Author's Notes: So so sorry this took so long to update guys. Exams kind of took over for a while and then I was away this weekend. The good news is that my exams are over so I should be able to update quicker now.

Chapter 28

Finn and Sam walked down the hall at the end of school a couple of days later, debating which Call of Duty game was better when they saw Kurt crash into a locker.

"What the hell?" Sam started, moving forwards before being pushed into an empty classroom by Finn, "What's going on Finn? Karofsky-"

"Is targeting Kurt again, yeah" Finn sighed.

"WHY is Kurt letting it happen again? After EVERYTHING!" Sam ranted.

"Because apparently he cares about you more for some reason"

"Wait – what?" Sam asked, caught off guard.

"Karofsky knows. About you, about you and Kurt. And so would the whole school if Kurt got anyone else involved. Kurt's an idiot who thing you coming out in your own time is more important than his saf-" Finn trailed off as Sam ran out. "Yeah Kurt's going to kill me" he sighed.

"David!" Sam said falsely brightly, catching up with Karofsky in the hall and throwing his arm around him. "A word?"

"Um yeah sure" Karofsky said uncertainly, letting Sam lead him into the locker room where he found himself shoved away roughly by the blond boy. "What the hell?" he said angrily as he almost tripped over a bench.

"You're meant to be staying AWAY from Kurt" Sam seethed.

"I don't know what you're talking about" Karofsky tried to brush off.

"Oh give it up I know you're starting on him again. And WHY"

"Then you know it's his choice Evans" Karofsky smirked. "Not my problem he cares more about keeping your closet locked"

"No, it's your choice. ALL you had to do was stay away from him and try and act like a decent human being but that was too much for you to be capable of right? You're a pathetic, closeted, bullying thug and you know what? You're going to end up all alone and you'll NEVER be happy" Sam spat out.

"Oh please Evans don't act like you're so much better than me"

"I AM better than you, it's not a hard thing to do. I would never make someone's life a living hell for being who they are"

"And yet you're still every inch as pathetic and closeted as I am in case you hadn't noticed." Karofsky smiled. "And you're going to end up just as alone as I am. Because you know as well as I do that whenever either of us comes out our world is going to fall apart, and you can't take that just as much as me"

"You're wrong" Sam said firmly.

"Am I? As long as you're stuck in this town, you're going to hide who you are Evans, and you'll always be stuck here because you're not clever enough to get out. And how long do you think Kurt, or any other gay person is going to stick around with someone like that?"

Sam glared at him, giving him one last shove as he walked out.

Sam splashed water on his face in the empty school bathroom. I'm not like him" he told his reflection firmly. "I'm not" he repeated before storming out into the corridor.

"Sam!" Kurt said in surprise, closing his locker to find the blond boy standing there. "You scared me"

"Sorry. Look we...we're totally cool after the Blaine thing now right?"

"Yeah of course. Why?"

"...Just wanted to make sure that this isn't going to come across as some sort of tragic attempt to impress you" Sam explained.

Kurt's "what" was muffled by Sam's lips meeting his and kissing him deeply..

"Awwwww" Rachel sighed dreamily from where she was standing with Mercedes. "They're so cute"

"Yeah well it's about damn time" Mercedes responded.

Finn's grin at the sight faded into a smirk when he saw Karofsky standing by his locker looking shocked. "Looks like you've lost this round" he said snarkily, walking past the other boy on his way out. "Stay away from Kurt, and Sam"

"Um, what? Why?" Kurt mumbled as Sam drew away.

"...can we talk about it at home? I think we should get out of here before people start throwing things"

"That's probably a good plan" Kurt said looking nervously around them.

"So what was that about?" Kurt asked again as they headed down to the basement.

"I just...realized I needed to start being honest" Sam said distantly.

"Uh huh" Kurt answered.

"...Is there anything you want to tell me Kurt?" Sam asked, biting his lip.

"That's deflecting, and...no why would there be?" Kurt said nervously.

Sam ran his hands through his hair. "You liar"

"What?"

"I know Kurt. About Karofsky, the blackmail, everything!" Sam told him in frustration.

"Ho-Who told you?" Kurt asked disjointedly.

"It doesn't matter! What I want to know is why the hell you didn't tell me!" Sam argued.

"I could handle it" "Kurt tried.

"No you couldn't! God Kurt when are you going to learn that you can't handle these things by yourself and you are the only person who thinks you have to!" Sam paused as a thought occurred to him. "Oh please tell me you didn't tell Blaine" he groaned.

"...um..." Kurt started guiltily.

"Shit Kurt! So that's why you were spending so much time with him? We fought because of that, we could have broken up over that! Don't you care?"

"Of course I care" Kurt said, hurt at the accusation "...that's why I did it"

"No, just no. This wasn't your decision to make." Sam told him. "You didn't want me outed, fine that's brilliant that you were ok to wait until I was ready. But I deserved to know what was happening, that I have a choice here"

"But I was pretty sure what you would choose and you weren't ready. Besides after what happened with your parents-"

"Which had nothing to do with you so...wait. You still think that was your fault?"

"Maybe?"

"Wow Finn was right we really do have communication issues" Sam muttered. "Ok LISTEN to me that was NOTHING to do with you, other than the timing. You've talked to my mom remember, do you really think she would EVER have been ok with me being bisexual?"

"I don't know"

"Well I do and she would have been awful whenever. More importantly we CAN'T go on with you thinking it's you have to protect me from everything, especially just because you have some stupid notion that you caused that. We just can't. Me getting kicked out? Not your fault. Karofsky finding out about me and threatening to tell everyone? Not your fault. But us having problems because you're hiding things from me in the name of 'protection'? TOTALLY your fault. We have to be honest with each other Kurt, you don't NEED to worry about handling things yourselves anymore because you have Finn, me, and the rest of the glee club to back you up" sam argued passionately.

"I know, it just...got out of control" Kurt admitted. "And no one, hell not even Karofsky, deserves to be forcefully outed, ever. I am sorry, I never thought it would be having an effect on us if I kept quiet"

"Well I guess that's good to know that you weren't planning on making us come close to breaking up" Sam said sarcastically.

Kurt thought for a moment and had to ask "So did you come straight from finding out about Karofsky to outing yourself by kissing me or-"

"No actually, sorry to prove you wrong. I actually...uh I talked to Karofsky"

"Bet that went well" Kurt said deadpan.

"Actually it kind of did in a weird way. He just...reminded me of how he is everything that I'm terrified of becoming, which gave me food for thought before finding you. I should really send him flowers."

"You'll never be like him" Kurt assured him vehemently. "You know that right?"

"Because of you" Sam said honestly. "Who knows how long I would have stayed stuck in the closet, denying who I was to myself and everyone else otherwise"

Kurt smiled softly, thinking about how close he had come to losing himself at Dalton. "I guess we saved each other then" he said, slipping his hand through Sam's and pulling the other boy into a deep kiss.