The next chapter! And it's the longest chapter so far. I hope you like it, please let me know what you think! And thanks to everyone who reads this!
I don't own the characters or places!
The moment Blaine started to sing, Kurt was lost. He already liked Blaine's voice, but never would he have imagined that he could sing like this! And he could sing, that was obvious. He also played the piano like he'd done it before a million times. The song was slow and it took him a few moments to realize that this was 'Teenage Dream' by Katy Perry, just in a very slow, acoustic version. Kurt already loved it.
He kept his eyes on Blaine the entire time he was singing and Kurt was surprised by the emotions he could see on his face. While he was singing, Blaine looked so free. There was nothing from his mask and he looked so calm. He rarely did otherwise, there was always this guarded look on his face.
When he didn't look at the keys, Blaine kept his eyes on Kurt. Next to sadness, there was something else in his eyes Kurt couldn't quite place. It was a soft expression and sometimes, Blaine seemed to be smiling while he sang.
Kurt had never heard anyone sing like this in his entire life. Blaine's voice was mesmerizing and he didn't want him to stop. Alone the sound of Blaine's voice made Kurt shiver and he was sure that he'd stared at him the entire time he sang. When the song was over, Kurt felt nearly sad. Somehow, he had the feeling that he just lost something important. He really hoped that he could hear Blaine sing again in the future.
"That was beautiful." He whispered into the silence that followed. He just hoped that Blaine wouldn't notice the wetness in his eyes, Kurt thought that it would only make him feel uncomfortable.
"Thank you." Blaine's voice was barely a whisper and there was a shy smile on his lips. Without thinking about it, Kurt hugged him tightly. First, Blaine stiffened in his arms, but then he relaxed in Kurt's embrace. "I've never sang in front of anyone before." He noticed that Blaine didn't sound uncomfortable, but rather shy.
"You're amazing!" Kurt leaned back and smiled widely. "I can't believe that you don't sing more often! I've never heard anyone who sounds as good as you do. And that means a lot since I'm in the show choir business and want to study music soon." He looked at Blaine meaningfully and to his surprise, he chuckled.
"It means a lot to me that you say this, Kurt." He said with a smile. "Really. Just please, don't tell anyone about this." And there was the uncomfortable look Kurt had been waiting for.
"I promised, didn't I?" He said and smiled slightly. "However, I would really like to hear you sing again."
Now Blaine laughed and winked at Kurt. "I think we can arrange that. But I have one condition."
Kurt raised his eyebrows. "And that is?"
"We will sing together. I bet we would sound incredible."
Kurt grinned and his heart was beating faster again. He wouldn't just hear Blaine sing again, he also wanted to sing with him! A warm feeling spread in his chest and he had to hold himself back not to hug Blaine again. "I think so too!" He agreed instead.
"I've got a piano at home." Blaine said suddenly and Kurt stared at him in surprise.
"You've got a piano?" He couldn't believe what he just heard. How on earth did Blaine get a piano? Those were really expensive.
Blaine chuckled. "Yes, and a good one at that." He grinned. "I never said that I don't get money from my parents. And they've got enough of that."
"And I can see it?" Kurt knew that he most probably sounded like a child, but he didn't care.
Blaine grinned. "Of course, but warn me before you want to come over. I rarely have visitors and I really need to clean up before you come."
"I think I can manage that. After all, I've got your number." Now Kurt winked at Blaine.
"So you want to say that Santana and Quinn will not perform with us at Sectionals?" Rachel asked and raised her eyebrows. "Just because of that bet between you and Coach Sylvester?"
Mr. Schue nodded and to Kurt's surprise, he actually looked ashamed. "Seems so. They side with the Cheerios in our small competition next week."
"Small?" Rachel repeated incredulously. "This small bet as you call it tore the glee club apart! Our chances to win Sectionals just sank!"
"Calm down, we can still win." Finn placed a hand on Rachel's arm. "The team is still big enough and we have incredible singers. We can win this thing and then we'll go to Regionals, hopefully with Santana and Quinn."
"Honestly, I wouldn't count on them anymore." Mercedes threw in. "I met them in the hallway and they didn't even speak to me!"
"They ignored me as well in class." Kurt added, remembering that lesson very well. He sat next to Quinn and it had been very uncomfortable.
Mr. Schue sighed loudly. "Alright, let's think of that later. First, we have to concentrate on the important things. Which means the competition against the Cheerios and Sectionals. Since we already know our plan for our small competition here" he looked at Rachel apologetically while saying this "we didn't talk about Sectionals that much. This year, we'll see the Warblers again."
Most people in the choir room groaned in frustration. The Warblers had been a hard competitor of the New Directions at Regionals last year. Kurt really liked their music, but it would be hard to beat them again. And now they were already competing against them at Sectionals, not just Regionals.
"We will win against them." Rachel declared loudly and many others agreed loudly.
"I've got a few ideas for songs we could sing this year." Mr. Schue explained with a smile. "Of course you can also tell me your ideas. I think original songs for Sectionals would be too much, but we could write something for Regionals." At this, Rachel beamed. She loved to write her own songs. Kurt grinned as well. In the past weeks, he'd also tried to write something on his own. Inspired by a certain new boy at school, but he would never admit that.
It was true, though. Blaine made him think a lot of everything that happened in his life so far. The good things as well as the bad ones. Kurt had realized that he was really lucky to have his friends and his family who supported him. Blaine didn't have any of this. Kurt tried to put all those things in songs. So far, he was happy with his results. He knew that the first one to hear the songs would be Blaine.
Ever since their conversation in the auditorium, which had been only a few days ago, they met regularly after school. Kurt earned lots of suspicious looks of his friends for this first, but he didn't care. He told them that Blaine had defended him from Karofsky and ever since, they didn't try to prevent him from seeing Blaine anymore. Even if they still didn't look too happy about the situation.
Next to that, Kurt and Blaine were also texting. Everything seemed so easy with Blaine and Kurt really enjoyed it, even if others were looking at him strangely when he greeted Blaine happily in the hallway. After all, Blaine still wore his bad boy mask when others were around. And Kurt was fine with that, now that he understood why Blaine did all those things. Even if he hoped that he would change his mind soon. Always shutting yourself off from others couldn't be good. Just that Blaine wasn't ignoring everyone anymore. With Kurt, he was completely open now. And Kurt already considered him his best friend - next to Rachel and Mercedes, of course.
And there was another advantage of seeing Blaine more often. Every time he was with Kurt, Karofsky and his friends kept their distance from them. Apparently, Blaine had been right. They didn't know what to make of this new situation yet. Kurt hoped that it would last for the rest of the year, but he wasn't so sure. Somehow, he had the feeling that Karofsky was planning something.
"You really love your friends, don't you?" Blaine asked curiously. It was Saturday and Kurt was visiting him at home for the first time. Next week, their competition against the Cheerios would take place and Kurt had just told Blaine about their plan for this.
He nodded. "Yes, of course. Honestly, I don't know what I would do without them." A smile spread on his lips. "Even if it's also crazy sometimes."
Blaine raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean by that?"
Kurt chuckled. "Well, next to weird singing competitions and drama in every way possible?"
This made Blaine laugh. "Come on, give me an example."
So Kurt told him about a few things that happened in the past years. Like the relationship troubles within the New Directions (mostly Rachel and Finn) and other encounters with Sue, next to the competition they had now. Blaine was a really good listener and he never got bored of Kurt's stories. On the contrary, he even wanted to hear more of them.
"Your life never gets boring." Blaine said thoughtfully.
Kurt nodded. "I hope this never changes. But I doubt that it will, after all, I'm planning to go to New York with Rachel after graduation." He grinned at that thought. Hopefully, they would both get into NYADA. Kurt had an emergency plan, but he knew that Rachel didn't. NYADA was everything for her.
"She seems to be quite special." Blaine noted. "I mean, I've never talked to her before, but I saw you together a few times. And people talk about her. You can't imagine how many conversations you can overhear."
He raised his eyebrows. "Let me guess, mostly they are talking about how exhausting Rachel can be."
"And her never ending ambition." Blaine added with a nod. "But she's not just that, I can hear that from your stories."
"I bet you would like her." Kurt said thoughtfully. Unfortunately, he'd promised to tell no one about Blaine's secret. Not even his best friends. They still didn't understand why Kurt was spending so much time with Blaine. Luckily, they stopped worrying about him at least.
"Maybe one day, I'll really get a chance to talk to her." Did Kurt imagine it, or was there longing in Blaine's voice? He wasn't so sure.
"And then you'll steal my best friend." He joked and Blaine laughed.
"I'd never do that and you know it."
"I do." Kurt assured him. "But no one else does." Suddenly, something else came to his mind. "What do you want to do after school? The first time I asked, you didn't answer the question."
Blaine hesitated and now there was a frown on his face. "Honestly, I would like to study music too." His voice was barely a whisper and Kurt stared at him, not believing his ears.
"You want to...?" He didn't finish the question, but he didn't need to.
Blaine nodded. "NYADA sounds tempting." He said and smiled slightly. "Or anything else, but I would love to have a job where I can sing."
Kurt still stared at him wide-eyed. "Wow, we have more in common than I thought." He muttered and smiled widely. "I bet they would take you immediately."
"You too." Blaine threw in. "You're brilliant when it comes to singing."
"And then you tell everyone that you hate music." Kurt still couldn't believe it.
"Security measure. Most of the time, the bullying gets worse once they find out that the gay kid is also singing." He held up his hands in a defensive gesture and there was an apologetic look on his face.
"Don't tell me that." Kurt muttered darkly. "I know that too well."
"I admire you for staying at McKinley." Blaine said suddenly. "You're a very strong person, Kurt."
"Most of the time, I don't feel like it." He sighed.
Blaine placed a hand on his arm and Kurt was glad that he couldn't hear his heart racing in his chest. "You are, believe me." The look on his face was serious and Kurt could see sadness in Blaine's eyes.
"Didn't you want to show me the piano?" He asked quietly, knowing that it would be better to change the subject now.
Blaine's face lit up again. "Yes, come on! And we need to talk about music, I want to know what you like." He took Kurt's hand and pulled him towards the living room.
"Oh look who's there!"
"It's our favourite gay kid!"
"Hey Kurt, why are you running away from us?"
"Wait Kurt, we just want to talk to you!"
"We said you should stop!"
They found him the first time he left school without Blaine or his friends. They were two and he was alone. There was no time to call his friends and except for them, the parking lot was empty. So Kurt did the only thing that came to his mind in that moment. He ran away.
And of course the got trapped in a corner outside of the school. The third person had just been waiting for him, knowing that he would try to reach his car in time. Kurt hoped that they would just throw him into a dumpster, but the looks on their faces told him otherwise. The bruise on his arm from last time had just faded. Now he would get new ones.
"Why can't you just leave me alone?" He asked loudly and tried to ignore the pain when they shoved him against the wall.
"Where would be the fun?" Karofsky asked and grinned widely.
This was one of the moments in which Kurt really hated his life.
When they shoved him the second time while he tried to get away from them, he landed on the ground and felt a sharp pain in his leg. Apparently, he'd landed in shards of a bottle or something like that.
"Come on, stand up again. Don't be boring, Kurt!" One of Karofsky's friends said and Kurt would have loved to cry.
Instead, he put on a brave face and tried to stand up again. However, the pain in his leg made him stop again. "Just leave me alone." He muttered again.
"You know that it doesn't work like that." Karofsky sneered.
"He said you should get away from him!" Another voice called loudly and Kurt closed his eyes.
Blaine.
And then he was there and between them and Kurt. Before any of Karofsky's friends could react, Blaine had grabbed Dave and shoved him against the wall. But instead of letting go, he looked at him angrily. "Get away from him!"
It was a strange sight, seeing Blaine holding Karofsky like this. After all, Karofsky was much taller than Blaine. And most probably, also stronger. However, he held up his hands in a defensive gesture. "We just wanted to help him, he fell to the ground." He gave his friends a sign. "Come on, let's go." There was a grin on Karofsky's face and Kurt didn't like it at all.
Blaine only turned around to look at Kurt when Karofsky and his followers were out of sight. Then the angry look on his face vanished and was replaced by worry. "Kurt, are you alright?" He knelt down next to him and touched Kurt's wrist carefully.
"I'm fine." Kurt muttered and touched his leg carefully. When he drew back, there was blood on his hand.
"You're not." Blaine muttered and looked at Kurt's leg closely. "Can you stand? You're kneeling in lots of shards."
Kurt nodded. "I think so, it doesn't hurt that much." To his surprise, Blaine supported him when he tried to stand up.
"Luckily, the cut seems so be clean." Blaine explained when he knelt down and looked at Kurt's leg again. "No shards in the wound. But it's still bleeding."
"Great." Kurt muttered, feeling dizzy. He hated blood. "Did I tell you that I faint when I see too much blood?"
"I've got bandages in my car." Blaine offered immediately. He was already searching for something in his bag. Kurt noticed that it was a handkerchief. "Here, for your hands. And you can press it onto the wound. Do you think that you can walk?"
Kurt nodded. "Thank you, Blaine."
To his surprise, Blaine shook his head. "Don't thank me, it's fine."
"No, it isn't." Kurt muttered. "Most people wouldn't have thrown them between those guys and me. Everyone's afraid of Karofsky and his friends."
"Well, I'm not." Blaine replied and somehow, Kurt had the feeling that he was lying. "And now let's go, we have to stop the bleeding."
Ten minutes later, they were both sitting in Blaine's car. The cut wasn't too deep and it had stopped bleeding rather quickly. It had looked worse than it was.
"You didn't have to do this, you know?" Kurt asked and sighed. "I could have dealt with them alone. Now you're one of Karofsky's targets too. I knew that look on his face."
"They would have hurt you." Blaine's voice was quiet and Kurt could see anger on his face, next to something else. Was it fear? And of what? Fear of Karofsky? "And I couldn't let them do this."
"I don't want you to have problems here because of me." He apologized.
Blaine stared at him like he was crazy. "Don't you get it, Kurt? It was my choice! So stop apologizing!"
"But aren't you afraid?" Kurt stared at him, not understanding what Blaine wanted to tell him.
He laughed dryly. "At least not of Karofsky."
"But what then?" He still didn't get it.
"They would have hurt you." Blaine repeated. "All I could think of in that moment was your safety, Kurt. I don't regret saving you."
Kurt breathed in deeply, trying to process the words. "Thank you." He said weakly. "This means a lot to me." And then he smiled shyly. A smile that was returned by Blaine. Suddenly, Kurt noticed how close they were. In fact, their faces were only inches apart. It would be so easy just to lean in now and kiss Blaine. To his surprise, Blaine didn't lean back again. They just remained there, looking at each other. The tension between them seemed to be rising, or it was just Kurt's feeling.
Then Blaine cleared his throat and the moment was over. "Do you want to go home?"
Kurt looked at his hands, which were still bloody, and then at the wound on his leg. Blaine had bandaged it, which made it even more obvious. However, Kurt was wearing a yellow jeans, so the blood couldn't be missed as well. "My dad and Finn will be furious when they see this."
"Will you tell them the truth?" Blaine asked and raised his eyebrows.
"I'll just say that I stumbled and fell." He decided quickly.
Blaine frowned. "Why? Wouldn't they believe you?"
"They would. But it wouldn't be of any use." Kurt explained. "We've already tried to prove that Karofsky's bullying me, but it didn't work. So there's no need for my family or the others to worry even more."
"You're impossible." Blaine muttered. "Don't you see that people care for you?"
"I don't want that." Kurt whispered. "I'm fine, really."
"If you say so..." Blaine sighed. "Then let's get you home. And Kurt, can you do me a favour?"
"Yes, of course. What is it?" He asked immediately.
"Don't walk around here alone anymore. That would make me feel better."
"I can do that." Kurt agreed.
Blaine smiled. "Thank you." Then he started the engine and the music started. Kurt wasn't surprised that it was Katy Perry.