" he looked at Blaine wildly, asking for help. "I didn't-"

Blaine covered Kurt's hand with his own. "He couldn't."

"Of course he could!" Mercedes cried. "I'm his best friend!" Why hadn't Kurt confided in her? Didn't he trust her?

"He didn't tell anyone," Blaine said. "Not even his Dad."

"So how do you know about it?" Mercedes asked him accusingly.

"Well... he did tell me." He remembered Kurt's voice, crying on the phone. His anger at not being there, at his horrible advice, but most of all, his hatred for Karofsky, who'd damaged his friend almost beyond repair. What does Kurt see in him? he wondered, not for the first time. How can he even stand to look at him?

Mercedes interrupted his reverie. "He told you. But not me," she said, the betrayal clear in her voice.

Kurt was looking guilty now. He'd never meant to hurt Mercedes. "I'm sorry," he told her quietly.

Blaine felt another flash of anger. Kurt should never be made to feel like that. "Can I talk to you?" he asked Mercedes icily. "Alone?"

They walked across the room, out of earshot.

"How could you do that?" Blaine said, keeping his voice quiet, but clearly communicating his frustration.

"What did I do?" she asked. "I'm his best friend! He should have told me!" She looked away, staring off at the window. "I could have helped," she said sadly, haunted by the memory of how broken Kurt had been, and wishing that she could have done something to make it better.

"He felt alone," Blaine told her. "No one understood what he was going through, most of you didn't even notice anything was wrong."

"I noticed," she said. But it was true that she had never guessed how bad it was until she learned that Karofsky had threatened to kill Kurt.

"I know. You really are his best friend. But I had stuff like that happen to me..." he trailed off, almost feeling the bruises from the boys who'd kicked him until he bled. "He needed to talk to someone who'd been through that."

She nodded. "I didn't realize... I thought he didn't trust me or something."

Blaine touched her arm sympathetically. "He loves you. Just... apologize to him, okay? He doesn't need this, too."

"Of course."

She returned to the table, and Blaine followed. He sat next to Kurt, who was determinedly not looking at him. But Blaine noticed the tear trickling down his cheek. He took Kurt's hand and squeezed it. Funny, he thought, how the smallest touch can have so much meaning.

"I'm sorry," Mercedes told Kurt.

"Not your fault," he said.

"I know... but I should have done more. No matter what happens, you can always tell me. You know that, boo?" She smiled reassuringly.

"Thanks," he said, giving a weak smile back. Kurt leaned his head on Blaine's shoulder, wishing he'd never said anything. But Blaine stroked his hair, and he felt a little better. This stops now, he told himself. So he sat up, appearing cheerful, and finished the evening as though nothing had ever happened.