Author's Note: For some reason I have stopped receiving emails from this site, which is why I got confused and updated the same chapter twice, but I saw all of your lovely reviews and I thank each of you for them! I'm sorry if I don't get to reply or answer your questions directly, but I wrote an extra long chapter to hopefully make up for it. Thank you guys so much for sticking with me all this time!

~.~.~.~

On Friday night I was laying in bed exhausted, waiting for Kurt to finish his endless, nightly moisturizing routine. Granted it made his skin look and feel fantastic, but that damn vanity light was so bright I couldn't sleep while it was on, curled up under the fluffy comforter and my back turned to it. The five of us had stayed out late celebrating Carole's birthday at a Chinese restaurant, during which something pretty awesome had happened - Kurt and I sang together for the first time. I knew it was just for a thirty-second-long, cheesy birthday song, and technically there were two other people singing with us, but I could still hear how awesome our voices sounded together, and I could tell Kurt could too. We sounded like our voices were made for each other, which technically they were - only soul mates sounded that good together.

I blushed when I remembered how Kurt had wiped orange sauce off my chin with his napkin.

But I was supposed to be pissed at him for keeping me up, so I tried not to linger on the thought for too long.

"You should join Glee Club," Kurt declared out of the blue, still sitting at his vanity table.

"What?"

"You have a great voice. You should put it to good use," he reasoned.

"I don't know…" I muttered, pressing my face to the pillow to try to block out the light. I could feel his eyes on me.

"You wouldn't have to sing solos or anything. I just think you might enjoy it."

I made a noncommittal noise in the back of my throat. I knew how much the Glee Club was bullied from Kurt and Finn's horror stories of multiple slushies, and it was obvious Kurt got it the worst. I didn't really want to be subject to that, but maybe it made me a bad friend if I didn't join with him.

Kurt finally turned off the light and I heard him get into the other bed - we took turns, and this week it was my shift with the big bed.

"Do you like singing, Blaine?" Kurt asked from the other side of the room in the dark.

"I like hearing you sing," I said evasively, already half asleep.

Kurt wouldn't want his friends to see me with him, anyway. He was probably just offering to be nice.

~.~.~.~

My whole body jolted as I awoke from a nightmare - well, really a replay of any of the several hundred times my father had attacked me, really. It wasn't the first time I had dreamt of it, but it had been a long time because of me and Kurt's weird joint dreams, and I realized this was the first independent dream I'd had in months. But according to that article I read forever ago, we would still dream the see each other's dreams, which meant-

"Blaine," Kurt whimpered from across the room - he had seen everything, felt everything, I could tell by his distress filtering through our Connection. I heard his feet scamper across the carpet, barely able to make out his silhouette, and I automatically said his name and reached for him.

His hands were cold and clammy in mine, both of us sweating, and my heart was still pounding from the memory of being knocked out cold and hearing my father's threats. I had barely thought of him over the past week and the dream acted as a rude awakening, literally.

Kurt clasped both of my hands in his and laid down across from me, our hands knotted between us while we calmed down. Kurt kept murmuring that it was "just a dream", visibly shaken by what he'd experienced, and I felt awful about it.

"I-I was hoping that particular dream wouldn't be one I shared with you," I said as steadily as I could. "It's bad enough you felt my emotions when he was going after me before."

"Carole said our Connection is the strongest she's ever seen," he muttered.

"Really?" Again I thought of the Wikipedia article.

"Apparently not everyone can feel as much as we can, or control how much they feel."

I kind of already knew this, but Kurt was clearly in need of distracting. We lay like that for a long while, Kurt rubbing the backs of my hands soothingly with his thumbs, and I almost fell asleep again. This felt so comfortable, so natural to be near him even after what we had both just seen. Would Kurt be embarrassed if his friends knew the two of us were intimate like this? I became hyper-aware of my eyebrow ring and ear piercings, coupled with Kurt's squeaky-clean appearance and behavior. We didn't look like we fit.

"Wouldn't you be ashamed of me?" I mumbled, eyes closed and unsure if Kurt was even still awake.

"Hmm?"

"If I joined Glee, wouldn't you be ashamed of being seen with me so much? I mean, aren't you worried about what your friends think of us?"

There was a long stretch of silence where Kurt massaged my hands, and I could feel his eyes on me.

"Blaine, I'm not ashamed of you," he said softly, sincerely. I finally opened my eyes, needing to see the truth in his face because it didn't seem realistic that he wouldn't mind being seen with me.

"I would be," I whispered.

"I don't care what my friends think of us, Blaine," Kurt reiterated, his eyes fierce and hands squeezing mine.. "I don't care what anyone thinks of us."

I was looking at our hands, tears prickling my eyes. He sounded so honest, and it was...overwhelming, in a way. I had never had anyone be so open with me, or who seemed to actually like me as much as Kurt did - hopefully he liked me as a person, and not just as his soul mate, but I knew that was a lot to ask for.

"We're going to be together for a long time," Kurt continued quietly, a smile in his voice. "They're going to have to get used to us being friends." That made me laugh a bit; friends, laying in the same bed and talking intimately while holding hands. The picture shouldn't fit, but it did for Kurt and I.

"What's funny?" he asked with a smile, trying to catch my eye.

"It's just that we're talking about how it might be strange to be seen as friends, and yet look what we're doing right now," I explained, squeezing his hands. "This is the kind of thing couples do." Kurt smiled.

"We do a lot of things that couples do. It's comfortable, even if our relationship isn't romantic. I don't know about you, but I feel really at peace when you're close."

"Me too," I murmured, grinning. I could feel his soft breath on my hands, our noses inches apart, and the closeness itself had made me forget all about our nightmare.

"Must be a soul mate thing," Kurt whispered. I yawned and let my eyes droop shut.

We lay there like that for a long time, and I could tell neither of us were going anywhere tonight. When I was just fluttering on the edges of sleep, I felt Kurt's fingertips brush lightly along my jaw, catching on the stubble there. I didn't open my eyes.

"I'm so sorry I didn't help you earlier," said a small, tear-choked voice after a few moments. It took my sleepy brain a few moments to realize the voice belonged to Kurt; I had never heard him talk like that before. Feather-light fingers traced along my cheekbone. And then something pressed oh-so-softly against my forehead - Kurt's lips. I almost opened my eyes.

"I could never be ashamed of you," I heard him whisper, his mouth moving against my skin. He probably thought I was asleep. "You've been through so much, and you still manage to be as brave and compassionate as you are today. That's something to be proud of."

His lips left my skin, leaving it cold, and I felt him settle on the bed, close enough that our noses were touching and we were breathing the same air.

I could join Glee Club for him. I owed him that much.

~.~.~.~

"Do you need to audition to get into Glee Club?" I asked as nonchalantly as I could. It was Monday, Kurt and I sitting across from each other at lunch as usual. The subject of me joining Glee hadn't come up since Friday night, and I had finally plucked up enough courage to ask about it.

"Uh yeah, but we're desperate enough to take anyone at this point, with Sectionals coming up," Kurt answered, slightly surprised. I took a bite of my pasta, my heart thudding at the idea of singing in front of a bunch of people - in front of Kurt's friends, and I didn't get the nerve to mention it again until we were walking to English together.

"Alright, I'll do it," I said a bit begrudgingly. "But only if you sing my audition song with me - you said I wouldn't have to sing any solos."

It had taken a lot of courage for me to ask for that, because while there was no way in hell I was singing alone in front of strangers, singing with Kurt would instantly shove me out of the closet and lock the door behind me. It was blatantly obvious when two people singing a duet were soul mates, and everyone in Glee Club would know about us as soon as we opened our mouths.

"That's great, Blaine!" Kurt said, instantly buzzing with excitement, and it made me smile, wondering if he realized the sacrifice I was making for him. "What song do you want to sing?"

"I've got a few ideas."

Suddenly there was a very large letterman-jacket-clad-body between us and I heard Kurt slam against the lockers as a flash of pain shot through my arm. It was one of the jocks that had confronted me on the first day - Karofsky, I thought his name was, and I hated the way he looked at Kurt as he sauntered away.

"Are you okay?" I asked him cautiously once Kurt had regained his balance.

"I'm fine," he insisted, though I felt his anger bubbling close to the surface and his eyes were shining with the beginnings of tears.

"No you're not," I said quietly. "I feel that between nearly every class; scared the hell out of me before I knew soul mates felt each other's pain."

"Sorry."

"You're not the one who should be apologizing," I muttered.

I switched places with Kurt so that I was between him and the lockers.

~.~.~.~

Thursday came quicker than I wanted, and before I knew it, I was standing outside the choir room with Kurt, about to go in and audition. We had been practicing a number since Monday, and I knew we would nail it like always, but I still didn't like the thought of being watched. Singing with Kurt had been kind of an intimate, private thing until now, confined only to the demure gray walls of his - our - basement bedroom.

Plus there was the fact that everyone would know I was gay. Kurt hadn't yet seemed to realize this, and I doubted his friends could be trusted to keep it a secret, or cared enough to try. Of course they probably cared about Kurt, but it was likely none of them knew me.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Kurt asked with an encouraging smile, interrupting my worries. I nodded, knowing I wouldn't be able to do it if I waited any longer.

"Let's go," I muttered, pushing open the door and going in. It was pretty small for a choir room and not many of the seats were filled, but it was loud enough inside to constitute a full auditorium. I supposed that was what happened when you packed a bunch of kids who all wanted to be the center of attention into one room.

"Nice to meet you Blaine, I'm Mr. Shuester," said a curly-haired teacher I had seen around school, approaching me. Clearly Kurt had told him I was coming. "We're very glad to have you here."

"So this is the three hundred pound, six-foot-two, teeth-filed-into-canines guy you were talking about?" asked a kid in a wheelchair, laughing skeptically and eyeing me. He was talking to a guy with a mohawk that I recognized from Juvie - the guy was a total wimp, and so easy to steal waffles from - Puck, I thought his name was.. I would have laughed at his description of me if I hadn't been so nervous.

"Alright guys, this is Blaine Anderson," the teacher said loudly, quieting everyone down. Kurt pulled me over to sit on a stool next to him in the front of the room. "Give him and Kurt your full attention."

A Latina girl I knew as Santana winked at me and I felt Kurt's possessiveness zing between us.

The song I had chosen was "I'm Looking Through You" by the Beatles, with only piano accompaniment per Kurt's suggestion. The pianist just kind of seemed to know what to do, and I began to sing; Kurt wouldn't come in for a few lines.

I had purposely chosen a song that would help me express my mixed feelings towards my father. Though I had been skeptical about singing a Beatles song usually used for romantic context and directing it toward my father, Kurt had assured me with a rather sly smirk that it wasn't the first time the Glee Club had seen that.

Although the Glee Club wasn't as bad as I expected, I was still relieved when Kurt joined in for John Lennon's part, singing a third above me. Our voices meshed perfectly as always, weaving and dipping around each other so we never sang the same note but always harmonized. It reminded me a lot of two birds flying very close together who knew each other's flight pattern by heart; the ride was smooth and a bit exhilarating.

"...Your lips are moving, I cannot hear," I sang with him, looking at Kurt - this line was for him. "Your voice is soothing, but the words aren't clear…"

Singing the rest of the song felt almost as good as talking to Burt about my father. I had always loved music, but I never thought of it as theraputic before now. The song really did fit very well, though, describing someone previously loved, whose colors I could now see clearly.

"...Why, tell me why did you not treat me right? Love has a nasty habit of disappearing overnight…"

Wow, that really did feel good. I would have to thank Kurt later, but right now I was focusing on not missing a note and not looking at any of the people in front of us.

"...You were above me, but not today…"

After what seemed like an hour, the song ended, Kurt looking over at me and smiling proudly in a way that made my heart swell.

"Holy crap!" Santana exclaimed, a shocked laugh in her voice. "You guys are Connected!"

Aaaaaaand there it was.

Kurt seemed to panic for a moment, confirming my suspicion that he hadn't realized what would happen if we sang together.

"Wait, seriously?" Puck said incredulously.

"Weren't you listening? Only soul mates sound like that together."

"Finn, did you know about this?" asked a short girl who I guessed was Rachel - Finn never really shut up about her and was now shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

Everyone started talking at once and I caught the phrases "Get it boy!" and "Well this explains a lot."

"Guys, guys!" Mr. Shue said loudly, standing up in an attempt to regain control. "Listen, we will welcome Blaine with open arms, and the knowledge of his and Kurt's Connection will stay within this room until they're ready to tell everyone, understood?"

There were nods and murmurs of reluctant but sincere agreement, which took me severely by surprise. There were at least three Cheerios in the Glee Club, and Cheerios were famous for being huge gossips, but I hoped everyone here actually meant what they said. It was a huge weight off my back.

Kurt looked thrilled, taking my hand and leading me over to sit down next to him while Mr. Shuester started teaching something. Mercedes Jones from my Chemistry class leaned over from her seat next to Kurt to give me a hard stare.

"Alright, welcome to the club, Bad-Boy Gay, but I'm warning you - if you break my boy's heart figuratively, I'll break yours literally," she said convincingly.

I shot a frightened glance at Kurt, who was trying to hold back a laugh.

~.~.~.~

Glee Club became a pretty sinuous part of my life, but I couldn't pay much attention because I was starting to get really worried; I felt the flares of pain in my arm more frequently now, sometimes twice in a row between classes, and Kurt confessed that it was Karofsky nearly every time. I was going out of my way now to walk him to class, taking position between Kurt and the lockers, but the stupid freaking jock was persistent. He had switched to tripping and other douchery, and I nearly went after him when he sent Kurt's books all over the floor one time.

"He's not worth it," Kurt muttered, grabbing my arm to hold me back. I hated how dejected he sounded - where was the fight I had seen in him when he confronted my father? He sounded...he sounded like me..

"You're worth it," I grumbled, stooping to help him pick up his things. "I sat down and took abuse for ten years and it made me miserable. I'm not about to let that happen to you."

I could only walk Kurt to four of his six classes without making myself late, though, and I couldn't risk tarnishing my record any further if I wanted anything close to a sustainable future. The fact that he was exposed, even for those few short minutes, made me feel incredibly guilty, because every time I felt him get checked against the lockers. But what might have been even worse was the defeated resignation I felt in Kurt more and more often these days.

But on my way to math class, during one of the times I couldn't be there with Kurt, I felt the familiar pain and then a very different emotion: anger. It was slightly more encouraging than defeat, but I still wondered if something was wrong besides the usual as I took my seat in the classroom. I kept myself attuned to him, not really paying attention to the teacher, and the anger didn't fade, even building to rage after the bell rang.

And then the rage was gone, but it was like sirens were going off in my head - something was wrong, twistedly, horrifyingly wrong, and I squeezed my eyes shut and squirmed in my seat. Something was happening to Kurt, I didn't know what, but it was like I could feel him calling for me - screaming for me, and I had no control over my body as it brought me to a standing position.

I barely had the sense to say "Family emergency" over my shoulder in explanation to the hysterical teacher as I ran out.

There was a dull pain against my face and jaw on both sides, along with my mouth. Had Karofsky punched Kurt? My feet moved faster, bringing me to the boys' locker room automatically, and I slammed open the door, ready to fight Karofsky.

But he wasn't there. It was just Kurt, sitting on one of the benches and crying but looking physically unharmed. He looked and felt violated, his tear-soaked eyes snapping up to my face, filled with so much fear..

"Blaine!" he sobbed when he realized it was me, and I rushed to him. Within a moment he was in my arms, and I could feel him trembling gently while I held him as tightly as I could.

"What did he do to you?" I asked desperately. Honestly, I was panicking; never had I seen Kurt like this, and I couldn't think of how to help him. There had to be some way I could calm him down, like he used to for me after my father's attacks, but I didn't know how.

"It should have been you," Kurt was muttering continuously, his voice shaking. "It should've been you, Blaine, not him, it should have been you…"

"What should have been me?" I asked as calmly as I could, running my fingers through Kurt's soft hair.

"H-he kissed me," he answered in barely a whisper.

"Oh, Kurt…" I could still feel his lips throbbing with pain.

A less potent version of the protective instinct shot through me, and I tightened my hold on Kurt, letting him rest his head on my shoulder. Being kissed by someone other than your soul mate didn't matter much before a Connection was made, but after a Connection, it felt horribly violating. If a Connected person were raped, sometimes the pain of it could drive them to insanity.

"I won't let him hurt you again, Kurt, I promise," I murmured. I didn't know how I would do it, but I would die trying. "You're safe."

Kurt reached up to latch his arms around my shoulders, pressing his tear-streaked face against my neck. It was jarring to see him so vulnerable, and I wondered if this was how he felt when I had cried against him so many times. I had longed for an opportunity to repay Kurt for all he had done for me, but now that he needed me in the same way, I had no clue what to do.

"I'm so sorry," he choked out, voice muffled against my shirt. He felt guilty for kissing Karofsky before me, I realized, and the thought of him blaming himself made me sick.

"Don't you dare be," I told him firmly.

Kurt didn't calm down for a long while, and I just held him and hoped it would be enough until he could talk to his dad or someone.

"I want to go," he said in the same small, defeated voice once his sobs had subsided to sniffles.

"Do you want me to get Finn to drive you home?" I had never taken drivers' ed.

"No, I'll be okay to drive." He slowly peeled himself from my embrace, scrubbing at his face with his sleeve. "Will you come with me?"

I nodded and held his hand as we went out to the parking lot, the thought of someone seeing us not even crossing my mind. Kurt got us home safely and headed straight for the shower once we got down to his room, so I sat on the bed and started reading The Chamber of Secrets while I waited for him. Half an hour later he emerged in a dark blue bathrobe, the bathroom so steamy it looked like he was coming out of a fog.

"Are you going to tell your dad?" I asked cautiously.

"No," Kurt muttered in reply, his back to me as he picked out a new outfit. "He's got enough to worry about lately; I don't want to stress him out more."

"Well...you'll have to tell him eventually, right?" I asked a bit fearfully. "I mean, you have to be safe."

"I told you."

"And I'd die for you," I said simply. "But I think we proved today that I can't keep Karofsky away from you. At least tell Finn or something."

"Finn knows I'm being bullied," Kurt said tiredly, pulling a pair of sweatpants from his drawer that i had never seen him wear before. "He said something about not being able to get Karofsky on his bad side because the football team dynamics would be thrown off or something."

"Bullshit," I grumbled, suddenly furious with Finn. "You're practically his brother, you should be more important to him than a damn sports team."

So I would be helping him through this alone, then. How the hell was I going to pull that off?

"It's fine, Blaine, really," Kurt said exasperatedly, finally turning to look me in the eye. It really concerned me how easily he lied through his teeth about this, like he'd done it a hundred times before - if we weren't Connected I wouldn't have caught it. "What happened earlier was admittedly terrifying, but it's over and done with now. I'm fine."

"No you're not," I murmured, feeling his panicky fear vibrating through our Connection. "You're scared. So am I. We can't lie to each other, remember?"

Kurt sighed heavily and closed his eyes, looking exhausted. I had a feeling it wasn't just from the sauna-hot shower.

"Look, if it gets worse, I promise I'll tell Dad," he said eventually.

"Thank you."

~.~.~.~

I couldn't sleep that night. Kurt's emotions were so strong I felt them like my own, so I knew he wasn't sleeping either - betrayal, fear, violation, singing through my head like an annoying song. I could hear him sniffling from across the room and almost see his silhouette shaking with silent sobs, and I wondered if me going over there to hold him would make things better or worse.

"Kurt?" I asked cautiously, my voice cracking - I hadn't realized I was crying too.

Instead of a response, I saw him instantly rush to get to his feet, feeling his way to me as fast as he could in the dark room. I sat up and held my arms out to him and Kurt collapsed against me with a shaky sigh.

"Blaine," he whimpered, sounding lost. I laid back against the mattress, pulling the blankets over us.

"I'm here," I offered, hoping it was some reassurance as I held him closer.

Within moments he was sobbing, not very loudly, but it was so rough it seemed to wrack his entire frame. I had no clue what to do, so I just let him grip my hair so tight it hurt and rubbed his back like he used to do for me.

If this had happened to me, Kurt would have known exactly what to do. He would have been calm and told me everything would be alright, and it would have been, but I didn't know how to cleanse Kurt of the awful things he was feeling. Doing something like that, something that went against instinct, was like if Karofsky had hacked at the physical bond between us with a rusty knife. It didn't do anything, but it hurt like hell, more so for Kurt, and I wanted more than anything to be good enough to help him through it.

"I'm so sorry, Kurt," I choked out, my throat clogged with unshed tears. He looked up at me, confused and not sobbing for the moment.

"For what?"

"For not being good enough," I muttered, not meeting his eyes because I couldn't stand to see the pain and trust there. "I'm never good enough. I wasn't good enough to make my mom want to stay, for my dad to love me, to keep you safe, for my own soul mate to love me…"

I trailed off because I hadn't meant to say that last part, but it admittedly felt pretty good to get it out.

"Blaine," Kurt whispered, tipping my chin up to make me look at him. He still looked confused, and a little hurt, letting his hand rest on my jaw.

"You're perfect," I said softly. "And all I have to give you is myself."

Kurt's brow relaxed from its furrowed position and his eyes softened. The air between us changed to something I had never felt before and I felt him calling me again, but much softer than when Karofsky kissed him. Kurt was leaning in and I was closing my eyes and then it just happened.

Kurt's mouth against mine was like a balm for both of our wounds, his lips so soft and warm and alive. It gave me a bone-deep happiness and the kiss deepened, both of us wanting to explore this feeling we had discovered. It was like a small, wet, quiet dance that we both knew instinctively, like Kurt knew that threading his fingers through my hair would make me whimper and I knew that darting my tongue out to taste would make him shiver against me. And God, he tasted so good, like vanilla and musk, I just wanted him closer…

We broke away because there were more words to be said, but my heart didn't stop thudding hard in my chest and Kurt didn't stop looking like the most gorgeous thing I'd ever seen, his eyes sparkling and looking so happy. Happy because he was with me. I couldn't wrap my head around it, but everything with him felt so right I couldn't question it.

"Don't ever think that you're not enough," he whispered, cupping my face in his hands. "You're perfect too, you know. It's your parents' loss if they can't see that."

He gazed at me for a long moment and then kissed my forehead like he had done Friday night.

"Thank you. For everything you've done," he said softly. "I wouldn't be able to get through this without you, you're my rock."

"We protect each other, it's our job," I said a bit sheepishly, smiling.

Kurt smiled too, moving his hands to hold mine. I nuzzled against his face hesitantly, letting my nose brush his cheek and closing my eyes. It took me a moment to realized Kurt was humming something, "Perfect" by P!nk by the sound of it, and I hummed along for the chorus. As the song continued and drew to a close, a got up the courage to lean forward and kiss his cheek very softly. I was rewarded by the feeling of his face breaking into a smile under my lips.

"Goodnight, Kurt," I whispered as I pulled away, blushing a little.

"Night, Blaine."

~.~.~.~