Symphony

by LeBelle

Seasons 2-6 done... differently. Klaine AU. Rated T up to about Chapter 6, then M, definitely M.

4. Chapter 4

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Chapter 4

Will you hold me tight and not let go?
I'm sorry if it's all too much
Every day you're here, I'm healing
And I was runnin' out of luck

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AN: Another really long chapter (I think I doubled the story's word count with just this chapter...) Thank you everyone who's reviewed/favorited/followed this story! Heart & Hug emojis to all of you!

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In the morning, Blaine woke up to find that he hadn't been moved from his spot on Kurt's bed but his arms had wrapped around the slender male and Kurt's head was now on the center of his chest and his arms were wrapped around Blaine's torso; and if it wasn't for physical needs needing to be dealt with he would have never ever moved from that spot. It would have taken 5 men of Finn's size to part him from Kurt at that second and the two of them hadn't even stated talking about things like that. He stole a kiss from Kurt but he'd give him so many more in the future if he asked as he pressed his lips to the top of Kurt's head. Finn was snoring and his back was to the two of them and so he didn't feel out of place doing so. It wasn't a real kiss to anyone but him, and maybe Kurt if he found out, but he wouldn't.

He somehow managed to get out of Kurt's arms without waking him and wrapped the blanket securely around him before he headed to the bathroom upstairs and realized as he looked in the mirror that he was still wearing his uniform, minus the blazer. He and Kurt must have been exhausted if they fell asleep before the movie was over last night and before Finn got back. He assumed Finn obeyed the curfew and that meant that he and Kurt were well asleep before 10:30. That was early for him, he didn't know about Kurt's sleep schedule but he was usually in bed at 11 and asleep some time after that.

Nobody had said anything about him sharing Kurt's bed, which was an interesting fact that Blaine was sure wasn't a typical occurrence, not in this caring household. He looked ruefully at his wrinkled uniform, he'd had to wash it anyway but now it was a lot more work for him. He didn't truly care though, it meant that he had gotten to sleep with Kurt in his arms and he had other clothes here with him.

He headed downstairs and changed as silently as he could. He gelled his hair, glad no one had seen him when it had worn off. Then he headed upstairs again, he didn't want to wake either of the boys downstairs and if he stayed down there, then he would have sat on his cot and watched Kurt sleep and didn't want to be caught doing something so creepy. He had a hard time taking his eyes of Kurt and it was just getting worse.

Blaine decided that he would surprise the household with breakfast and headed into the kitchen. He found Burt already sitting at the table with a cup of coffee beside him and the newspaper out and he was reading something in the middle of the first section and so he had to be awake for a little while now.

"Oh, hi Blaine." Burt looked up and over the paper. "I usually get up early for a little alone time to think and read the paper."

"I'm sorry- I'll leave if I'm disturbing you-" He didn't know for sure where he would go.

"No, it's all right. I don't need to actually be alone. What were you going to do?" He tried to hide the cup of coffee from Blaine but he'd already seen it and hoped it wouldn't get back to Kurt.

"I was going to make breakfast for everyone." Blaine admitted sheepishly. "I didn't think anyone else would be awake this early."

Burt nodded. "Carole had to leave for an early shift and I'll be heading to the shop for a few hours before Kurt or Finn wake up and will be back early afternoon. I'll be home all day tomorrow with Carole; I don't know where you boys will be most of this weekend." He sounded amused. "But I make Sunday brunch with Kurt." He warned and Blaine knew that it was Burt's territory.

"Oh, ok." Blaine could respect that.

"Sit Blaine, breakfast can wait. I've been wanting to talk to you alone for a while now." Burt gestured to the seat across from him and after Blaine poured himself a cup of coffee, black, he joined Burt, a little on edge, wondering what this talk would consist of. If he started asking him about Blaine's intentions with his son, he may just die a little from embarrassment. "Tell me about Dalton. I want the truth and no holding back on the negatives."

Blaine's surprise was evident on his face and Burt acknowledged that it would be surprising but he needed to know everything before he made an informed decision in regards to Kurt's future. "Why? Is Kurt thinking -".

"No, or at least I don't know. I know he visited it and that's where you two met and he gave me the information on the school when I asked for it but he hasn't mentioned Dalton since. I haven't asked him either. He may or may not want to go but that's not his decision any more, it's mine." If Kurt really didn't want to go then Burt would take that into account too but he knew his son's life was in danger, this week had just showed him how much it was. He knew that Kurt was being picked on, and unfortunately that would never go away but when he started getting injuries then Burt knew there was a lot more to it than that. He was just trying to figure out his options and Kurt had inadvertently given him more when he visited Dalton for New Direction's sake. The head injury on Monday had been a wake up call to Burt. He knew he couldn't wait much longer to change things and Blaine's presence Friday meant that something else had happened, something big. He knew the two were thinking of hanging out this weekend but Friday was a lot sooner and a lot longer than expected.

He hadn't missed Kurt slipping in on Thursday and darting to the safety of his room when he thought nobody was home and didn't reappear until dinner. Burt didn't miss anything when it came to his son. He may not know the details but he knew his son was in trouble and that's why he'd allowed Blaine to stay the whole weekend. Blaine was a safety blanket to Kurt and Burt was glad that he had someone he was talking to, telling the whole story to. He wouldn't ruin the trust Kurt had in Blaine by asking him to spill, he wanted Kurt to keep divulging information to someone and he knew, just knew that Blaine was going to do whatever he could to keep Kurt safe and would act when he thought Kurt needed someone to act on his behalf, whether he wanted it or not. He trusted that Blaine would come to him when it was time. He knew Blaine wasn't going to sit back and allow things to happen to Kurt.

Blaine bit his bottom lip, unsure what to say at first nor trusting that he wouldn't slip and tell Burt that he thought that Kurt should be moved out of that school too. It wasn't the school though, just a couple of bullies, one in particular. He wished they could remove that bully but it was harder forcing someone out. He wasn't sure if some of the other people at that school were great for Kurt either but at least they had his back when it came down to it and Kurt was good for them and made him stronger in return because there would be worse slurs and comments in the future in the real world and you couldn't always leave every situation but you could at least try to leave it or change it by going up the ladder, with real consequences for what was said or done. Kids were allowed to get away with things a lot more and schools were the hardest things to change.

Then he started talking and talking and answering any of Burt's questions that were thoughtful and relevant and deep. He was getting to the deepest parts of the school and opening Blaine's eyes up to things he hadn't even thought about or saw until now. He realized his school wasn't perfect and things needed to change there too but Burt seemed satisfied. It was a good school and would be good for Kurt if it came down to it. He would still try to figure out other alternatives but it was a valid option and he'd make it work if it came down to it.

The first thing he needed to learn though was who was hurting Kurt so he could better protect him. He knew Blaine knew, it was obvious in the way he carefully worded his thoughts and avoided talking about certain things. Burt wanted to push but he knew better, Kurt needed a confidant and Burt couldn't always be that for him.

"Do you mind..." Burt started, unsure if he should ask this of Blaine but then when those hazel eyes looked at him trustingly, he forged ahead; he wanted Kurt to have this and Blaine did too, it was obvious with every move and gesture and smile when he spoke about Kurt. They had the same goals when it came to his son. "Do you mind talking up the school to Kurt? I want him to want to go if it comes down to it and it'll be easier if the seeds are put in early."

Blaine swallowed, it was a big ask and he had to do it carefully. He did want Kurt to come to Dalton, they'd have a lot more time together and they'd both be safer there and Kurt would be a great addition to the Warblers, nobody in the state had a countertenor/sopranist and he did it so beautifully. It would be a win all around for everyone except the New Directions and Finn and he'd made a lot of progress with Finn, who'd be furious if he stole his brother away, the national championships and Rachel's dreams of winning. He also didn't want Kurt to feel manipulated by the people he loved and trusted the most. He needed to feel safe too, especially at home. "I can talk about it, definitely, but I won't try and sway Kurt's opinions or persuade him to come. He needs to make that decision on his own if he knows it's an option. And if he asks me about Dalton I'll definitely tell him whatever he wants to know, I won't hide the downsides from him either." There weren't that many but no school was perfect.

Burt nodded gravely, understanding that and he had also taken the negatives into consideration. He knew Kurt would miss the girls, but he could spend time with them on the weekends and some week nights when he wasn't studying, which he'd probably be doing a lot of since the way Blaine made it sound, Kurt was going to be entering that school behind the other boys and maybe really behind the other boys despite how smart he was and passed the other students in his own grade here at McKinley. "Acknowledged."

They heard shuffling on the stairs and both knew it was Kurt, Finn's steps were heavier and more pronounced while Kurt's were light and delicate and if it wasn't for the material of the stairs, they wouldn't have heard them. They shared a look of agreement just then that Kurt would never learn about this conversation and then he was at the doorway.

"There's my boy." Burt smiled broadly at his son, always happy to see him and missed him when he wasn't around. Blaine smiled sweetly at Kurt too, he was pretty sure that Kurt had no idea that they'd spent the night in the same bed and was feeling a little guilty that only he knew about it but was happy that it happened anyway.

"Oh, hi." Kurt was a bit bashful all of a sudden and maybe he did know after all. Blaine's smile only widened. Then Kurt's eyes skittered off from Blaine's face, reddening deeper and then noticed the cups of coffee on the table. "Dad!"

"It's decaf." Burt lied instantly but not well, not even trying to lie well and Blaine smiled as he lifted the cup to his lips and watched Kurt berate Burt for taking his health into his own hands and not taking it seriously. "Oh, let me have my coffee!" Burt sounded dramatic himself and Kurt pouted but let him have it, there were bigger fish to fry and he'd bide his time until he could.

Kurt pulled out some cereal and Blaine's plan to cook breakfast for everyone further derailed but he was ok with not doing it as he watched Kurt shuffle around in his pajamas. Kurt hadn't been wearing those last night. He probably would have had he'd stayed awake but he'd had such a stressful week that he couldn't make it through their favorite movie. He'd probably changed into them so his dad didn't know the truth. They were full length pants and sleeves made out of a silky material and had a cute print of tiny dolphins. Blaine's lips pressed together as he looked at them not sure if he was kidding or serious as he now had a new favorite animal.

"Want some?" Kurt lifted the box in Blaine's direction and he nodded. Kurt made a bowl for both of them and a third one that he set out without putting milk into it. He brought Blaine and Kurt's over to the table and sat down next to him. Burt watched his actions but didn't say anything and Blaine thought he spotted a bit of pride in that gaze though. He wanted to ask who the third bowl was for but he didn't. He found out later though, as Finn's thudding footsteps were heard on the stairs and he appeared in the kitchen overly tired and didn't say anything as he pulled the milk out and then into his bowl, almost spilling it on the counter as he did it half asleep still but by rote memory and put the milk back and sagged into a chair next to Burt and started eating dazedly.

He and Kurt had already finished their bowls and had put them away and were just enjoying a cup of coffee with Burt in silence when Finn did all that. Now Blaine totally understood why Burt got up so early, he didn't want to miss a moment of his sons' days. He and Burt shared another look of understanding and knew that Burt wouldn't let Kurt dorm with them, even if they had the money, he was too selfish to want to keep Kurt with him as much as he possibly could, and Blaine didn't blame him for that. Blaine was slowly learning that he was going to be the exact same way when it came to Kurt, maybe worse because he could see Kurt all day without it being looked at oddly by society.

Kurt was one of those people that it just felt nice to be in the presence of, even if he wasn't saying anything or if he had a particularly honest and biting retort, you knew it came from a place of love and honesty and truth. Even in the face of adversity, he was looking at it from the view of how it benefited the other person. That's why Blaine knew that unless he was forced to admit to it, Kurt would never tell on Karofsky now, he had Karofsky's best interests at heart in his own actions and words now. He wouldn't take abuse from the other guy either, but he wouldn't tell anyone unless he absolutely had to. Kurt was also just so interesting to listen to, to be around. Blaine didn't want to be anywhere else but right there at Kurt's side, no matter what they were doing or who they were with because Kurt surrounded himself only with interesting people too, whether or not he knew he was doing it. Blaine felt honored that he could join those ranks.

All too soon Burt had to head into work and Finn had plans to spend the day with Rachel. It left Blaine and Kurt alone in the house. They'd planned on meeting up today anyway in a few hours and so they just looked at each other, trying to gauge what the other person wanted to do for the rest of their day together.

Kurt's phone lit up by his hand and he looked down at it and shook his head in amusement. "Dad says that if we leave the house we're to take my vehicle." Blaine supposed it wasn't as flashy as his own and so he didn't argue but it was an eye-catcher all on it's own. Blaine also understood a lot more after his talk this morning with Burt and knew that it would always be better to take Kurt's.

–

They went for a walk around the neighborhood then had lunch at a local sandwich shop and then went to the mall and did a little bit of shopping but mostly window-browsing. It was colder today than the day before and so they didn't spend as much time outside. They had dinner at the mall and headed to a movie in the early evening before going back to the Hudson-Hummel house and then spent some time hanging out with the parents and Finn.

That night Blaine slept in his 'own bed' but he had moved it a little closer to Kurt's when Finn wasn't looking and Kurt and him held hands while they slept. Sunday they had brunch with the family and then Rachel came over and the four from the younger generation spent a lot of time together talking and laughing and just spending time together. It was very nice.

Rachel invited Blaine to a party at her house the following week which had not been planned before then if the looks both Finn and Kurt sent her way was anything to go by but Blaine agreed, it meant more time with these kids and he was looking forward to getting to know more of Kurt's friends. "You can bring some of your friends too." She didn't mean just Dalton friends, and he was glad she didn't just assume that he had only school friends and he didn't let her know that everyone from his prior school had abandoned him after he was hospitalized. He didn't think his Dalton friends would do the same to him once they split ways. He knew he'd invite them.

Kurt was right though and he had to go home Sunday night. Kurt and Finn had school far earlier in the morning and he'd already missed too much of this month and he had a doctor's appointment tomorrow afternoon to check on how his head was doing. Blaine hadn't asked about the other bruises on the older teen's body nor pointed out that he'd seen any of them but he'd been very careful the entire weekend not to brush up against anywhere that looked tender but still couldn't keep his hands off of Kurt altogether. If he'd flinched or looked uncomfortable in the slightest, then Blaine would have consciously tried to keep his hands to himself and it was an unconscious behavior that he just did with Kurt but the taller teen never once looked uncomfortable and had actually leaned into some of the touches or and this was a surprise to Blaine – had instigated a few of the touches.

They texted that night before bed and in the morning.

Then Blaine was concerned because he was oddly quiet the rest of the day. Blaine waited until after he knew Kurt had dinner and was alone for the night before calling him. He'd sent him several texts that day checking in, wondering what was wrong, if anything was wrong.

Kurt answered on the 3rd ring just before it went to voicemail, so the phone wasn't dead after all. "Hi Blaine." Blaine felt a thrill go down his spine at hearing Kurt's voice, especially when he said his name like that.

"Why haven't you responded all day? Did everything go ok during the doctor's appointment?"

Kurt seemed distracted and there was a note to his voice when he spoke that Blaine was trying to decipher. They'd spent all weekend together and had a good time, what had changed? Kurt had been in pretty good spirits early on in the day. "Doctor's...? Oh, yeah, that was fine. I got an all clear there."

"There's something." Blaine was in his dorm room and he leaned against the door, just knowing that there was something Kurt wasn't telling him, he couldn't sit down during this conversation, he felt like pacing and bracing himself at the same time, hence why he was leaning against the door. There was hesitancy and Blaine didn't know why Kurt was suddenly clamming up from telling him everything.

"It's nothing. Just same old problems." There was a ring of not... dishonesty, but as if he was holding something back and felt guilty about it.

"Karofsky?" Blaine asked, his hand tightening around the phone in worry for the other boy.

"Yeah."

"What did he do?" Blaine wanted to shout the question, knowing it was something bad but Kurt wasn't being as forthcoming about it.

"I- I've got to go Blaine. I''ll text you tomorrow."

"Kurt." Blaine was feeling anxious about this, he knew more than anyone else did about everything and Kurt avoiding telling him what happened today was just odd.

"I'm fine." Kurt did lie that time and even though he hadn't known the boy long and with the distance between them and only his voice through the phone, Blaine knew it and Kurt knew he knew it too but wouldn't take it back. At least Kurt was a bad liar and so didn't feel as bad about lying because he knew Blaine knew the truth.

"Please tell me, Kurt." Blaine felt sick thinking of the possibilities but at least Kurt wasn't crying this time, that had torn him to pieces.

"Later." Kurt promised. "Just... not now. I'm still digesting it, trying to figure out what I want to do about it."

Blaine really wanted to call Burt to tell him something new had developed at school but he didn't know what it was and that would have reveled a lot more than just whatever it was Kurt was now hiding and would ruin any chances of Kurt ever trusting him with anything ever again. Their friendship was very new and even if they were tight so quickly, he knew Kurt would take a lot of steps back, maybe even cut it off completely if he felt betrayed by Blaine at this stage, unwilling to risk himself or his heart to a friendship he couldn't trust. By the time Kurt was ready to come back and retry a friendship with Blaine or by the time Blaine managed to apologize enough to get him to try again, it might be too late. So Blaine kept quiet. "Please know that you can trust me with anything."

"I know that and I will tell you, I promise. I just can't at this time. There are too many ears in this house and too many eyes." Finn must have been down there with Kurt because he said it so quietly that Blaine could barely hear him.

"Ok." Blaine had to trust that Kurt would tell him when he was ready and that it wasn't bad enough to warrant the worry coursing through his blood.

–

Kurt had been in a good place that Monday morning, he had an amazing weekend with Blaine and the others and he was feeling very good. He was feeling confident again and had for a brief minute had forgotten about all the concerns he'd had about wandering through this school. He felt like Blaine was beside him even if he was an hour and half away.

Tina was walking down the hall with him, not out of concern for his safety, but because they were friends and she wanted to talk to him. She was eying his outfit in excitement. "I'm guessing we're going to be having a lot of sweater trains this season?" It was one of the sweaters he'd bought with Blaine and he smiled and he was going to tell her so and about the trends he'd spotted in the magazines for the season when all of a sudden the hand appeared between them and shoved him into a locker, face first into it and he'd reached up to take some of the impact. He hadn't seen Karofsky in the hallway at all, where'd he come from?

Then he was gone and Tina was at his side, a hand on his arm and he flinched at first but didn't pull away from her. "Are you ok?" Karofsky had appeared like a dark cloud, hit him with the lightning strike and then disappeared as if he'd never been there all in a second, leaving behind a lot of damage. Tina herself had barely seen him before he was gone again, otherwise he would have heard a piece of her mind.

Puck emerged from nowhere and was on Kurt's other side. "I thought he was done." Puck sounded apologetic but Kurt shook his head at both of them to let them off the hook.

"It's ok. I'm ok." Puck couldn't keep moonlighting his classes all the time and he hated leaving Kurt on his own.

"If you need me, let me know." Puck and Kurt had exchanged numbers ages ago, they all had.

"Puck?" Kurt asked in surprised. "Why are you doing this? You could go back to juvie if you get into a fight with him."

"I'm hoping just my presence and location between the two of you will be enough." Puck shrugged. "You're one of my boys and I'll do anything for my boys."

"But he is too, he's on the football team with you." It's why Finn hesitated to confront Karofsky himself, if Karofsky wasn't there for him then Finn could get seriously hurt in a tackle while he was wide open and exposed.

Puck shrugged. "They lost the status of being one of my boys once they slushied me. You never would and you have yelled at them for me in the past. That was really cool of you." It was even higher up on his ranking of actions done for him than Kurt would ever know, considering Kurt had been 4 inches shorter and even more petite then than he was now, it had impressed Puck immensely. People didn't really stick up for him and it had put an incredibly large target on Kurt in return. Kurt had gained a friend for life in Puck and not that he would, but nothing that Kurt did would ever break that friendship or loyalty. It didn't mean that Puck was always nice to Kurt but he would always have his back. "We'd be even higher in rank had you stayed on the team too, it wasn't cool that he bullied you off of it, that wasn't very team orientated. He doesn't care about the team, not like you do." He didn't just mean the football team, he meant any team, including the glee and football teams.

Kurt nodded. "Thank you Puck." He had always been kind to Puck, even when he was getting out of the bullying Puck had sent his way, and he'd always had his back and always would but he would still be honest with Puck or cut him with sass when needed.

In first period, he sent a text to Blaine and smiled at the response. His finger slid over the split in the screen, he'd have to get it fixed and despite the fact that it had led up to Karofsky kissing him and putting Kurt into an eternal state of panic and fear, this split on the screen reminded Kurt more of Blaine than that. It was what he had been looking at first, feeling so bolstered and good and happy with having a friend like Blaine in his life. He knew he was fast losing himself to those feelings that he was trying to ignore, knowing that Blaine wouldn't feel them back, he was just a sweet, generous person and was easy to mistaken kindness and natural sweetness for interest in a relationship beyond friendship.

People did all the time, confused signals and Blaine's were definitely easy to misconstrue and Kurt had to keep reminding himself that the touches, the looks, the smiles were just such a part of Blaine that he didn't even know he was doing it, it was natural for him and he did it with Kurt without thinking and meant nothing. There was no intention behind those touches.

Kurt didn't want to be guilty of what so many people did to him by stereotyping someone but he had only met a few now, and they'd all been in the last few months or so but before that, the gay men he's seen were always on the screen and most of those had been just naturally more touchy with others, whether or not there was interest in the person they were touching or even of the gender they were interested in. He just assumed Blaine was the same way, just really hands on and Kurt was pretty tactile himself, he was always touching things in the store, needing to feel and see what was in front of him and if something looked soft, he had to touch it. He struggled so much with not touching Blaine's hair constantly. He wanted to know what it felt like.

It was near the end of the morning, between the two classes that he didn't share with any of the New Directions students and Karofsky had to know that. And if he already knew that, it meant that Karofsky had been watching him for quite some time. If that was true, Kurt's heart sank and wanted to hide in his stomach because it meant so much more now that he knew more about Karofsky, what he'd forced Kurt to know about him and had never needed to know or wanted to know. He had been happy just viewing Karofsky as another jock that had nothing to do with him and they were just passing each other in the hallway unknown to each other and would go on and live separate lives. Yet Karofsky had made it his business that their lives intersected and now would forever be intertwined, if for nothing other than being Kurt's first kiss with a guy or Kurt's bully who hurt him often. Now it was both of those and the hurt was even worse.

The fact that Karofsky cornered him at this moment showed Kurt that he was stalking Kurt to an extent and everything so far had been in some way intentional. He'd wanted to corner the only outward gay male in the school and torment him because he couldn't be himself too. Kurt knew it was a struggle for Karofsky but it was a fine razor edge between understanding, being compassionate about it and it being incredibly creepy, scary and terrible. This would have never flown if a male was doing this to a female student. Yet if he had been doing this to a female student, there would have been a lot less fear of retaliation of other males against Karofsky because he would have been straight and not different from them. They may have disliked or cheered him on depending on the group of guys if Karofsky had been straight doing this to a girl and even then he may not have gotten into that much trouble and she might have been too scared to report him too. That was what the male in Karofsky's position wanted, no matter who the target was.

As it was, if Kurt did report Karofsky it would put him into a spotlight too and they'd both get more harassment than they already did. Kurt didn't need more attention put on him, more harassment by the other jocks, because it would inevitably be victim blaming in this school, and he didn't need more bullies. One was definitely enough, even Azimio had backed off on the tormenting once he'd seen how far Karofsky had taken it with Kurt, and nobody other than Blaine knew just how far he'd taken it. He wasn't even getting slushied anymore. He didn't know if that was better or worse because now he had one very terrible bully that nobody stood up to other than himself and sometimes the others in New Directions when they were near.

Kurt swallowed hard when his locker was slammed shut. He'd just finished putting up the finishing touches of the word that helped carry him through the day and yet it was always that word that got knocked out of view whenever he needed it most by Karofsky's physical actions but he just internalized it more then. Karofsky backed Kurt into a corner with his sheer massive size as he stalked closer and closer to Kurt who backed away in fear and hadn't looked to see where he ended up until it was too late and he had no escape.

Karofsky was large and intimidating and he was pissed. "Did you tell anyone else?"

"Tell anyone?" Kurt was slow to keep up, he kept looking around, looking for an escape option and wasn't involved with this conversation like he normally would be but had he would, he would have had a very biting retort.

"Tell anyone about what you did?" Karofsky looked around too but they were hidden very well from view. "About how you kissed me?"

Kurt's fear was temporarily pushed to the side as he heard that and processed it. That was definitely not how it went down and the terror he lived with since wouldn't let Karofsky change the history or narrative. "You kissed me." Kurt hissed back.

"Have you told anyone?" Karofsky's jaw was working, unhinging it forcefully from the clenched position.

"No, because I know how difficult this is for you and I wouldn't tell anyone or out you. I would never do that to anyone." Kurt was firm in this stance, he felt everyone needed to come out when they were good and ready or else they would have an even worse time when they weren't prepared at least somewhat for the fallout.

"Good, because if I find out you told anyone else, if I catch a sniff of you opening your big mouth and hinting at it, then I swear to god I will kill you; and if you tell anyone that I threatened your life just now, I'll make your life even more miserable than I have." And Kurt knew he meant it as he looked in Karofsky's eyes. He was less worried about going to jail for murder than he was anyone finding out that he was gay and he stared straight back at Kurt. "Got it?"

"Got it." Kurt whispered and jumped when Karofsky made an aggressive move at him. He may just have signed his own life away at that moment and wished he'd done last week so very differently and told authorities about Karofsky before the kiss, before he knew a secret that would get him killed if he said anything. He had leverage over Karofsky but knew that it wouldn't be enough. He had too much to live for to risk it for a calmer life. Even if he released the information after Karofsky killed him somehow, he'd still already be dead.

"Good." Karofsky's sneer was too shark-like and terrified Kurt more than anything else did and then Karofsky pulled away from that small space he'd created between them and headed off for his next class. Kurt couldn't move from his defensive position with his arms wrapped around himself against that wall where he'd hit his head just last week when Karofsky pushed him into it, just steps away from his own locker. He was frozen with fear and his brain was racing and sluggish at the same time.

It was only the late bell that shook him out of his petrified state and he groaned before he ran to class. Blaine text him during his lunch which was an hour earlier than Kurt's. Then again about every half hour the rest of the day, getting more and more concerned as the day wore on but Kurt kept looking at them and was unsure how to answer without giving away everything or breaking down. He knew he needed to respond to Blaine, he knew that. He didn't want Blaine to worry so much or fear that something more had happened to him but every time his fingers hovered a response, fear swarmed over him and he fought the tears that threatened to overwhelm him. He also didn't want to lie to Blaine, hated the thought of even doing so, so it just paralyzed his ability to respond.

He drove himself to his doctor's appointment, asking Rachel to let him know what the project was for the week as soon as she knew. She promised she'd text him the details during Glee club while he was gone and not a second later. He knew he could ask Finn too, but Rachel would give him more details and would share some of her first thoughts or ideas then too.

Blaine hadn't text him for about an hour or two and the next text that came through was Rachel's and he worried that Blaine thought he was ghosting him, that wasn't the case. He just didn't know what to say to Blaine, how to be normal. The first text from Blaine after his encounter with Karofsky had been something totally unrelated and had been just an ongoing part of their conversation they'd been having but he couldn't come up with a decent response and he suddenly had no idea what they were talking about at that point or why it mattered. He loved his random conversations with Blaine, so it wasn't that, it just seemed so far from important at that time. Tomorrow, yesterday, it would have been the most important conversation of his life. He just couldn't muster up caring about anything at that point and then the moment had passed and Blaine had caught that something was up when he didn't get a response for a couple of hours and then he couldn't swing it back to that easy talk like it had been earlier, even if he ignored Blaine's concern and returned to their prior conversation, which he was more centered at that point and was able to do, and push Karofsky's threat aside. With the increased concern from Blaine, the more he was seized by the memory of those terrible moments with Karofsky and the less he was able to respond, unable to get his fingers to move. It was Rachel who allowed him to go back to who he was before that latest altercation and he chatted freely with her via text all evening, except while he had dinner with his family.

Then Blaine called him and he wanted to ignore it and answer it all in the same instant. He wanted to tell Blaine everything but knew he couldn't tell him anything, not right now at least, maybe ever.

He had the most difficult conversation of his life, not because of the content but because he was carefully weighing every word he said and tried to mask his tone but knew he was failing and Blaine was even more concerned for him. He knew Blaine was seriously considering telling an adult about Kurt's current situation but was glad that Blaine didn't. It was just too complicated at that time.

Blaine ended the conversation with an ok, that he wouldn't push and would wait for Kurt to come to him and tell him and Kurt felt a release of all the tension in him at that point.

They ended the call and then Kurt texted him instantly something unrelated, unable to stop talking to him at that point and Blaine's response wasn't instant but it did come within a few minutes, as if he was weighing whether or not to go along with Kurt's diversion and then deciding to do so and they picked up their conversational texting once more.

–

Karofsky didn't really talk to Kurt the rest of the week. Instead he pushed Kurt into the lockers 3-4 times during the day and he was hurting more and more every day the longer it went on but he struggled to push passed it. He even let the comment and gesture Karofsky's made during lunch roll off of him when he was talking to Mercedes about the football player he was trying to set her up with. Mercedes didn't even notice and she was usually the first to talk back to anyone who slurred Kurt.

"What's up homo?" The slur was bad enough and he just stared at Karofsky wondering why he was degrading both of them with that comment, the more he brought it up the harder it would be for when he could no longer hide that side of himself from others. The worse he was perpetuating the others' feelings on the matter, the others might have accepted Kurt better if he didn't make them all think that what Kurt was, was wrong, especially with his position and popularity in the school. The more he was causing self-harm with his thoughts on the matter. The less he would be accepting of that part of himself that he couldn't change. He didn't know why he had to keep talking to him and touching him during the day.

The wink he sent his way was way worse. Kurt was shaking in his seat when Karofsky walked away and Mercedes was off talking about tater tots, never noticing how petrified Kurt was down to his bones. This was more than bullying, more than misplaced aggression. This was sexual harassment and Kurt suddenly didn't feel safe in this school for a very different reason. Karofsky in equal parts degraded him and treated him as if that part of him was wrong and yet he was also the worst offender and doing what every extremist against gays thought gays would do. He paled and had to excuse himself to go to the bathroom and he did make it to the toilet that time and threw up whatever lunch he'd been able to eat.

He found he was not hungry any more during the school hours and had a hard time even eating breakfast or dinner. His stomach was always in a knot whenever he thought about going to school, which he thought about often. He loved school but now he hated and feared it. Even his conversations with Blaine didn't take his mind completely off of it.

The weekend helped ease some of his tensions. Friday his dad sprung on Finn and Kurt that the renovations, including the tweaks that Kurt had requested for carpet and wall color, etc had been finished and they could move their stuff in that day. So Finn helped move everything up from the basement that either he or Kurt wanted into their rooms and even asked Kurt for advice on how to decorate it so Rachel would want to spend some time in there with him (with the door open, of course). Kurt was thrilled at the gesture and he helped Finn do it in a way fitting of his personality and style but also made it more comfortable for Rachel. He also decorated his room and moved all his clothes in. The basement kept the couch and TV and a few other objects, including the cot. Guests could still sleep down there and Burt would buy a guest bed for the basement for anyone who wanted to stay a couple of nights and made it a space where they could have sleepovers in too, knowing that Kurt would invite Rachel, Mercedes and Tina over and Finn might spend some time down there too with them if Rachel was there.

Saturday was Rachel's party and Kurt was thrilled to see Blaine again, he had been spoiled by spending so much time with Blaine the previous week and had missed him dreadfully.

He was able to push school completely out of his thoughts at that point and focus on his friends and getting to know some of the Dalton boys that were invited. In a rare event, none of them worse their uniforms. Kurt was starting to see that all of Blaine's clothes were very similar in style. Kurt had worn bow-ties before and would again but they were definitely a trademark Blaine thing from then on, along with the straight-leg slim pants of different colors and short-sleeved shirts, also varying in a wide range of colors, but always a solid, which he was sure would be that way even in the dead of winter underneath his coats. Maybe he'd mix it up and wear long sleeves then. Kurt knew then that Blaine had a very distinct style and it was very dapper and old-school but Kurt was definitely the distinctly stylish one.

The party was a little lacking until the Dalton boys showed up with a lot of booze that people actually wanted to drink. He couldn't help but snicker at Rachel's downcast face at the fact no one was having a lot of fun until then. He didn't know why she would have thought they would be with some of the choices she'd chosen but in a lot of ways she was even more sheltered than he was.

He and Blaine hugged and Kurt was hugged by the other Dalton academy boys and they shook hands with the other boys and girls, only Rachel threw herself in for hugs and they were a little awkward but hugged her back because they weren't as used to girls as they were boys like Kurt. The other guys were a lot bigger and more jock-like than they were used to seeing. Even the athletes at Dalton were more stamina muscle rather than bulky muscle or they were a little heavier like Trent and Blaine was on the taller spectrum of their school.

Blaine's eyes just shined with his obvious excitement at being able to see Kurt again and he held Kurt's elbows in his hands as he talked to him while everyone else dove into the alcohol they'd brought. He started rambling and Kurt found it so adorable and had to hold himself back from saying something about it that would give himself away. He tried to keep up but he wasn't entirely sure what Blaine was saying in his excitement. He pretended he did though because he didn't want to interrupt the flow or have Blaine stop touching him.

Then Rachel was drapping herself over Blaine and dragging him away to gossip with him and pressed one of the drinks into his hand and Blaine looked over his shoulder at Kurt, looking to be saved or sad that he was being pulled away from Kurt, he wasn't sure, maybe a mix of both and Kurt couldn't help but laugh.

Finn stopped next to him. "Not drinking?"

"I'm trying to impress Blaine. You?"

"Someone needs to be able to get these jokers home. Thank god Rachel lives here." He didn't have to worry about her safety then. "It's good that you're not drinking tonight."

"I'm not sure if I'll ever be much of a drinker. I don't like the taste or the idea of what alcohol does to people." His grandfather had been a belligerent drunk and had several opinions on the way Burt was raising Kurt before his death and Burt had whirled on his father one day and forbade him from ever seeing Kurt again. He remembered this, it was before his mother died and she had attempted to change Burt's mind, saying he'd regret it but Burt never did and even Kurt didn't mind that he didn't know his only living grandfather at the time. They had never made up but Kurt was determined that he would never be like his grandfather and never put Burt through that again or worry about him in that way. Burt didn't touch it either even though he was the type of guy you would expect to open a beer once home from work and open one for his boys too on occasion.

Finn nodded, not sure himself about his thoughts on alcohol, it was still a forbidden drink and illegal for them at their age but hadn't found a reason to imbibe himself yet. "Mind if we swap vehicles then? Yours has more room for everyone, including Artie's chair."

"Shouldn't be a problem, as long as you make sure no one throws up in it and if they do then you're going to clean it so clean that no one will have ever known that it happened, including myself, because I will think I smell it every time I get in if you let me know."

"Won't the smell of a clean car let you know that anyway?" Finn asked and it was a surprisingly smart question but Kurt was too quick as he just walked into what Kurt hoped he would.

"That's why you're going to get it cleaned anyway." Kurt's mischievous grin wasn't lost on Finn and he nodded acknowledging Kurt's win ruefully.

"All right." He supposed that he deserved that since he was borrowing Kurt's car and putting mileage on it he wouldn't otherwise. "I'll fill up the gas tank too."

That surprised Kurt but he was still too sharp and quick to be lost for words. "Thanks."

"No problem." Finn groaned and went to save Blaine from Rachel who was trying to practice her stripper dance for him, knowing he was gay and felt safe doing it for him. She'd tried with Kurt once but then abandoned it instantly knowing Kurt would make fun of her mercilessly and that he hated whenever she messed up his hair and a good stripper dance definitely included that. Blaine wouldn't appreciate his hair messed up either with the amount of gel he put in it was any indicator.

Tina wrapped her arms around Kurt and he tensed for the tiniest second but relaxed in her arms but didn't lean back into her embrace. She didn't notice. "Your hair keeps getting higher and higher." She mentioned and he laughed, nobody had pointed it out before and was glad someone other than Blaine noticed. "A. I have no idea how you do it but it's cool and wished I could get some height to my own, it needs more body and B. it looks really nice this way." She didn't dare touch it, knowing better in terms of Kurt's preferences and she also knew better than touching other people's hair in general when hair was such an important thing without getting permission. He wished Rachel got that memo, which she should have known from having 2 gay dads who also spent time putting effort into their looks and hair.

Finn swung Rachel over his shoulder and redirected her by offering to do a duet with her. She squealed in excitement and turned everything on and picking out a song without asking Finn what he wanted.

All of them except Mike were singers in that room and even he sang at least one song for Tina. Rachel of course had to do 2 songs and would have done a third if Santana didn't slid in and suggest a different activity. "Let's play... 7 minutes in Heaven." Her eyes found first Kurt's and she wagged her eyebrows as if daring him to protest but he didn't, knowing that's exactly what she wanted. Then her eyes slid to Brittany and grinned sexily at her who only cocked her head in confusion back. Kurt had never thought about it before, but could Santana be gay too? It did change his perspective on things that she'd done or said. After his experience with Karofsky, he could start to see the antagonism and gay bashing comments as just a defense and cover for what she was desperately trying to hide but at the same time she couldn't keep it totally under wraps as she and Brittany were in a secret relationship that everyone else just thought was experimentation. Then again, Santana bashed everything and everyone, but still, her overtly sexual actions towards men was just another cover, the more inappropriate the better. Kurt smirked as he figured out her own secret, he would keep it for her too, but it threw a new light on anything she would say in the future and he wouldn't take them as seriously or get as annoyed or hurt by them.

Unfortunately though, his discovery about Santana had inadvertently brought Karofsky back to his forefront thoughts and he shivered in remembered fear. He hated thoughts of Karofsky. It wasn't exactly disgust but it was a close relative and not based on looks at all, though he didn't find Karofsky attractive at all in that way or any way at all, but more to do with his actions and who he was in regards to Kurt and others.

He swallowed hard and was very glad that he wasn't drinking because he might just have thrown up again at that moment. On the other hand, he could have blamed the drinking then. Blaine appeared at his elbow, causing him to jump out of his skin when he spoke because he hadn't seen him come up, he'd had tunnel vision again when his instincts should have been on high alert for things in his periphery or behind him, like the shark Karofsky was. "Are you ok?" Blaine asked and put a hand on Kurt's arm and he pulled away before he could stop himself, it was the first time he'd ever pulled away from Blaine and he wasn't even pulling away from Blaine but his thoughts and being touched but had he realized it was Blaine before he'd done so, then he wouldn't have, he would have soaked it up. Blaine looked hurt and Kurt reached out and put Blaine's hand back onto his arm and held it there.

"Sorry, I'm just... jumpy." He hadn't meant to admit it but he had to excuse his behavior because he didn't want Blaine's feelings hurt, ever. Blaine's look showed that he knew exactly what he was talking about and then there was confusion because Kurt hadn't mentioned him except very vaguely during their phone conversation on Monday. "It's been a learned reaction, I'm sorry, I'm working on putting it out of my mind this weekend and not doing it." Yet it was hard, because it had been a learned reaction to being touched and he hadn't liked being touched by others or touching them in return even before this, always afraid that someone would take it the wrong way and lash out at him; hadn't felt the need to touch another person though he yearned to be touched, have human contact like anyone else did too; just struggled to accept it and people were touching him more and more these days but now he also had to contend with Karofsky's own special brand of touching too. It was a conflict that raged within Kurt so fiercely and he didn't know where he'd end up when everything settled down. He knew where he wanted to be, but he didn't think he'd get that lucky.

"Is this -" he gestured to the group setting up the room to play the inappropriate game, "going to be too much for you? We don't have to do it."

Kurt breathed through the rising panic but shook his head. "No, it'll be ok." He really hoped it would, the bile in his stomach was starting to slowly settle again even if it still churned uncomfortably.

Turned out Wes was also the sober driver for Nick, Jeff and David. He'd met the former and the latter at the Lima Bean but the other two were new and he found out pretty early in the evening that they were gay and dating and unafraid to show their affection for each other. Wes was also a senior and surprisingly was the dorm's RA for all three of the underclassmen and yet had agreed to all of this and didn't mind joining in on the fun. He also had a girlfriend that he'd been dating for 3 years and was very serious about her.

Wes' turn had the bottle landing on Kurt and Santana tried to manipulate the bottle so it would land on someone else but Blaine reached out and stopped her from interfering. For Blaine this was the perfect setup for Kurt, nothing Wes would do would be serious or harmful and he was aware of Kurt's situation already, minus the Karofsky kiss and wouldn't be someone intimidating Kurt in any way. The two of them headed into the closet for their seven minutes, which was really cut down to 1 because nobody had the patience to wait 7 minutes for each couple to get their mack on while waiting for their turn. Wes and Kurt came out of the closet disheveled but Blaine knew it hadn't been anything but a show for the group. They did appear at the door though and kissed for fun for their audience who roared.

Kurt meanwhile watched all of this go down not sure how he was going to manage with being the first to go into that closet and with a guy and a straight guy at that. Wes pulled him to his feet and pulled him in and leaned against the wall looking at Kurt, trying to gauge what to say or do. "Let's ruffle ourselves up and peck on the way out."

"Really?" Kurt was surprised that this straight guy was ok with their lips touching.

"Yeah, sure, it's fine. I've been kissed by all four of those Dalton boys in the past on stage, this wouldn't be any different than that. We are short females for the female roles, after all."

Kurt giggled and it was the first time he'd done that in anyone's presence and he looked surprised at himself but Wes was only smiling at him in return. They ruffled up each other's appearances and Kurt didn't flinch when Wes' hands skimmed over most of his body and touched his hair, they'd agreed to this and didn't feel anything toward Wes as he did the same for him. "Want to practice before we go to that door?" Wes asked, checking with Kurt, it would look more natural and fun if Kurt wasn't pulling away at the last second.

"Oh, sure." He held himself still as Wes' lips touched his and he didn't freak out.

"Sure you'll be able to kiss me back next time?" Wes watched Kurt for any betrayal of his true feelings but Kurt shook his head.

"I'll be fine." And sure enough when they opened the door Wes started leaning towards Kurt but Kurt met him and their closed lips touched briefly and a roar of approval coursed through the room from almost everyone. "Thanks." Kurt whispered as they pulled away and Wes winked. They split to go back to their old spots and it was Kurt's turn to spin the bottle.

Blaine was next to Wes and he repeated Kurt's word. "Thanks." Wes sent him a look that told him exactly what he was thinking and Blaine's throat closed, Wes was such a good guy.

Kurt's bottle landed on Blaine and he looked over to Santana, wondering if she'd done something to it when he wasn't paying attention but she only sent him back a smirk and a 'bring it' look. He didn't even know her yet but knew that she was trouble but her own brand of trouble, she had an ulterior motive and he couldn't figure her out yet or what she was playing at.

It was Blaine and Kurt's turn in the closet and Blaine wasn't sure how to start this. "We don't have to do anything," which he was sure Kurt was well aware of after his minute with Wes.

"I mean, if we go out there doing what Wes and I did, it'll ruin the fun." Kurt shrugged, trying to take this a lot lighter than he was feeling and Blaine was being very careful with how he approached this next minute with Kurt.

"So, what do you want to do?" Blaine asked.

"Well, I mean, you could always try to kiss me." Kurt's eyes sparkled in the dark and Blaine's eyes were instantly drawn to his teasing mouth. His heart stopped, Kurt was only joking but it was exactly what Blaine wanted to do but knew better than to attempt. Those blue eyes were so captivating and he felt himself move closer without realizing it.

"If you want to kiss me, sure, I'll stand here and let you take the lead." Blaine offered and Kurt looked a little disappointed in that but he still leaned forward and brushed his lips against Blaine's who was hit by a jolt and his hands found Kurt's shoulders and pulled him closer and against him and his lips moved back across Kurt's on their own accord.

They didn't do much else but that, Blaine's hands didn't move from Kurt's shoulders and their lips moved against each other and they lost all track of time and by the time the door opened, it for sure had to be more than just a measly minute.

They looked shell-shocked at their audience when they realized there were cat calls going on because they were still kissing even with the door opened. They pulled apart as if scalded and they had been caught but nobody in that audience really cared.

They didn't speak or look at each other as they went back to their spots and it was Blaine's turn to spin the bottle. It landed on Santana and he looked up with a glare at her but her smirk was even more mischievous and her eyes gleamed. How had she manged to manipulate the bottle again? How did she know where it would end up?

"Ok, to the closet-" He would have a word with her in there away from everyone else's ears but she had a different plan.

"Oh, I don't need a closet for what I'm going to do with you." She launched herself across the circle and he landed on his back with her over him and her mouth attached to his and her tongue trying to force its way into his mouth but he firmly refused to let her entrance and shook his head and pushed her off.

"Ok, no need for the closet then." Finn retorted trying to break the tension in the room after that. Kurt could only stare with bugged out eyes at her behavior, that was definitely compensating for her secret truth.

Santana licked her lips and went back to her seat and spun it to land on Brittany. She took Brittany's hand and happily danced her into the closet and when they tried to open it again, Santana reached out and closed it and tried to lock it but there was no lock, so only kept a hand on it to fight whoever wanted to open it and keep it closed until she was good and ready to go back out.

The game continued for a little while longer until Finn spun the bottle and it landed on Quinn and while Rachel had been ok with Brittany kissing Finn in the closet she was not ok with Quinn and Finn and had a drunken meltdown when Quinn said something cruel and sassy and Kurt came to Rachel's defense and Finn held up his hands and everyone was ok with ending it then and there.

That hiccup was quickly ignored and forgotten and they started playing truth or dare instead.

It was fun, drunken night and as it continued on, Kurt's eyes started feeling less bashful and more curious and he slowly looked at Blaine more and longer with each glance over and he noticed that Blaine was starting to look at him too and he wasn't quite as shy with his looks.

Finn caught it once as he stood between them, talking to one of the other kids, but trying to block them from flirting across the room with his big body.

Kurt didn't know what his problem was with it but he leaned back and shared a look with Blaine behind Finn's back, literally. Blaine smiled at him at that juncture and Kurt smiled back, his eyes shining once more and Blaine's sparkled back.

Sam started the round of throwing up before Blaine could start to head his way, which he was just getting up to do as he ran to the bathroom and it was obvious it was what he was doing. Kurt winced and made a disgusted face. Sam was thankfully the only one just then but Quinn copied him about 20 minutes later. Tina about 30 minutes later and Finn decided that was enough.

"Let's get everyone home."

"But you can all sleep over!" Rachel protested, not willing the night to end.

"If we stay the night, people will continue drinking and it's better that they don't." Finn reasoned with her gently. "You don't want to deal with all of that in the morning or having any one see you do it or your nighttime routine."

She looked up at him, her face pinched and head tilted back trying to follow his words and reasoning and Finn only smiled crookedly down at her, thinking she was so darn cute like that. He bent and kissed her and she submitted to his thoughts and plans because of this kiss and she melted into it. "Maybe you can come back after driving them home?"

"Definitely." He promised and kissed her again. "Don't fall asleep on me before I come back though."

"I can't promise that." But she would try to clean up the place tonight before her dads got home tomorrow afternoon while he waited. "I'll leave the backdoor unlocked for you, just in case I do."

Finn wanted to argue, that wasn't very safe but he wouldn't be gone long. To ensure that she would be ok, he found Kurt. "One more favor, please?"

"Oh, you're building them up today Hudson." Kurt teased but heard him out.

"Stay here with Rachel until I get back?" Finn asked man to man and Kurt wanted to tease him but he saw how serious he was and Kurt nodded.

"I'll stay." Not that he thought he'd be much of a defense between an invader and Rachel but at least she wouldn't be alone.

The Dalton boys were getting ready to go too and Kurt was sad to see them leave, he and Blaine had plans for tomorrow. "I drove, I'll drive back." Blaine started arguing with Wes.

"Blaine, you're drunk." Wes tried to reason and Blaine was very drunk, all the drinks he'd been consuming had finally hit him and he was staggering on his feet as he talked to Wes who was standing still.

"I'm fine!" Blaine waved off with a 'pfft' and a hand over-exaggeratedly pushing the words to the side. He almost fell over with how much power he put into his actions.

Kurt caught him with a hand on his arm and an arm around his waist. "Woah, buddy." He staggered under Blaine's weight for a second but then the arm around his shoulders found where it was resting and squeezed him to Blaine's side in return and they were practically bonded together now. "You're not driving anywhere." Kurt looked to Wes who looked hopelessly at Blaine, fearing what Blaine would do in the car if he finally got him in it. "It's ok, I'll take him to my house. He's got plans with me tomorrow anyway."

Wes hesitated and looked at Kurt in concern. "Are you sure you're ok with that?"

Kurt's shake of his head was in both parts of course and a sassy whatever. "He's stayed the night a few times already, it's not going to be any different this time." Except this time there was no bed in the basement and he was too tired to try and set up cot and Blaine wouldn't be helping with that nor Finn if he understood where his soon-to-be brother was staying for the night correctly. It was too high for him to comfortably reach, even with his newer height from this year. Finn still had several inches on him and the shelf was just that high. Blaine would also be staying in Kurt's brand new entirely his own room. Finn wouldn't have been there even if they shared the basement still but Kurt would have been able to put Blaine in Finn's bed or his own and taken Finn's himself. Finn kept his door locked now that he had his own space again, not that he'd had anything he really hid from Kurt when they shared the space, but he was sure that Finn had just gone without for that time or hid it better; whatever straight boys did alone in their bedrooms. Kurt had no idea but he hadn't felt the need to lock his door, he had a ton of projects he was working on but nothing he thought was necessary to hide.

Blaine slept on Rachel's couch while he and Rachel cleaned up the place but she was starting to sway too on her feet and he pushed her also into the couch with Blaine who only snuggled into her lap, using it as a pillow under his head and she just tipped her head back onto the back of the couch and stroked Blaine's head as if he was a puppy.

Kurt rolled his eyes and left those two to their own devices and finished cleaning up for Rachel.

Finn came back in short order but it was still about an hour later. He looked at Kurt and the newly cleaned place. "Are you sure you're ok to drive home?" He glanced over at Blaine and Rachel, those two were now both soundly asleep.

"Yeah and I'll get Blaine out of your hair."

"You can leave them both, I'll probably just crash on the other couch down here after locking up, but you can also stay. You look exhausted."

"Thanks Finn, that's always been code for 'you look terrible'." Kurt rolled his eyes and Finn tried to protest, he was just worried about Kurt. "I am tired but home is like 3 minutes away."

"Still, a lot can happen in those 3 minutes. Stay."

"I promised dad that I would teach him how to make custard tomorrow. He'll be looking for me bright and early."

Finn looked unsure still. "Leave Blaine, he'll just be an unnecessary distraction during the drive."

"I can-" Kurt started but stopped when Finn shook his head firmly.

"No." Finn was serious again. "You may not have drank anything but he has and he's going to cause an accident if he isn't sleeping during the ride. He will be fine with me and Rachel for the night."

"He's going to try and drive while drunk." Kurt warned. "Wes and I had talked him around to me taking home so he wouldn't have access to his car."

"I'll give you all of our keys so he can't drive any of the vehicles." Finn didn't care if he had to jog home in the morning for breakfast and then back again to pick up his car. He wasn't letting Kurt take Blaine back tonight.

"Fine." Kurt held out his hand and Finn found Blaine's keys in his pocket easily and felt a little weird digging into another man's pocket for them but he'd done it with Puck before, but this was a gay guy's pocket but he got passed that, it was just a drunk guy after all and if he hadn't known Blaine was gay then he wouldn't have thought twice about it. He also gave him the keys for Rachel's car and his. Kurt ended up taking his own vehicle home that night after all. On the plus side, it didn't smell, so he wasn't worried about anyone throwing up in it.

He snuck upstairs without anyone hearing him or knowing he came home after curfew, changed and slid into his bed. He was asleep before he even knew his head hit the pillow. He didn't even dream that night with how soundly he slept, not even about that kiss with Blaine. Although he did wake up thinking about it despite his dad calling his name in the morning to get up and help with breakfast. Kurt went through his normal morning routine before heading downstairs. He definitely hadn't been aware of Burt sticking his head in during the middle of the night checking on his son and seeing him sleeping so peacefully, let him sleep and didn't berate him in the morning either about coming home late. Kurt had a very nice Saturday and he didn't want to ruin the memory of the night nor his Sunday and was glad to see Kurt actually eat everything on his plate rather than push it around. He didn't go for seconds or even fully load it but the plate was clean when he got up. Finn had joined them just as they were sitting down, still wearing the clothes from the day before and Carole would have said something to him but Burt stopped her with a light touch of his hand to her's and nodded toward Kurt and the easy conversation the two of them were partaking in and she sent him a look that he knew he'd have to explain his thoughts later.

"I'll drive you back." Kurt offered but Finn waved it off.

"No need, you'll just be going back and forth then. I'll just take Rachel's and Blaine's keys with me." Finn stretched. "Besides, I need the exercise. I don't attend practices like I used to and so I have to make it up in other ways." He did have practice yesterday but Kurt understood what he meant, glee club was taking over a lot of his time.

Burt gave each of his sons a hug that morning before they all left the kitchen and the dishes were cleaned. Burt and Carole were going to go out on a date and that meant that Kurt was left all alone in the house. Soon though two more vehicles were parking in the driveway and Finn came in looking for Kurt's keys. Finn carried through with his promise that he'd made the night before, Kurt and Blaine stayed home while he got it cleaned, washed and gassed up. Then he headed back to Rachel's with his own car.

"That seemed like a lot of back and forth anyway." Kurt laughed when Finn left again and Blaine laughed. He sank onto the couch with Kurt and laid his head on Kurt's shoulder and looked up at him and Kurt's breath caught in his chest, that was really close and something a person who was more than a friend would do, although he supposed a friend would do it too.

"Sorry I passed out on you last night."

"It was better than the alternative, you shouldn't even think about driving home while drunk. That's something you've got to work on."

"I didn't want to leave last night and I suppose I was just acting out. I'm sorry." He was looking at Kurt carefully. "I didn't do anything you didn't like last night, did I?"

"Nope." Kurt responded casually, pretending that it was no big deal. Blaine breathed out in relief.

"I'm glad." He paused. "I am sad that I missed breakfast."

"Dad made you a plate, he knew you were in town somehow." Kurt rolled his eyes and tried to get up but Blaine stopped him.

"I'll take it home with me and return the plate next weekend. I'm just enjoying this right now, don't move." Kurt and Blaine both realized what he said at the same time and Kurt didn't dare move a muscle at that point. Blaine groaned and got up himself. "God, I'm sorry Kurt, I said that I wasn't going to – not until – I mean-". He shook his head. "I like you Kurt and it's hard not to act on it but I don't want to ruin our friendship and I don't want to push you or jump into a relationship so soon with you, especially with everything going on."

Kurt shook his head and reached out to stop Blaine with hands on his shoulders. "I like you too. Me knowing that isn't going to ruin anything or our friendship."

"I-" Blaine thought about letting it drop but he wanted to be very clear with Kurt. "I like like you, Kurt."

"And I like you like that too. Why would that be problematic?"

"Because-"

"I can separate things in my life, you know?" Kurt held Blaine's hand now in both of his. "I may not always be ok with certain things but I am willing to make this relationship work if that's what you also want. Last night showed me that I can. Both you and Wes kissed me and I didn't have a meltdown."

"If you're absolutely certain." Blaine searched Kurt's eyes, wondering, waiting, looking for any doubt. This was far earlier than he would have liked and yet if he was honest with himself, he would have liked to do this weeks ago, the day he met Kurt he knew he wanted to ask him out but Kurt had disappeared and then it was too late, or so he thought.

"I am." Kurt said it firmly and Blaine believed him, they both did and only time would tell if it was ok to start their relationship when they did; but this was only to make it official, they'd already been dating before that without even putting a label on it and the label only reassured both of them and allowed them to connect physically as well, which they were both yearning for and needed.

"Can I kiss you, for real this time?" He asked and Kurt nodded and tilted his head slightly to the side to accommodate their noses and Blaine came closer and their lips met and Blaine's hand slid from his knee to Kurt's shoulder and then to his neck and then to the side of his face, resting it there lightly. He left his other hand within Kurt's hands and they tightened on his hand as he responded to the kiss. Blaine relaxed into it and sighed happily as Kurt did the same thing and he tentatively probed at Kurt's lips with his tongue, running it along the seam and the lower lip and Kurt's lips parted and his tongue hesitantly probed back at Blaine's.

They weren't going to deny their relationship if anyone asked but for now they weren't going to announce it either. They were relishing just being part of it for a little while before others chimed in with their unwanted opinions. They couldn't keep kissing and eventually they had to take a break. Kurt snuggled into Blaine's chest and Blaine held him, both contented to just be part of this couple now and just wanted to touch, even if that's all they did. They were both incredibly comfortable like that and Blaine dropped another kiss to the top of Kurt's head randomly and Kurt curled into him more in contentment and pleasure.

All too soon though, Blaine had to be leaving. Kurt had a lot of homework that he hadn't done so far this weekend with all the distractions and Blaine honestly had to catch up on homework too. He kissed Kurt again before he left and his hands were in the other boy's shirt, holding him close and wanting to be closer still but held part of himself back, all the desire he had for Kurt would be terrifying to the other boy who was just starting out. He didn't want to part for the week, mostly because he didn't want to be away from Kurt, but also a small part of him was worried Kurt would go dark on him again the second Karofsky appeared tomorrow, he still didn't know what happened last week but he also didn't want to bring it up again with Kurt so relaxed and satisfied and open.

That evening after he got home and the two of them were working on homework, they both had their phones plugged in and were on speaker phone and talked as they did their homework and they chose to do the same subjects together at the same time and talked about what they were working on and asked each other questions and answered what they could for the other. They weren't in the same grade, no, but their class work was very similar despite the different levels, because Dalton was really a year or two ahead of McKinley when it came to school work. There were a few subjects the two didn't share, Kurt had French and Blaine had Spanish. They also had classes that the other school just didn't offer at all.

Blaine and Kurt said goodnight to each other and after hanging up, Kurt lifted his head to see his dad standing outside his door. "What are you doing?" Kurt asked in surprise.

"Just saying goodnight. I heard you on the phone with Blaine and didn't want to interrupt."

Kurt was glad they hadn't said anything that would give them away. "Oh, ok then. Goodnight dad."

"Goodnight son." He'd already said goodnight to Finn who had really appreciated the cliché parenting gesture, Kurt did too and he smiled at his dad broadly who shook his head, closed the door and headed down the hall to the bedroom he shared with Carole. He laid in bed with her and looked up toward the ceiling. "These two boys of ours, they're going to keep us on our toes, aren't they?"

"Two?" She asked bemused and he looked over at her in confusion, that's how many kids they had, wasn't it? "I'm pretty sure you're already viewing Blaine as another son, whether or not he and Kurt ever make things official. You're impressed by him."

"He's got his own family."

"And yet he's always here on the weekends since he met Kurt. You'd think his parents would have said something by now. It's been almost a month." She gave him a pointed look and he sighed, there was some truth to that, he knew Blaine was boarding at school when he lived about an hour from his parents, it wasn't such a trek and one that he would expect Kurt to make daily. It would have been different if they were in different states or hours away. He would also expect Kurt to be home every other weekend while in high school and the other weekends with his friends at Dalton if not every weekend home with exceptions after meeting the other parents of his friends if he wanted to spend the night. He'd even insisted on meeting Rachel's parents when Kurt started spending more time with her, despite knowing there would never be anything more than friendship there. Now that Finn and Rachel were dating, he was glad he didn't have to make it awkward by insisting to meet her parents on Finn's behalf. He'd eventually met Mercedes' and Tina's parents too.

He also met Puck's mom and approved of Finn spending time there, knowing that she was a good parent, just busy; like the rest of them trying to provide for their family while going it alone.

"That reminds me, I need to meet his parents." Burt announced and Carole giggled.

"Let Kurt tell you he's spending the night over there first, then do the doting parent action. I'm guessing he'll probably ask to spend the night at Dalton 1st and then you'll have to meet the teachers and those in charge in the dorms."

"He's not spending the night in the dorms with all those boys." Burt's protective instincts kicked in instantly and he could only just contain his fear about Kurt being there.

"He's not going to sleep with all of them." She chided (they'd feel the same way if Finn was allowed to live with all girls) but that wasn't his worry, he was worried that he'd sleep with Blaine if not given proper supervision but that would happen eventually anyway, they would find a way if that's what they wanted. No, he was worried that the other boys would attack Kurt or someone there would try to force Kurt to do something he didn't want to while the others joined in or held him down. Yet, Blaine said it wasn't like that, that he and some other boys were openly out and he was treated fairly and with respect and nobody batted an eye or cared or acted differently because of it.

Burt rolled his eyes at himself and tried to relax. He was just being paranoid because he knew that there were bad guys out there who would hurt his child. There was someone at the school already doing so but he didn't know what was being done to him and that pissed Burt off, he wanted to track down the culprit and make him hurt as much as Kurt was.

–

Monday... was more of the same and if that's all Kurt had to deal with, then he'd be fine. He didn't even bat an eye any more at the slurs Karofsky sent his way as he pushed him into lockers. He winced when he hurt his arm again, the same one that hurt the first time he'd gone to Lima Bean with Blaine.

He toughed it out and the day passed. He text Blaine every hour between classes.

Tuesday he'd built up an armor around himself with memories of his boyfriend and his support. He taped up a picture of Blaine inside his locker that he'd taken when Blaine was dancing like a crazy person on Saturday. The picture made him smile and that seemed to irritate Karofsky more as he slammed the locker shut and pushed Kurt into the lockers, hard.

Kurt fought with himself about saying something and Karofsky looked at him, invading his space and waited but when no sound came out of Kurt's throat he smiled amused and said, "good." Then he walked away. Kurt looked for his phone and text Blaine continuing their conversation and ignored how his back hurt

Wednesday was more of the same, he'd been pushed several times that week, these were just the most painful ones. His side hurt from Karofsky body slamming into the lockers before walking away and Kurt found himself on the ground again. Finn's hand was there helping him up and Kurt brushed himself off once he was standing. "Thank you."

Thursday he got a shoulder into his chest and he fell against the lockers in addition to the other times Karofsky pushed him that day. He struggled to breath and had to skip glee that day because he knew he wouldn't be able to sing with the rest of them as his lungs struggled to start working properly again.

Friday morning he'd gotten an elbow into his gut, hitting his solar plexus and making him winded again. That was definitely bruised now again and he knew he'd probably have to skip glee club again. He didn't want anyone to worry about him or figure out what was up. That was Friday morning and he was pushed into lockers several more times that day. He was pushed in the stairs as Karofsky passed him and he pressed up against the fence that time. He pulled away from the fence and stretched out his neck and tried to ignore the terror and anger he was feeling in equal measures because of Karofsky's actions.

He threw caution to the wind and decided to attend glee that day anyway and he always sat somewhere in the second row and he joined in without putting much into his voice or effort, just enough to appear like he was singing with them. Rachel looked at him, ready to call him out for not trying but her voice didn't sound through the room as she got a good look at him and she shut her mouth and turned back to looking at the front of the room.

Santana had noticed and she looked Kurt's way too and frowned, she didn't like what she saw. Kurt was pale and had bags under his eyes and they were dark, even carefully applied makeup didn't hide his stress and anxiety.

"Hey, you." Santana cornered Kurt after glee club. "You're joining the cheerios next week. I'm co-captain and it's my decision and that's what you're doing."

"Uh, no." Kurt didn't want to that, at all. He'd already gone through enough torment for one month and re-joining the cheerios would just be adding to it. He'd quit that when his dad was in the hospital, he couldn't do all his after school activities and he had a commitment to the football team because he knew he would be in a lot of pain if he hadn't but Cheerios could do without him, they always had. Sue had been mad of course but respected his decision when she realized it was for his father's health that he was doing so. "You'll be missed, Lady."

"We've had men on there before, straight men. You've been part of our team before." Santana argued. "You'll be protected by us and Sue then."

"Sue doesn't protect anyone, she harangues them." Kurt argued, so very tired and just wanted to be done for the day, the week, he was minutes away from freedom and Santana was delaying it. He didn't want to hear Sue call him Lady even more often or her insults about his physical appearance.

"Yes, but she also protects them with every fiber of her being, especially if she thinks they have talent and she knows you do."

"That's... very nice of you to offer Santana, what's the ploy?" Kurt was rubbing his stomach where the elbow had landed. All of his body was hurting today, he had used up all of his pain killers and Rachel hadn't replenished hers either.

Santana dug into her bag and gave him a Tylenol."It's best to stagger them and go every other." She said handing him the med. "Switch it up with Advil or something."

Kurt nodded and thankfully took it and swallowed it with a sip of water from his bottle. "Thanks, but I'm still waiting."

"I want to win Nationals, I'm a winner and I need everyone on this team to be in their best form." Santana said. "And I'm worried about you, baby penguin."

Kurt rubbed a hand over his face, just too tired to care any more and over this conversation with the most confusing girl in the school. He never understood Brittany and stopped trying, just enjoying her wackiness but Santana was hurtful for almost no reason. When he did that, the dark circles were more pronounced and Santana had a moment when she realized that Kurt had lost weight he couldn't afford to. She was more determined than ever to get him under the protective gaze of Sue Sylvester. "No. I don't want to spend any more time with you than I have to." He knew Santana had manipulated the game of 7 minutes in heaven to her own whims, unsure what she was getting out of the pairings she had purposefully put together, probably some sick perverse pleasure only as she caused trouble between people, not sure why she had made sure he and Blaine had been paired up.

"Yes, and I will drag you there by your nutless sack if I have to." She was fierce all of a sudden and Kurt didn't know why either. "You have to be, if you can hit those high notes and wear such tight pants."

It was something he would have said something about in a sassy moment and he gave her that, she was quick and sharp too and some days he liked going back and forth with her but this year had been too much and he hadn't had the energy.

She wasn't done. "Also if you can't stand up for yourself against Karofsky, then you have nothing down there that even girls have. You have to tell someone."

"I have!" Kurt snapped back, they were alone in the choir room. "The adults have done nothing to stop him. They can't."

"Sue can. Your dad can!" She snapped back. "Why aren't you telling them?"

Kurt had the biggest headache all of a sudden. "I can't, I just can't Santana and stop asking me to. You'll understand some day and I hope you never have to find out what it's like in that way when it happens. I'm doing this for all of us!"

Santana stared at him in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Never mind!" She wasn't ready to admit it to herself and he couldn't tell her because she was smart and would understand that he was talking about Karofsky as well or just think that he was taking all the gay slurs on himself so the rest of them were left alone and that would piss her off too and she'd confront him and then Kurt would be dead. "Just leave me alone."

"You're going to join the cheerios on Monday." She repeated.

"No, I'm not." He left her then in the room, having had enough and just wanting to go home. He heard her though as he left and shook his head, disagreeing without continuing the conversation.

"Oh yes, yes you are! You have no choice!"

That was the problem, he had no good choices in any of this. The only good choice he'd made recently was telling Blaine that they should date. Oh god, Blaine. He was going to be calling Kurt and he wasn't ready to talk to him yet, he was shaking. Then he caught sight of his reflection in the mirror and realized he'd wiped away some of the makeup protecting his secrets.

He sent a quick text to Blaine, asking to postpone their virtual date for another hour and he responded immediately in concern but Kurt tried to reassure him and he got a reluctant ok back.

Kurt had avoided the locker rooms since the kiss, changing in the bathroom or getting written permission to skip gym or just not being there the days he had gym because he had a doctor's appointment or Burt had taken him out for the day. This was unfortunately a hill he would have to climb eventually and the locker room had better lighting than the bathroom and he had to have the natural light that the locker room afforded to get the makeup just right to hide the darkness under his eyes and the small, long, dark bruise next to his right ear. He'd caught a locker edge yesterday without realizing it until later when he was home and Burt asked about it.

He'd lied and said he was doing a twirl and didn't realize someone had opened up their locker and he spun into it. He had seen how Burt's hand had clenched around his fork but Burt had accepted his excuse with grace and didn't say anything more about it. Kurt covered it up this morning when it was so much worse.

He was in there with several other boys but they thankfully left him alone. He didn't notice as they all eventually left after showering and changing and heading home after football practice. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the lady." Karofsky's voice spooked Kurt and he hadn't even thought about the possibility of him being in here. He'd looked around when he first came in and was reassured that Karofsky wasn't and hadn't heard him come in.

Now, too late, he realized they were completely alone in there again. "I'll go." Kurt had to walk by him to leave and he tried to give them a wide berth. He could finish this in the car somewhere along the way before anyone saw him.

Karofsky moved to cut him off and he stopped now that the bigger boy was in his way and he tried to go around him the other way and as he did, Karofsky pushed him up against the wall and his mouth was on Kurt's.

Kurt pushed him away finding that strength in him again and he held his hands out in front of him to protect himself, but he was trapped between the wall and Karofsky's big body and a sink to the side. He looked at Karofsky in fear. "I don't want this, I don't want you anywhere near me. Please stop."

Karofsky grabbed Kurt's forearms within his hands and held tight as Kurt struggled and wrenched them out of the way as Kurt started to call out for help and closed the gap between them again and his mouth was hard and cruel over Kurt's. Kurt struggled but Karofsky only squeezed his hands around Kurt's arms tighter and pressed in closer. The more Kurt struggled, the harder Karofsky held on. He thought he might have heard a terrible sound as he held one of Kurt's arms in an odd angle over the sink and pain radiated through him and he thrashed against Karofsky who pressed up against him and it was too close, too much body contact and Kurt was in a lot of pain and terrified of what else Karofsky would do and he suddenly remembered that they were both boys and had one big weakness that he could use to his advantage.

He brought his knee up sharply and hard and Karofsky let him go as he tended to his now hurt junk. Kurt escaped, leaving all of his stuff in that locker room except the keys which were in his jacket pocket and held his right arm to his chest as he ran down the hall away from the furious but debilitated Karofsky (for now) and escaped to the parking lot and somehow managed to throw himself into the driver's seat and lock the door and turned the vehicle on with his left arm and tore out of the parking lot, not caring if there were any civilians in the area that he could run over.

He sped through every road he occupied and didn't stop for stop signs and hated that he couldn't do the same for the lights. Then he was home and he tore upstairs without saying anything to anyone and locked his bedroom door for the first time and collapsed onto his bed and cried into his pillow. He kept crying through all the knocks on the doors and demanding voices from Finn and his dad to let them in. He exhausted himself with his crying and made himself sick with the strength of his tears. The pounding on the door was even more insistent at that point and he couldn't even think about it or process it, he didn't even hear it over his tears and terror. In fact it only made things worse and he cried harder.

Burt would have busted down the door but Finn found the spare key for the lock and the door still swung open with a ferocity and Kurt cowered away from it and held his pillow to his chest as a weak defense. Burt took one look at Kurt and spun, his voice was heard throughout the house and even Kurt heard him through his tears and terror. "That's it! I'm calling the principle!" They could hear him on the phone with the man, he had to have called him at home, and every word was livid and forceful.

Kurt didn't try to argue anymore. This had gone way too far.

Blaine pushed Finn out of the way when he just gaped at Kurt in the doorway, taking up the entire space and somehow moved Finn's big lumbering body out of the way enough to squeeze through. Finn chalked it up to Finn giving in rather than Blaine's strength as he was numb looking at Kurt in such a state. Blaine rushed over to Kurt's side and pulled his shaking form into his arms and pulled him onto his lap and rocked him; and Kurt didn't move, he couldn't. He didn't pull away, he didn't sink into the embrace, he didn't even ask why Blaine was there. He was sure that he'd missed their date and was glad Blaine cared enough to come and know it was out of his hands rather than Kurt being irresponsible and just forgetting about it.

Finn eventually found his voice as Kurt's tears started to slow and started to fall asleep with his head on Blaine's shoulder, unable to stay awake with how much he'd exhausted himself. "Where's your phone and bag?" That was the first thing Finn had noticed, he'd gone to Kurt's car to help bring his stuff in, knowing that he would regret leaving it out there in the morning and the driver's door had been left wide open. Blaine had ended up calling Rachel who in turned called Finn when he could reach Kurt the 10 times he called his number, already on his way to Lima when Kurt didn't answer the first time. Finn had been on his way home when Rachel called and discovered the SUV parked at an odd angle and left running as if completely abandoned and that had startled him at first but he'd heard Burt's voice in the house shouting at Kurt, just not the words.

Finn had looked for it in the car, wanting to reassure Blaine that it was just out of hearing and nothing worse. That they would handle whatever happened and would get back to him and he could see Kurt on Saturday when everything settled down. Then he'd walked into the house after not being able to find any of it, knowing Blaine was still trying to reach Kurt every minute of his drive over here. He didn't hear it in the house either. Then he'd heard Kurt's heart breaking sobs that he could hear even from downstairs.

Burt had still been shouting and he knew it wasn't good for the man to be so stressed out. He knew that Burt would try to break the door down and so had tried to shout for Kurt to just unlock the door and open in but the sobs just continued and Finn could barely breath with their intensity, this wasn't his typical tears. He managed to find the key for the door, Burt was so furious (not at Kurt) about the situation that he didn't even think to look for the key, just jumping to wanting to crash into the door to reach his son.

Blaine had let himself in during all of this, he'd broken every speed limit himself to get there in 1 hour rather than 1.5 hours. He wished he could have gone faster but to do so was very unsafe and he wanted to get to Kurt in one piece to be there for him, not add to his troubles.

His own heart broke into a thousand tiny pieces and he was upstairs before he even knew he was climbing them and then he wasn't given access to his boyfriend and he wasn't about to just sit on the sidelines quietly at this stage. He'd managed to push Finn out of the way, he was stronger than he looked and was at Kurt's side in an instant the second he had a window to slip through. He gathered Kurt close and rocked him, not just for Kurt but for himself too. He had panicked when Kurt missed their date, he'd called earlier than their agreed upon time and kept calling, needing Kurt to answer. He had known something was wrong the second he got that text.

He wished he had left earlier, he wished he'd left right after glee practice for the day and headed to Lima, 3 hour round trip be damned, he wanted to see his boyfriend now. Then this all went down and he was kicking himself for waiting, trying to respect Kurt's wishes, there could have been a million reasons he needed to delay things but Blaine had known it was something more. Maybe not then but the second Kurt didn't answer his call, just answer and say that he'd call him back; that would have been a very Kurt thing to do. Blaine already knew him well enough to know that. To miss his calls completely meant either his phone died – and then it wouldn't have rung through, just gone to voicemail, or something bad had happened to him. His later calls did just go to voicemail.

Kurt finally became aware of the people around him, well, somewhat at least and he had a hard time focusing on Finn's question. "What?" He was so drowsy and Blaine stroked his back.

"Your stuff, your phone." Finn pressed and Blaine didn't think that was important at this time.

Carole came into the room with ice and cool wash cloths and a bowl of water. She knelt down next to Kurt and Blaine and smiled at Blaine thankfully.

"Uh... School." Kurt finally gathered his thoughts to at least try and answer. "Boy's locker room, sink."

Finn nodded and turned to go. Carole called out to him. "Finn, don't you dare-" but he was already down the stairs and heading out. She sighed, hoping he would be ok, but no matter what he would be able to defend himself better than Kurt.

She wrung a cloth out in the water and dabbed gently at Kurt's eyes, she was surprised by the makeup that came away with the cloth and worked on revealing all of what Kurt hid. She had originally been trying to reduce the swelling from the tears, knowing that it was something Kurt cared about and the ice would help with that too. She gasped but Kurt was beyond caring at that stage and Blaine frowned and held Kurt closer. He gasped in pain as it put pressure on his arm in an awkward angle and he released Kurt instantly, afraid to hurt him but then hated not holding him and gently looped his arms around Kurt so he would be supported against him.

"What hurts?" Blaine asked, needing Kurt to answer honestly and he helped Kurt struggle out of his jacket and then sweater and already he knew that Kurt was going to reveal something he'd rather not see but needed to. Karofsky was going to die the next time he saw the other boy.

He knew that the marks were on both arms as they rolled up his sleeve over his right forearm. There were older bruises running down the length of his arm, mostly defensive wounds from falling into lockers but it was the dark finger marks on Kurt's arm that had Blaine stiffening. The arm was swollen and he worked at the other sleeve too while Carole put ice on the darkest bruises. The bruises were the same on that arm but it wasn't as swollen.

He'd attacked Kurt again and it wasn't just the usual bullying this time, it was definitely of a more sexual nature this time. "You're not going back to that school again until this is resolved." Blaine buried his head into Kurt's shoulder, but it wasn't him that said it, he'd been thinking about how he was going to go to Kurt's school and stick by his side like glue until he was safely deposited back home and then repeat the next day.

It had been Burt who spoke, far calmer now but still livid. "The principle of that school is worthless. He said that without proof of someone attacking you, he couldn't do anything. I said there had to be witnesses. There are witnesses, aren't there?"

"Of the shoves into lockers, yes." Kurt's eyes were filled with pain as he looked away from his arms that Carole was carefully attending to. "The more aggressive attacks, no." He felt Blaine go still under him at his word choices.

"Stop shielding him, dammit!" Blaine hissed in his ear. "Look what he's done to you!"

Kurt looked at him devastated but resolved and Blaine hissed in his breath, Kurt was in so much pain and he reached out for his face with both hands and Kurt didn't move as Blaine covered his face in kisses. It was probably too soon after this latest attack but Blaine had to reassure and comfort both of them and neither Carole nor Burt said anything or made any sounds of surprise at his actions; they'd expected it to happen eventually. He avoided kissing Kurt on the mouth, knowing that he'd like to, to help them both heal but also that it was definitely too soon after his attack to do so. Kurt sagged into his administrations.

Finn was back before they expected him, not sure how he'd gotten into that school after hours and not really wanting to know either. He had dumped Kurt's things onto his bed, including the makeup kit. Then he was leaning against a wall, utterly furious himself, he did know who was responsible and he wanted to go after him tonight but he respected that Burt would handle things now that he knew.

Carole switched the ice pack to Kurt's other arm and Finn jumped away from the wall. "Mom, we need to get him to the hospital now." He recognized a compartment fracture the second he saw one. He swept Kurt up into his arms despite Blaine's cry of protest and carried him back to the SUV still parked haphazardly in the driveway but went to the back seat with Kurt this time and buckled him in before climbing into the driver's seat. Blaine had jumped into the back seat with Kurt, right on Finn's heels and Carole got into the passenger seat next to Finn while Burt sat next to Blaine who sat in the middle, he wasn't happy to be so far away from his son but Finn was right, they should have gone the second they were able to access Kurt.

The emergency center concurred with Finn's assessment and worked on Kurt's arm right away, relieving the pressure in it and realigning his arm bones before putting a brace on it. They explained to Kurt and Burt that a typical cast would not be advisable since it could accidentally be too tight and make the compartment syndrome worse and this way they could have access to it a lot easier and check on it over the next few weeks. It did mean that he had to be careful not to put pressure on it or his bones would malign again and then they may need to cast it then. It was not their favorite option and Kurt didn't know how he could avoid that, it was his dominant arm.

Finn, Carole and a grumpy Blaine were forced to wait in the car while Burt was allowed in since Kurt was still a minor, otherwise he wouldn't have been. Burt insisted they took pictures of all the bruising on his son's arm before they put the brace on and then the rest of the bruising on his body. "I want proof that this boy is hurting my son." Kurt was silent through all of this and let them move him to where ever they wanted him.

Finn felt terrible, he'd been talking to Rachel about Kurt today, she'd mentioned that she didn't think Kurt was holding up very well and Finn had shrugged it off, saying that he was probably looking tired due to all the late night chats with Blaine. She said that he wasn't eating well either and losing too much weight too quickly and was very quiet when he was at school. He had only really heard Kurt talking at home with Blaine, he had chalked it up to saving his energy for his new boyfriend but once Rachel mentioned it, he found himself wanting to get home sooner to check on his little brother.

That word was so much easier to say and think now. And now, his brother was in the hospital again in the course of a month because the boy doing the hurting hadn't been put into his own place by the captain of the football team, his leader. Finn wouldn't let anyone touch Kurt like that again.

Blaine text Wes that he wouldn't be going to school Monday and that he'd be calling in sick and that he needed Wes to confirm his story if asked. He needed to stay with Kurt today, through the weekend and after the first day he was supposed to go back and maybe Tuesday, he needed to, after everything that happened. He wouldn't budge and Burt didn't even try to fight him when he made his intentions clear to stay until he felt like it was safe for Kurt to leave his side.

Burt allowed the two of them to stay home on Saturday, Kurt hadn't said a thing since they left for the hospital and he still didn't all day Saturday. Burt was seriously worried about Kurt's mental health when that pattern continued into Sunday and he had barely touched any of his food.

Burt was ready to say something to Kurt but it was Blaine who enticed him to eat a few bites on Sunday, coaxing him by telling him, he Blaine had made it and that elicited a rueful smile out of the Hummel men. Blaine had cooked, Burt hadn't been interested in doing it without Kurt in the kitchen with him. That was the first response either had seen from him in days and Blaine pressed further and got Kurt to eat a few more bites but then shook his head when Blaine wanted him to eat more.

"I couldn't, my stomach feels full as it is." Which was probably true after days of not eating and sitting in pretty much the same spot on the couch, so everyone could make sure he didn't hurt his arm in his sleep by accident.

Burt had Finn stay home on Monday too and shut down the protests. "I don't want anything to happen to you too and I don't want you to interfere and take the brunt of the punishment intended for this bully because you retaliate against his actions on your brother."

The New Directions had rallied around Kurt and while only 3 of them (Artie, Mercedes and Tina) could truthfully say they witnessed Karofsky bullying Kurt, it was enough to get him suspended indefinitely starting Tuesday and asked why they didn't come forward earlier. Sam had also told the principle that Kurt had asked him not to say anything but it had been Karofsky that had caused the head injury and that Kurt had not been able to hide it from them, but Sam's testimony was thrown out because he'd led the witness when the nurse was questioned but she agreed, she thought Karofsky was truly responsible for Kurt's injuries. They'd take it into consideration but it could only be considered hearsay but since they weren't a courtroom, it did hold more weight.

Burt got the phone call that afternoon at work and he had the rest of the day to consider what he wanted to do. The bully was gone, for now, and Kurt couldn't miss more school, not if he was going to transfer him to Dalton. The paperwork was already in motion, they just needed to approve and Burt had gotten a discount since it was extenuating circomestances but it was only for the time period that this Karofsky character was at his school, once he was gone, Kurt was expected to go back. Burt took it and they agreed, Kurt wouldn't room and board, it was an added expense that wasn't needed and Burt didn't want Kurt living there, he wanted Kurt home at the end of the day so he could keep an eye on him.

Blaine was true to his word that he wouldn't leave Kurt's side until he was sure the other boy was safe. He attended classes with Kurt on Tuesday and kept a look out whenever they were in the hallway for the bigger boy. He stayed through Glee and all the questions and rode with Kurt back home. The school was safer now that Karofsky wasn't there, nobody else bothered Kurt the whole day and only had supporters or onlookers now.

He was told to go back to Dalton by everyone that night and he was woeful but he did and he did finally kiss Kurt on the mouth before he left and Kurt's eyes sparked for the first time since Friday and he looked at Blaine curiously. "I didn't think you'd take it so well." He whispered against Kurt's mouth as he went for a second kiss.

"From you- always." Kurt said back and that was the most he'd spoken too and Blaine kissed him for a third time.

"I hate to leave you now." Blaine hadn't known that part of the quiet was from Kurt wondering how Blaine now felt about him, now that his mouth had been terrorized and kissed by someone who wasn't his boyfriend. Was he disgusted to kiss something that giant had touched? Was he just there out of pity or a sense of duty? The kisses reassured him, that no, Blaine was still interested in him and it hadn't changed anything between them.

Wednesday nobody thought anything of it because Karofsky was gone and so hadn't followed Kurt around like friendly stalkers and gave him a bit of space. He had felt a little too coddled when everyone was on him over the weekend. It felt nice to be fawned over but they were just too concerned and he hadn't known what to say, nobody knew everything that happened, not even Blaine.

It was after that same class in the morning when he had none of his friends in it or in the following one when his locker was shut with some considerable force and he jumped a mile high and it wasn't just internally this time, he jumped and spun towards the culprit and found Karofsky there. "You're not supposed to be on campus."

"I just had to pick up my stuff, they don't want me repeating a year just because I'm taking some time off from school. I need to keep up with my studies." They were in a crowded hallway as they had this campus and Kurt was so shocked to be faced with this sex predator so soon after he had been reassured that he was safe.

Kurt hugged his books to his chest, unable to move, very careful to trap his broken arm in the most protective position he could. He didn't know how Karofsky would retaliate against him now, he hadn't told anyone about his sexual attacks, but he couldn't hide the injury, not this time and Karofsky had to know that, right? It wasn't Kurt's fault he got suspended, it was his own, he couldn't keep his hands to himself. "You shouldn't be here, you shouldn't be near me."

"Keep your promise or I will keep mine." Karofsky placed a finger on Kurt's chest and pushed it in harder and harder and harder, getting sick pleasure out of pushing his finger into a spot on Kurt's chest over his heart, it would surely bruise a big ugly bruise larger than just the point of his finger with the pressure, it was incredibly painful but Kurt stood his ground even though he wanted to run. Karofsky slowly dragged it down Kurt's chest and it was not borderline sexual when it came from Karofsky, it was intentionally telling Kurt that he could touch him all he liked and would touch him again, and it would be a sexual touch, always. He stared into Kurt's eyes as he touched him, his eyes telling him that and more, his eyebrows lifted as if saying oh yeah? I can do whatever I want to you. His actions were getting bolder and he was caring less about what anyone else thought around them. Nobody intervened even though they all knew he was suspended for tormenting Kurt. His motives were changing and Kurt started shaking.

"I didn't say anything. Stop, please. Please leave." He said it as strongly as he could, trying to find that courage within him but he knew he was begging and giving into this bully.

"Good." Karofsky used that finger to push Kurt away from him and he stumbled back into the locker bank and he rubbed at the spot as Karofsky swung his bag onto his shoulder and grinned. "See you around, Hummel." The way he said it, made it sound like homo.

Mr Shue was talking to some girls in the hallway about some of the questions they had on their Spanish assignment and he was answering them when he caught sight of Karofsky leaving the building and he looked around for Kurt, hoping that Karofsky and he hadn't interacted while he was here. No luck, Kurt looked absolutely shaken and Mr. Shue went over to him and carefully reached out and put a hand on Kurt's shoulder since he hadn't noticed Mr. Schue's presence. Kurt jumped again and Mr. Schue squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. "Are you ok?"

Kurt could only shake his head and it took a few tries to say anything. Then a word escaped his tight throat. "No." Mr. Schue could barely hear him. "No." Kurt repeated but it wasn't any stronger.

"Come on, let's go to the principle's office." He led Kurt to Mr. Figgin's office and that was a bust, he'd already suspended Karofsky and said that if he was seen on campus again then they could do something but he did have a right to get his books. After that, Mr. Schue brought Kurt into his office and made him some tea that he knew Kurt liked, put a blanket around Kurt's shoulders, the poor boy couldn't stop shaking and just sat with him in silence, letting him know that if Kurt needed to say anything, then he'd be there to listen.

Kurt wanted to, oh he never wanted to spill everything more than he did in that moment but even after promising that he'd be safe, he hadn't been. He wasn't safe at this school.

There was a knock on his door and Miss Pillsbury was there with a concerned look on her face, and Kurt feared it was his father again, this is how it had happened last time and his shaking intensified. "Oh, Kurt, you're actually who I was going to come find after grabbing Will."

"What is it, Emma?" Mr. Schue asked looking over at Kurt in worry, he hadn't missed the increased panic on his face.

"I need the two of you to come into the parking lot with me." She threw Kurt an apologetic look. "Please don't be too shocked by what you'll see. Will and I will be right by your side the entire time but you need to see it."

They went to the parking lot and Kurt's black Escalade had the word 'Fag' scribed in large letters on each side and the back and hood and a very crude drawing after it and they were all different drawings. Kurt sat down onto the curb of the sidewalk and just stared at it. "Karofsky?" He asked breathlessly and nobody had an answer.

There was a camera watching the parking lot and three boys wearing lettermen's jackets and black ski masks had done it, none were quite as large as Karofsky but they were still tall jocks. Kurt was pretty sure he could name all 3 of them, two were on the hockey team and the other was Azimio. Those two teams hated each other but Karofsky had played for both during the different seasons. Of course they would antagonize Kurt, he'd just hurt their chances of winning any games this year. In a way though he could have helped them by rejoining the football team as the kicker and they would have won then, but the hockey team would still lose any chance of winning without their massive goalie.

Burt was called in and was furious and Kurt kept this from Blaine, he didn't want to cause more trouble for the other boy at school or with his parents by telling him and knowing Blaine would leave instantly and come back to Lima and stay until he was absolutely certain Kurt was safe from this newest threat, which meant that he may never leave Kurt's side. Mr. Figgins' explanation that without a positive ID they couldn't do anything to these hoodlums.

Burt looked over at Kurt. "What do you want to do?"

Kurt sighed and thought about it. He looked over at Mr. Schue and made a decision. As long as Karofsky wasn't here, he would stay. "They're just acting out, the real worry is gone and this will blow over in time." But he still wouldn't feel safe until he was gone permanently from this school. He wouldn't have the same treatment he had been used to and he was finding his strength every minute once more, this had actually made him want to stay and fight more. As far as he knew, none of those boys were closeted gays who found him attractive and would lash out at him in quite the same way. They'd get bored with him eventually.

Burt sighed, not pleased but respecting Kurt's decision.

Kurt's arm was in a brace in a sling and he was very careful in the hallways not to bump it. Everyone always gave him a wide berth anyway, afraid of 'catching his gay' and any diseases that they associated with gay people, despite the face that he was 17 and had never done more than kiss another person, far less than most of the students in this school. He was the least likely to be carrying diseases or germs. He was meticulous and always clean and had a completely clean space, germs had no place in his space or in his body.

It was a problem when he shared close space with Finn who was a lot more relaxed on things like that. Finn called him obsessive but Kurt had shrugged and said that you could eat directly off any surface and not fear any other germs transferring onto your food, not that you should. He'd scolded Finn with that last part once when he saw Finn put the sandwich down onto the bathroom counter and then eat it after using the restroom, he went to clean the counter and scrubbed it for several minutes. For good measure he cleaned the rest of the bathroom until it was sparkling.

So he thought he would be safe now from anyone getting into his breathing space. Only Karofsky had, the rest had just threatened him but never actually touched him other than throwing him into dumpsters or wanted to be breathed on by him.

Which is why he was surprised when someone got close and tried to slushy him for the first time in weeks and Santana was there, knocking it back into the perpetrator's face and they ended up slushying themselves. "Woah, Santana." Kurt hadn't expected her to come out of nowhere like that.

"I told you, Cheerios get protection." Santana turned her head and winked at him over her shoulder.

"I'm not a Cheerio though." Kurt countered.

"Oh yes you are Lady." Sue was in the hallway and handed him his uniform. "Of course you can't perform with the arm but you're an honorary member until you can join us fully again. Once a Cheerio, always a Cheerio."

"That's offensive." Kurt was done, they kept launching things at him. "Calling me lady is bullying." That's what Karofsky had called him all the time and he was tired of hearing it.

"My apologizes, you have three options." And she listed them in short order, Gelfling, Porcelain and Tickle-Me Doughface. "I give everyone a nickname, it's your choice." She never gave anyone a choice before.

There was only one choice really but at least in this he had been given a choice, even if it wasn't a good one. "Porcelain, I guess I choose Porcelain."

"Excellent. Porcelain it is. I expect you to come in uniform tomorrow, even if you're not performing and you will sit in the bleachers and watch us and learn."

"I'm not joining the Cheerios." He repeated but it fell on deaf ears and she continued talking and Santana just smirked.

He went to school the next day in his new Cheerios uniform. Finn drove him in the morning, and they took the Escalade to prove a point, and questioned him about it and he said that he just gave in and maybe it would afford him some of the popularity that Quinn was always talking about.

Quinn wasn't overly pleased but didn't say anything to his face. She had been given the spot back by the skin of her teeth and he'd just been given it and was encouraged to eat as unhealthily as he liked so he could pack the pounds back on which could then be turned into muscle later on. Kurt still wasn't eating well but he was slowly eating more and his stomach was slowly settling into place rather than twisting the second he left his car in the parking lot. Finn by his side every morning and every afternoon was helping a lot with that.

Friday, Kurt stopped Finn before he got into the driver's seat. "You know that favor you owe me? The one where I stayed while you dropped everyone off and then came back and stayed at Rachel's and I didn't protest?"

"Yeah?" Finn looked around to make sure nobody had heard that. They wouldn't let him go over there again if they knew he'd spent the night.

"Do you think you could return that favor today by driving us in your car today and then driving me to the Lima Bean to meet up with Blaine? He'll drive me back over here afterward."

Finn looked at Kurt over the hood of the car for a long moment, his fingers tracing the word carved into the paint, they hadn't gotten it fixed yet on purpose, as it was Kurt's big middle finger to the bullies and everyone who let it happen, because there had been spectators watching and laughing as they did it to all sides of this car and hadn't attempted to stop them. "You're keeping things from Blaine now too?"

"I-"

"Hell, he was right. Get in, we'll take my car." Finn came around and opened up the passenger door of his car for Kurt and waited until he was in and buckled before going back around to his side. Kurt asked what Blaine was right about as they drove to school. "Blaine said that you only told him what was going on because it's easier to tell a stranger. You holding things back from him only confirms his words. Stop holding things back from the people who love you!" Finn was mad and Kurt digested his words.

"I was going to tell him, but I wanted to do it in person and not have him overreact and come during the week when he didn't need to. I was just trying to look out for him."

"I don't think it's overreacting. If anyone was messing with Rachel, I wouldn't care how far apart we were, I'd be by her side instantly and fighting for her. And if she found she couldn't tell me herself, I'd hope someone else would." Finn couldn't believe he was saying that about how he had agreed with Blaine but he was. The little bugger was growing on him and he was slowly seeing how good he was for Kurt.

"I don't want him fighting." Kurt didn't believe in violence and Finn knew that too; just like he knew Rachel was a vegetarian and yet didn't fully understand their claims until it was too late.

"Someone need to know everything going on with you. I've accepted that you don't view me as your confidant, but I thought Blaine was and I was ok with that because I saw how protective he was of you without even knowing you for long. You don't find that often."

No, you didn't, especially when it was one man for another one and Kurt soaked that in too. "Ok, I'll tell him everything." He closed his eyes and leaned his head back, oh, Blaine was going to be furious.

"Good." Finn said and Kurt flinched at the word, he never wanted to hear that word again but knew that was an impossible hope. Finn missed the emotions crossing Kurt's face.

Burt came home mid-day to grab the lunch he'd forgotten, often Kurt would deliver it in the morning if he discovered the contents in the fridge but since Kurt wasn't driving, he hadn't been doing so. He saw the Escalade in the garage and instead of being annoyed, he just drove it back to the shop and did the long overdue repairs on the paint job. He could have sued for damages but he needed to pick his battles.

On a plus side, the elections were over and he'd won but the joy over that had been lost in Kurt's situation and it's exactly why he'd ran in the first place. They'd celebrate next week when Kurt was safely ensconced in Dalton's walls. The parking lot was only possible to enter with a security badge and so he didn't have to worry about an outsider jumping him on the way to his car or from it. He'd never thought it would come to this at school but he should have remembered that kids were the worst offenders.

He still had never seen the creep who had hurt his boy but he would find out somehow and deal with it personally if he needed to.

They'd stripped the paint off the SUV and started over again, he didn't want anything to remind Kurt of the slurs, or anything reminding him either. That's why they didn't just fill in and smooth over, there'd always be a hint that something was different with the paint, just hard to know exactly or see. It would take a few days to finish.

He told Kurt the car was in the shop via text and Kurt had been surprised but thankful and then reminded Burt that he would be at the coffee shop with Blaine this evening before dinner. Burt thanked Kurt for reminding him because he had forgotten and would have been worried.

After dropping Kurt off that day, Finn came over to the shop to learn and work for part of a shift. Burt nodded towards him but didn't come over right away. When he had a free moment he came over. "Any trouble today?" He meant for either of them and Finn shook his head. "How was school?"

"Fine. I was thinking- the wedding is in 3 weeks, and I'd like to be more involved. I was wondering if we could take some dance lessons and surprise mom with them."

"That's an excellent idea."

"I was thinking Kurt could teach us, and we could use the choir room after school..." Finn looked hopefully up at Burt, knowing the father also had some thoughts on the matter.

"After hours should be fine. We'll both be there and by then they'll be comfortable with casting his arm." They had wanted to watch it for awhile and frequent visits to the doctor was promising with his prognosis and was healing in the right spots but they also wanted to give him a stronger cast while he continued to heal because it would be easy to forget when it stopped hurting as much, not that he murmured even once about the pain, he dealt with it stoically. He'd dealt with so many injuries without a peep, he was truly the strongest amongst them, even the others gasped and wanted to be babied when they got a bruise and their girlfriends iced it. Kurt had to be forced to take the ice packs, never going for it himself and had only taken pain meds when it was really bad. "And he'll be at Dalton."

Finn hated the idea of losing Kurt to the other school and yet he knew it was the best choice for Kurt's safety while they sorted everything out. Kurt just didn't know it himself yet. "When will you tell him?"

"Once it's approved, I don't want to put him through any unnecessary stress." He'd only told Finn so he didn't just spring it on the tall boy, he'd have been hurt to know he wasn't part of the decision making process at all. They didn't see any reason that it wouldn't be approved, it was just a matter of going through all the steps and it was getting closer and closer to happening. The vacancy had sat open for awhile and that's why they could offer the position at a discount, they just had to weigh whether or not the teachers' salary was enough to take on another student when they weren't getting the same tuition out of him vs not getting any money but it was more work for the teacher too to have another student in class, not a lot more, but some.

Either way, Karofsky would be gone by the end of the year and Kurt could go back to McKinley. Karofsky was a senior, which made his bullying worse, he should have known better, he did know better but chose to torment Kurt anyway. Burt knew there was more to it than that though, he was doing something far worse but Kurt was still keeping quiet on the matter. He didn't believe that Kurt and Karofsky hadn't gotten into a fight in the bathroom and that it had been an accident that his arm was broken in the scuffle. Burt didn't care what it was anymore, he was determined that Kurt would be safe and would move him regardless.

–

Kurt saw the text that Blaine was there first for a change and he came into the Lima Bean with flourish, showing off his own uniform to Blaine who was in his Dalton uniform too. "Ta-da!" He raised his arms and struck a pose knowing Blaine was in the building and Blaine was, in his own Dalton uniform with his phone raised to his ear and concern in his eyes without even looking up until just then and his mouth moved wordlessly as he caught on that Kurt was there now. His phone was starting to ring but it was all too late, he let out a whoof as a fist connected with his stomach and he doubled over in pain and Blaine was suddenly in front of him, time speeding up once more to normal speed and words were able to be interpreted again.

Blaine placed himself between Kurt and Karofsky and his muscles were tensed, ready for a hit similar to Kurt's but it never came. "Get out of the way." Karofsky growled. "My business is not with you, lady-boy."

"Yes it is, if you lay a finger on my boyfriend, then you're going to have to deal with me too." Blaine felt Kurt's uninjured hand wrap around the wrist closest to him as he was struggling with standing up straight again after that surprised attack.

Blaine hated to do it but he shrugged off Kurt's hand and pushed him further behind him so Karofsky couldn't swing around Blaine and hit Kurt. He needed his hands to fight back.

"Boyfriend?" Karofsky barked and then started laughing. "Don't you mean girlfriend? Is this true Hummel? Have you actually started dating her?"

"Yes." He hissed, he would take things against himself but he wouldn't listen to it directed at Blaine. "Yes, he and I are now boyfriends!" The whole cafe was staring at them but Kurt didn't care anymore and he pushed himself back up to his full height and wanted to go after Karofsky now and give him a true piece of his mind. He was feeling braver with Blaine there, not because Blaine would protect him but because he wanted to protect both of them now and he wasn't at school, the looks the other gave him weren't as cruel or judgmental, just curious and someone here might come to their defense. He didn't have to live every day with these patrons and what they might do to him in retaliation of what they didn't like about him. "Not that it's any of your business. Get out of my sight and my life!"

Blaine didn't fight Kurt from saying his piece but he did keep himself between the two of them. Maybe he wouldn't have, (yes he would) if Kurt wasn't already injured and so weakened from the last few months with Karofsky terrorizing him.

Karofsky only snorted at Kurt's words. "I told you I would be seeing you around Hummel. This isn't the end of this, you may have gotten rid of me at school but that only gives me more time to learn where you go afterward. And if you think if your boyfriend can keep you from me, then you're delusional."

He took a swing at Blaine who avoided it, caught his wrist and brought his arm down with his own motion and slammed it across the top of his leg. It was satisfying to hear the snap that was so similar to what he'd done to Kurt happen to the bully. Then he dropped him and Karofsky tipped over onto the floor, stunned at first then in a lot of pain and he stumbled up and wanted to swing at Blaine again but thought better of it and went with Azimio out of the building and probably to the hospital to have it set.

"You shouldn't have done that," Kurt said sinking into his chair, "it's just going to make him madder."

"He'll think twice about messing with you when I'm around."

"You've just painted a target on your back and now he knows you can handle yourself and so he'll hurt you first to get to me."

Blaine shook his head, he didn't think they'd be seeing him bother him again but they'd keep an eye out. "Maybe you should stay at the dorms when you come, it will protect you when you're most vulnerable. You can stay in my spare bed, I'll cover the costs." He would too, and his parents wouldn't know that they were paying for Kurt, they wouldn't even bat an eye at the new cost, wouldn't even notice that the price went up or back down again.

"No, I'd fought back and now he's even worse, always worse every time I fight back." Kurt rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Wait- what did you just say?" His head snapped up towards Blaine. Nobody kicked them out after Blaine's actions, though they could have. They could have also refused to serve them once they found out their orientation.

Blaine knew he overstepped his brain with his words and Burt had asked him not to say anything until it was official but he'd forgotten that Kurt didn't know, everyone else in that house did. Blaine shook his head. "Nope, you first. Tell me what he did." He sent their orders in and realized he was still calling Kurt and he hung up. He'd tried to warn him that Karofsky was there and not to come. That hadn't worked out well. "Cute uniform by the way, you look good in it." He'd look nice in any thing, he'd somehow make a paper bag work.

"Karofsky-" Kurt caught his words and looked around before leaning forward so only he and Blaine could hear. "He threatened to kill me if I told anyone that he'd kissed me or that he threatened me. I'm pretty sure he intends to go through with it if I do." Now that he'd said it, he didn't know what the problem had been, he felt incredibly relieved to get it off his chest.

"What happened last week, Kurt?" Blaine needed to know, already fearing he had a good idea of what it was. He just needed to know how far it went so he could better help Kurt come to terms with what shouldn't have happened to him and move on to live a healthy life.

Kurt swallowed hard. "He appeared out of nowhere and I tried to leave, I didn't even argue with him but he pinned me into a corner and kissed me again. I pushed him away but he only slammed me back into place and did it again. I fought against him and he only held on tighter, made it so much worse for me. I was struggling with him and he had my arm over the sink and he brought it down painfully onto it and that's how he broke it and he kept holding onto me even as I howled in pain and he kept kissing me and I kept fighting and he kept increasing his pressure until I finally kneed him." This was a little bit harder to say and he watched Blaine's face the entire time, trying to read what he thought about all of it.

Blaine brought his hands over Kurt's and rubbed his thumbs gently over Kurt's uninjured hand on the table. "He will never touch you again. You'll be safe and you will never be forced into anything you don't want to do."

"You can't promise that." Kurt looked away from his warm eyes. "Look at what just happened now- I'm not blaming you at all." He said quickly and looked back at Blaine so he understood. "He just appears out of nowhere when nobody is paying attention and you can't be next to me every second of every day."

Blaine's temper flared and he wanted to tell Kurt his thoughts, watch me. But he knew that Kurt was right, it just wasn't possible. He would just have to be satisfied with keeping Kurt away from his regular haunts while Karofsky was working through his own issues and cooling off. Maybe if he didn't see Kurt for awhile then he'd leave him alone and move on to a different target who had better self-defense skills and would put Karofsky into such a hurt that he didn't bother touching any one else ever again. No, he didn't want anyone else dealing with Karofsky, if the now broken arm didn't stop him, then Blaine wouldn't be held responsible for his retaliation the next time he dared breath in Kurt's general vicinity.

"Now it's your turn." Kurt reminded Blaine who had completely forgotten that he'd let that slip or made that deal. Blaine told him what Burt had asked him to keep hidden but he did tell Burt that if he thought Kurt needed to know or if he asked then Blaine wouldn't lie to him.

In the end, it was a little bit of both. Kurt took it all in, he wasn't angry that this was the solution his parent decided upon. In fact, he was a bit relieved for this plan to go into action, he'd much rather spend 3 hours in the car and go to school somewhere safe every day than go somewhere nearby and get no sleep every night or any rest during the day. He wasn't excited to leave his friends but he wouldn't be losing them with this change. He wasn't even annoyed that they'd kept it from him, they probably thought he wasn't capable of making rational decisions right now or understanding anyone else's motives. But he did understand and he was ok with this decision even if he didn't love it.

"Blaine-" Kurt's voice pulled him out of his thoughts and Kurt glanced around shyly at first and then back at him. "Kiss me."

"Are you sure?" Blaine didn't care that they were in a public place both of them frequented quite often but he knew Kurt wasn't as open with public displays of affection.

"Yes." Kurt bent across the table and Blaine covered the remaining distance and kissed Kurt. His hand slid up the side of Kurt's neck and his thumb ended up in front of his ear and fingers behind it as he gently cupped Kurt's head and held them both in place with that connection and kissed Kurt deeply. Kurt's hands came up to mirror his with one and the other rested on his shoulder.

Blaine wouldn't question Kurt on how sure he was anymore, the older boy could make his own decisions, Blaine would just be careful about whether or not he followed through with them. Kissing was fine but if he suddenly changed personalities and started wanting more this early on, he'd have to reassess and help him find counseling first to make sure he was in the right head space, not that Blaine didn't want to do more with Kurt, he just thought it was too early for both of them. Kurt was still so shy and unsure when it came to this stuff and Blaine would help him learn what he wanted to learn but wouldn't push him for anything more than what he asked for. And Blaine, well despite what everyone thought based on his personality and experience with the Dalton boys, wasn't looking to go too fast either, he'd only ever kissed boys himself... and watched videos.

He wasn't in a rush to get to the other stuff, he wanted to take this slow too, it was not his first relationship but the first one that mattered to him. He'd broken off his first relationship with an older classman after he got a little too handsy before Blaine was ready, you'd think as both being males they wouldn't think twice about it but Blaine wasn't feeling it and they'd argued and broken up. His second relationship never even entered into kissing territory and when he got frustrated and asked why, the other boy kissed him and they'd both decided then and there that it wasn't going to work for them. He'd had a third relationship that seemed to be going well, they got on well, they kissed often but neither really pushed to touch the other more, didn't ever seem to touch other than when they kissed and then... it just kind of fizzled and they realized their personalities didn't mesh after all. He didn't want any of those relationship with Kurt; he hadn't felt that way about them the way he did about Kurt, not even on the first day or last. He wanted it all with Kurt but he wanted to do it the right way, he didn't want to lose Kurt.

Blaine knew this was Kurt's first relationship and he had nothing to compare it to except for his crushes and this Karofsky business; and he wanted it to be his best (and only) relationship, so if he were even tempted he'd remember what it was like with Blaine and want nothing else. It was a silly desire, he knew he wasn't perfect and, Kurt and he may end up splitting ways before this was all done but he knew that for him, he was changed forever by Kurt and would always be there for him, whenever he beckoned, would always be his friend. Which reminded him, Kurt hadn't said a word about Blaine breaking Karofsky's arm other than feeling depressed that it was just going to make it worse for them both now.

Blaine didn't really believe that but he was an optimist to Kurt's realist and he wasn't a pessimist, he just looked at things logically and hoped for the best but knew what the worse could be too. "Are you-" Blaine didn't want to bring it up but he also didn't want any secrets or anything between them cropping up later. "Are you afraid of me at all?"

"What?" Kurt's eyes bugged as he looked at Blaine and he covered Blaine's hand. "No, of course not, why would I be?"

"Well you don't like violence and I-"

"Oh." Kurt sat back and thought about it, but his fingers didn't leave Blaine's. "That was kind of sexy actually, you coming to my rescue and all." His fingers trailed over Blaine's hand and he was getting turned on more by that gentle almost mindless touch than any deliberate strokes to a more sensitive organ. He shifted a little uncomfortable to be reacting that way in such a public location. "I don't generally approve of violence and I feel like that could have been handled differently and I fear what his next step is going to be but I've no ill feelings toward you or what you did. You were just defending me and he was in your face and would have hit you if you didn't know what to do. I wouldn't want this handsome face damaged in any way." Kurt was flirting and he leaned forward to run a finger along Blaine's jaw and Blaine's jaw spasmed at the touch. All of a sudden he was serious though and held his finger under Blaine's chin. "I don't want you getting hurt because of me. I'll still think you're as sexy as sin but it would kill me if you got hurt because you were fighting my battles."

Blaine tried to play it off but Kurt was deadly serious. "I can't promise that Kurt, I can't sit back and let him hurt you. Just like you don't want me to be hurt, I don't want you to be either. God Kurt, you've been hurt by that -" Blaine couldn't think of a word strong enough and Kurt supplied neanderthal? helpfully and Blaine went with it. "- almost every week since I've met you. Scratch that you have been hurt every day but seriously hurt or terrified for your personal safety at least weekly, even now that he's been suspended."

"Oh." Kurt forgot to tell him that detail too. "He was at school on Wednesday picking up his books."

"Seriously? Can that principle of your do anything right? He should have made him do it Monday after suspending him or sending his books to him but not letting him back on campus."

Kurt winced and Blaine looked at him expectantly. "Then his buddies defaced my car. My dad's working on it now but it'll be out of commission for a few days. I was told that after I reported his abuse on Wednesday that if he was back on campus again before his suspension was lifted then he'd have charges pressed against him, legally. As for the car, they can't do anything about it without proof on who the boys were, they were wearing masks."

Blaine dropped his hand onto Kurt's uninjured hand with a moan and laid it there for a moment. "You leaving that school can't come soon enough." Kurt was silent and he lifted his head to look at him and he was looking at Blaine with soft eyes and when he noticed Blaine looking at him again he shook his head.

"I'm terrified of that school, yes, but I also don't want to leave. I love the niche I carved out for myself. Nobody in their right minds would have ever thought the only gay kid could be friends with jocks and Cheerios and theater geeks all at the same time. It is all the fringe groups meshing with the popular ones and it's... nice. I never thought Puck in a million years would ever call me one of his boys and have my back, even if it meant going back to Juvie, a place he absolutely hated. He used to be one of the worst offenders and now he's got my back. Finn, the most popular guy in school is going to be legally my brother in a few short weeks. Rachel the school outcast who is the most hated girl in school is one of my best friends; Mercedes, mega-church goer, ultra conservative and lover of God, also my best friend; Goth, faux-stuttering Tina as well. Quinn, princess of school- friendly. Santana- the Satan from down under West Lima- actually protected me and rallied to get the bully of the entire school including the teachers, Sue to put her blanket of protection around me." Kurt gestured to himself and the uniform again. "I'm a Cheerio again and I've been on the football team, I've been in theatrical plays and in Glee Club; I attend shop class, woodworking, French, art classes and home ec, what other gay kid in any other school could possibly say that? Hell, what other person could say that they've been in all of those groups?"

Blaine definitely couldn't say that he'd been able to do all of that at any of his schools. Dalton didn't offer a majority of those classes. He had actually enjoyed attending those classes with Kurt. They were designed to inspire kids to like both white collar and blue collar jobs and be ok with either path they went down. Dalton only pushed for white collar jobs to be pursued by it's alumni. Glee was considered a hobby, not a potential profession, all of the Warblers were on the track to be doctors, lawyers, accountants, CEOs, CFOs and the like.

"This is going to be a difficult transition for you, isn't it?"

"This will be the easiest thing I've ever done." Kurt countered. "Staying at McKinley would be the hardest thing I've ever done. I'm leaving such adversity and challenges and suppression and entering a school that will welcome me with both arms and be protected and coddled in. I'll be entering a school my boyfriend already attends and get to spend an obscene amount of time with him and not have to look over my shoulder anymore."

"You know, that's the second time you've called me your boyfriend today. I don't recall making it official with you, I'm pretty sure I've only ever asked you out and as far as that means in society, we're just dating but not exclusive or boyfriends-"

Kurt's mouth hung open at Blaine's words and he tried to work his jaw but no sound came out and he slowly pulled his hand away from Blaine. "Oh- sorry-" He was so new to this dating thing, he had just assumed and all of a sudden he realized he didn't have a clue about what he was doing and was probably overstepping the boundaries of a couple just dating.

Blaine reached out and trapped his hand and tugged him forward. "Kurt! I'm just teasing you!" Blaine's eyes flashed in panic over what he'd just done to their relationship as he saw Kurt practically fizzle out and was retreating quickly. He didn't want that. He really was just teasing, he'd already told the boys at Dalton that his boyfriend was going to be joining them and that they had to be on their best behavior while he adjusted and that he'd been tormented and they couldn't do anything that would trigger Kurt. They'd laughed and called him overprotective, all except Wes who had seen first hand the courage it had taken Kurt to be alone with another male he didn't know, even if it was in a closet in a room surrounded by all his friends. He'd nodded solemnly at Burt. "We've never talked about it,but I just kind of assumed it too, I've been calling us boyfriends too. I said it first today when facing off with Karofsky, you have just been repeating what I've said. We should just make it official right now, if that's something you want too, if I didn't ruin everything-" He was talking quickly and Kurt looked at him for far too long before he swallowed and nodded.

"Yes, yes, of course I want that label to be official." Kurt shook his head. "Why would you do that to me?"

"I'm so very sorry!" Blaine ran his thumb over Kurt's palm, trying to show him just how very sorry he was. "It wasn't the right time to joke about it and I didn't need to say anything because we were both using the term already." Blaine did say he wasn't perfect and made mistakes in relationships too and often put his foot in his mouth even if it wasn't with his date/boyfriend. He said as much then too and Kurt shook his head.

"I'm going to have to watch you, aren't I?" Kurt was also joking but he wondered if there was some truth to that... but he pushed it out of his thoughts. Blaine was so sweet and oblivious to a lot of things happening around him but so sharp and on it too at other times, picking up clues and details everyone else missed, especially when it came to Kurt.

"You'll just watch me say the stupid things that I don't really mean or think but will always be by your side when it matters and defend you and what you say whether I think you're wrong or right. You'll never have to worry about me doing the wrong thing when it comes to us; and if it's something you don't like, just tell me and I'll try to adjust."

Kurt didn't believe that he'd be able to keep that promise either, sometimes things happened and sometimes you think you're doing the right thing but it turns out all wrong. He'd been guilty of that in the past, his intentions and how it was viewed by others weren't always the same. They were both in the dramatic arts and they both had passion and drive and goals and both sensitive loving souls, only time would tell if either of them ever took a very wrong step in their relationship, intentionally or not.

Kurt took a deep breath and shrugged it all off. He heard Blaine's name being called and started to stand to get their drinks. They had everything on a tray for them and it would have been easy enough for him.

"No, I'll get it." Blaine leaned forward and pressed another kiss to Kurt's lips before he got up and brought it back. He'd ordered some food too.

They slipped into a conversation that was totally casual and not about their relationship at all but it was fun and they had a good time together. It was easy to be with the other one and they enjoyed the silence together just as much as they enjoyed the conversations and they always had something to talk about. They had a lot of similarities but they also had a lot of different interests too and that was also nice.

They always lost total track of time together and Kurt's phone was ringing again and he glanced at the caller id and groaned. "We're totally late." He stood gathering his phone up and answering it and putting it between shoulder and ear while he grabbed for his cup to toss but Blaine already got it and the other dishes and trash and was taking care to throw it away or put it in it's appropriate bin. "I'm sorry dad, no, everything is fine, we just got wrapped up in a conversation and weren't watching the clock. We'll be home in a few minutes... I don't know, depends on traffic and how fast Blaine drives." He rolled his eyes at Blaine who only laughed and mouthed 10 minutes back. "He says it will only take about 10 minutes." Kurt listened to his dad for a moment and nodded. "Right, right, I know, next time I'll set an alarm. I'm sorry for worrying you. I love you too, see you soon."

Blaine wrapped an arm around Kurt's waist as they left the cafe and he waved his thanks to the staff before going while Kurt talked to his dad and they were outside before he hung up. Then he stopped dead as he looked at Blaine's Prius. The phone slipped from numb fingers and fell onto the ground. The Prius was covered in slushy, scratched badly with several different slurs, not just 'Fag' written all over it like his had been and it was not just scratched in but with markers and spray paint. He turned to Blaine with dread in the pit of his stomach and an apology on his lips. He was shocked when Blaine started laughing, clearly not amused but finding some kind of humor in this situation.

"Perhaps you were right, perhaps fighting Karofsky in there was just going to escalate things. Thank god you're not staying at that school or spending much more time in this town than you have to, even if the dotted lines at Dalton never get signed, you're not staying here. I'll find some kind of solution." Blaine didn't have that authority but Kurt didn't even bother saying it, because this had crossed a very different line, Blaine was now being targeted and it was bad.

Kurt felt the fire that had been smoldering in ashes after being doused with buckets of water (or slushy) roar back to life, this was going to end, he was done just taking it and he was going to fight back with every part of his being. They had intended to smother him out completely but it backfired. The same anger that had allowed him to confront Karofsky at school, break free of his painful hands and mouth and now this couldn't be capped again, he would burn with a flame that would be almost too bright for people to look at. He wouldn't live in that anger but he wouldn't sit back anymore and hope that things would get better on their own or trust in the system was over and if he was face to face with his fear again, he'd conquer it and fight back and wouldn't stop until he won. His flame wasn't just anger, it was also the passion to be himself, to do what he wanted and pleased and wouldn't be pushed back into a corner out of the way again, told to turn it down, to stifle who he was.

Kurt was Kurt and nobody was ever going to stifle that again and he wasn't going to sit back and allow anyone to try to do the same to Blaine. He looked for his phone and found it on the ground and winced because it was definitely broken now as he tried to pull up his father's number. "Blaine, do you have my dad's number, or Finn's?" The tires were slashed, they weren't going anywhere in that any time soon.

"Uh, yeah-" He looked at Kurt's phone and pulled his out quickly and he looked around, they were sitting targets out here and guided Kurt back into the coffee shop and they stopped and moved to the side where there were windows just passed the door and rang Burt.

"Blaine?" Burt asked confused why his son's boyfriend would be calling him just after he got off the phone with Kurt; he knew the two were coming back together. "Did something happen? Are you two ok?"

"We're fine, physically. We need a ride and a tow- my tires were slashed and the car has been graffitied."

Burt sighed in annoyance, but not at the boys he'd go and pick up. "You're both safe and in a safe space until I get there?"

"Yeah, we're inside the coffee shop, we walked out and saw the car and went back in. We're now at the window to keep an eye out for you so you won't have to park."

"Stay there." Burt ordered. "Finn and I will both be coming, I'll drive the tow-truck and he'll give you a lift back. Why didn't Kurt call me? I was just talking to him. I swear if his phone is dead again-"

"No, he dropped it in shock when he saw my car, it's broken." Blaine defended and Kurt was next to him, brimming for a fight and he wrapped his arm around Kurt's waist again, just glad they hadn't been out there when it happened. Something sharp had to be used to slash those tires like that.

While Kurt's desire to fight grew, Blaine's desire to run grew, not from Kurt but with him, to hide him away from those who wanted to harm them and live a quiet life elsewhere; but Kurt was done being quiet. Maybe one day they'd be on the same page again with this but right now it was going to be a source of fear for all in Kurt's life as he wasn't going to back away again. He still didn't believe in violence but he would find another solution without compromising himself.

Burt swore, he knew he should have made Kurt get the phone fixed ages ago but he didn't want to wait for it to be repaired and be without it. "He's going to drive me to drink one of these days." He didn't mean to say that out loud to Blaine but it was now out and Blaine didn't argue, he felt like one himself after all that happened today and all that he'd learned. Kurt made a face he couldn't decipher and it was obvious he'd heard that but didn't say anything; he just wrapped his good arm around Blaine's waist. "Any chance someone actually witnessed this and would come forward?"

"Not sure, but there are several witnesses to the altercation that went down before including myself that can be included in that police report."

Burt did call the police who showed up and interviewed everyone in the cafe and most feigned not knowing what happened but a few admitted that Kurt walked in the door and was sucker punched in the gut by Karofsky but they didn't know his name, just a description. A few knew his name and admitted to the story as well and copped to who it was. They all left out Blaine breaking Karofsky's arm, just that Blaine defended himself and Kurt when the bigger guy took a swing at Blaine too. They looked at the video of the parking lot but they were wearing masks again but it was only two guys this time and Blaine guessed with the way Karofsky was holding his arm in the video that it was him and Azimio. So he waited to go to the hospital until after he ruined Blaine's car.

"We can push for charges of assault but it will be a very minor offense and he'll just get a slap on the wrist as it's his first offense, just told not to do it again, and we know he's been suspended for pushing Kurt around, but that's school's policy, there's been no police report filed, it just shows pattern but nothing we can use to do more."

"Yes." Kurt said instantly. "Press charges, even if he gets off lightly it at least will go on his record and may just be the first offense but if he does it again or escalates then there's official history there." The police weren't looking forward to doing such a small task but Kurt was insistent and the other three men with him nodded along with his plan. "Get his prints and picture into your system because I have a feeling this isn't the last thing he's going to do to any of us."

"He may press a counter charges, your boyfriend did break his arm." There wasn't a question of that, there had been video of the incident in the shop too, it was clear how things went down in that video and the break could be seen clearly as his arm bent unnaturally across Blaine's thigh.

"In defense of himself." Kurt hadn't taken that into consideration.

"He didn't have to go so far as to break his arm. Your boyfriend is a boxer and knows how hard to hit to put someone down but not hurt them seriously, he chose to go further. When you have that knowledge and skill it ends up being charged at a higher level than if it just happened by accident, even if it was an accident, the courts won't see it that way, there's training that's gone into it and that leads to intention."

"You're just assuming he knows that!" Kurt defended. "Or was thinking about that in the heat of the moment."

"It'll be easy to find out if that's the case or not and if you have those skills, it doesn't matter what your emotional state is or whether or not you're thinking, you should be trained to always be thinking about it." The officer said regretfully. "The police force across the nation is being looked at for the same thing."

Kurt looked at Blaine in shock and he would have pulled his agreement to press charges but Blaine held Kurt's hand. "No, it's ok, I will take whatever comes my way. My family is filled with lawyers, I'm not afraid and I'm not going to let him get away with hurting you."

"The cast on your arm-" The police office nodded toward it. "That was done by this David Karofsky too?"

It was the first time Kurt admitted it to anyone but Blaine and his dad was watching closely but he was done hiding Karofsky's secret, this was too much. "Yes, while he sexually assaulted me."

Silence rang through the small corner of the room that the police and the Hummel-Hudson-Anderson occupied and Burt leaned forward. "What?" Finn was just in shock and Blaine was surprised he'd told the full truth there, he hadn't thought Kurt would, choosing to protect that part of someone but after everything, everything did need to be aired out. It needed to be on official record with no lies or secrets anymore, it needed to be able to hold up in court without questioning Kurt's honesty.

"Sir, please calm down, we're trying to record everything he has to say about the matter." One of the officers held out a hand and Burt sat back and simmered.

Kurt couldn't look at his dad and found the face of the more sympathetic officer instead. "It wasn't the first time either. The first time, I was arguing with him about pushing me around and into lockers and he kissed me and when I made it clear I didn't want it, he left. This last time, I was in the locker room and he waited until we were alone before pinning me to a wall and kissing me and pressing up against me and I fought back, trying to get away and he pressed my arm against the sink at the wrong angle and kept pressing it there until it broke and even then kept kissing me and tightening his grasp. I escaped before anything more could happen but all of these bruises are from him. The hospital has records of more." Kurt lifted his sleeve of his good arm where the finger marks were still clearly visible even if the bruises were more yellow now then purple. The police recorded all of this. "He's made it clear that he will go further in the future. He's threatened to kill me if I ever tell anyone what I just told all of you or that he even threatened that. I've been living in fear for weeks under that threat but it was always left unsaid for the months prior as he body checked me into lockers and walls for just walking down the hallway or taking books out of my locker, just for existing."

"We will put that all into our record and while we unfortunately cannot charge him with any of those assaults at this time, we will gather the evidence from the hospital and see what kind of case we can build and if anything happens again, then we already know that he's the most likely suspect and can pursue him with more resources"

"He was also given a concussion by this guy." Burt was looking at his son with a definite we're going to have a very long discussion on his face. Kurt nodded his agreement that it had been Karofsky's doing but nobody had witnessed it first hand, just the after effects. They jotted that down too and Kurt sighed, the police were very little help, but at least now they'd established a record and pattern. He should have gone forward every time with what Karofsky was doing. He had erroneously believed that if he protected Karfosky's secret then Karofsky would have time to come to terms with his life and would stop bullying Kurt as he dealt with the information. "Can this be labeled as a hate crime?" Burt asked before they could pack up. They'd discussed more incidents than the ones Kurt just mentioned and they were less notable but it just added to how he was terrorized and assaulted and added to the fear about coming forward and how it made him feel, it was a timeline that they could now track. He even told them about Karofsky touching him in the hallway at school after being suspended. Maybe the police would do nothing more than file charges but it was a hell of a lot more than Mr. Figgins did.

"Yeah, we can put that in the report too. I know some people may argue that because they're both gay, it can't be but that makes no difference, David Karofsky is acting out his hatred of gays on Kurt and just because he's gay too doesn't mean that he doesn't hate that part of himself and he is hurting Kurt because of who he is and who he likes. The person's own sexual orientation has nothing to do with it. We can also add the sexual assault to the reports. It's going to be sexual assault, assault and a hate crime, maybe even some stalking charges can be added to the report. We at least have evidence of this latter incident and the hospital reports will help too."

The police officer that had been the most understanding during all of this reached out and placed his hand on Kurt's and Kurt didn't pull away. "I hope this is where it ends and I'm sorry it's happened to you at all."

Kurt nodded, thanking them for their support and words and for coming so quickly and doing everything they did.

This was exactly the type of thing that Burt would champion during his time as state congressman and he would push for changes within the state's policies and the national ones.

–

They got home and Burt asked for everyone to leave the main floor while he had a conversation with Kurt. They all filed out quickly and Blaine sent him a look reassuring him that if he called for him, he'd be back. "Blaine, you too." Burt ordered and Blaine let Finn push him towards the stairs to the basement. They'd at least try to watch a game and ignore the conversation going on upstairs. Carole put a hand on Burt's shoulder in support before she headed upstairs and started running the laundry even though it wasn't time for it yet.

"Dad, I really don't want to talk about this right now." Kurt was exhausted and just wanted to put everything from his mind. He didn't want to dwell on it or give Karofsky any more power or space in his brain than the little he currently occupied and he'd hope with time that would shrink more. He didn't deserve the power that he'd amassed.

"Well tough, because we're going to be talking about this." Burt hoped to get Kurt to sit down and have a rational conversation but both of their voices were rising. "How could you keep all of this from me?"

"Because I was afraid, afraid for myself, for you, for Blaine and Finn and Carole!" He was also afraid for Brittany and Santana but didn't bring them into this. "I was afraid for Puck and everyone else who ever came to my defense that they would also be targets, the more who knew, the bigger targets they'd become!"

"You should have come to me about this. My job is to protect you and I can't protect you if you don't tell me everything that's going on with you. We may have been able to avoid so much of this if you had."

"Oh here comes the victim blaming already, I'm surprised it's starting with you!" Kurt wrapped his arms around himself, feeling very raw and exposed all of a sudden.

"I'm not blaming you!" Burt was so offended by that assessment of this situation and would never have ever blamed Kurt for someone attacking him. "I'm just saying that we could have stopped this earlier with more information shared."

"It wouldn't have." Kurt denied. "As you saw, it would have been just a slap on the wrist, if that, if it got anywhere beyond me just telling the police or you. I've been told to suck it up and just deal with it for years now from adults and people in authority."

"I've never told you that!"

"No, maybe not but you take it too, I didn't miss the phone calls threatening us because of who I am, I didn't want to add to that, I just wanted to get by and get out. Making waves seems like fun at first but was never something I wanted to do. But just swimming with the tide created them and people didn't like it, didn't like the way I swam and wanted to drown me. I held so much of myself back -" He paused waiting for the sarcastic retort about how that was holding himself back but Burt didn't say anything, he'd seen it himself, he'd seen how Kurt had wanted to be Frank-n-Furter because it was a fun and lead role but he didn't want to be in the spotlight, didn't want to add to all the hate sent their way, yet he hadn't wanted it at the same time because it was such a sexualized role with a lot of skin showing, Kurt was extremely conservative actually when it came to his body. "After awhile it became scary putting myself out there. So I stopped and it didn't make any difference."

"Your job is to just be yourself, not to worry about everything else that comes with it. My job is to take care of all the haters and threats and protect you. I wish you'd never heard those phone calls."

"It was hard when it was on the voicemail growing up and I deleted most of them. They're on my phone constantly too, they called you at work and you're still sick dad. Your heart is still not fully healed. I have to protect you too."

"That's not your job!" Burt grabbed Kurt and pulled him into a hug so fierce that Kurt feared his bones would break under the pressure of this big macho guy who cried constantly when it came to Kurt or a sad movie. "My job is to take care of both of us, health, sickness, money, threats and whatever else comes our way. Your job is to be a teenager and explore and make mistakes and achieve your goals and to be happy."

"That's a contradiction of terms, teenager and happy." Kurt tried to joke but he could barely breath in his dad's embrace with both arms still wrapped protectively around himself but Burt only hugged him tighter.

"But it's something you can achieve, I know you can, you're just that strong. But you can't hide these things from me anymore. You have to be completely honest with me when people attack you either verbally or physically. I'm healthier now than I've ever been and I'm not going anywhere, I'm going to be here for you until we're all old and gray and I have great-great-grandchildren." It was a nice dream and Kurt hoped so.

Kurt gave in to his own tears and feelings and moved his arms from around himself to wrap around his dad in return. "Ok, no more secrets." He agreed. "I'll tell you everything from now on."

"You're my son and I love you. I would love you and who you are even if you weren't. I am so proud of you and the man you're becoming. Don't let anyone else dictate the direction your life will go, achieve all your dreams and be happy." Burt said into Kurt's hair and Kurt sniffed and nodded, he'd try and he was already coming to that conclusion himself after today's events with Blaine. "I will always love you, no matter what path you take in life."

Burt ruffled Kurt's hair and Kurt didn't even attempt to fix it. "Let's eat, I bet Finn is starving and probably looking at Blaine as if he's a steak."

"Blaine is definitely a steak." Kurt agreed. "A very expensive, delicious steak."

"Hey," Burt protested, "I don't want to hear that. I don't want to hear anything sexual from any of my boys or girl about their boyfriends or girlfriends. I want to be able to look at all of you as if you're perfect little angels who never once thought about sex."

Kurt pulled back and made a face. "Dad, I don't want to hear you talk about sex either!"

It just reminded Burt that he and Kurt had never had that conversation before and he wondered if Finn had. He'd keep it until after the wedding, hoping it wasn't too late by then for either of his sons but then he'd have a bit more right to talk to Finn about it and have more time to educate himself about what it was like between two boys and their specific concerns.

"All clear!" Burt shouted and everyone pretended like they weren't waiting for it and then slowly found themselves back on the main level with the Hummels. Blaine looked over to Kurt to make sure everything was all right and he nodded back.

Finn came over and hugged Kurt. "I'm sorry, I never knew any of that before today. I didn't realize just how bad it had gotten."

"It's fine, nobody knew before today. I wasn't brave enough to share until today." His hand reached out behind him for Blaine's and it was instantly filled by the warm hand even though Blaine was turned away and pretending that he wasn't holding Kurt's hand while he talked to Finn, as if he wasn't paying attention to their conversation. Blaine had been a big source of that courage and confidence but he wasn't the only one bolstering Kurt and supporting him and it wasn't all external either, the biggest part had come from a well inside himself.

–

Kurt spent one more week at McKinley and everyone was on pins and needles the whole time, watching him closely, watching others, making sure nothing new happened and nothing did. They'd told the school everything that happened and they said they'd take it all into consideration and would let them know their decision by the next semester. That was still almost a month away, but at least Karofsky wasn't allowed to return to school either from his suspension. That was at least a small win in Kurt's book.

It was probably the best week Kurt had had at McKinley this year. It reminded him of last year, but with less bullying, ironically. Friday came and went and he could honestly say that there had been no incidences the entire week and after glee club, he sagged into the passenger seat of Finn's car and grinned over at him. He'd survived a week without a slur or insult being tossed his way, no physical contact with anyone and even Santana had been quiet on that front and had been sad that he'd be leaving them.

He'd told her, "Until something permanent happens with Karofsky, it's just going to be like this week from now on, maybe worse because there's no end in sight and there's always the possibility of him coming back and the other bullies may become braver again." She had cried and hugged him and said to come back often and the Cheerios wouldn't be the same without him, even though he never actually performed with them since rejoining. Kurt would definitely take her up on that offer to come back and said he'd be cheering her on at games and competitions.

"God, you're my competition now not just for solos but for nationals." Santana rubbed at her eyes. "You better not throw the competition for us. I want a challenge and I don't think your boy-toy will be enough for us on his own."

So maybe she hadn't gotten through an entire week without insulting someone Kurt cared about but at least it wasn't him, he laughed.

Kurt's first week had been everything he'd expected and more and less all in one go. He didn't actually see Blaine much during the week except when he popped up at his elbow in the hallways because he knew all the short cuts and where Kurt's classes were and Kurt had no idea where he was going, all the hallways looked the same and all the classrooms. In fact, the only thing that looked different was the common rooms for each year, library and the staircase where he'd met Blaine, the ceiling there was a glass mosaic and the common room was warmer and more masculine than most of the blues and whites that peppered the rest of the school. There was also a fireplace in them. Then he saw Blaine in glee club too, he'd been forced to audition and they had debated for so long that he thought he wouldn't get in but when he went back into the room they told him they'd only debated because they were unanimous about letting him in, they were debating about whether or not he should get some solos too and Blaine had been for him doing so when the others brought it up without his suggesting it.

"You get 1 solo and 1 duet with Blaine." Wes told him with a wink and Kurt grinned, that's more than he typically got at sectionals. Somehow at regionals, which was a blur to Kurt with everything going on, they'd tied with Dalton and both moved forward to sectionals. They had to mix it up now because what they were doing wasn't working to get the landslide and now they had one of their competitors with them, one of the reasons they'd tied.

They valued Kurt's input, his fresh take on things and his amazing voice and his harmonization with Blaine was outstanding. They had never heard a duet as perfectly matched as those two when they were singing at Rachel's party whether it was between guys, girls or both. They went together like no other two voices in the recorded history they'd heard with their own ears.

The next week was more of the same and Kurt was relaxing and enjoying his time at the all boys' school. He went home every evening and classes started in the morning with enough time for him to be able to get enough sleep and still make it in time. Classes were going really well too, he was keeping up with the harder material and was enjoying it and getting As on his assignments. He was less defensive and argumentative too and he felt himself slowly unwinding and not holding himself back anymore. He was no longer what Mr. Schue had told him he was being the first time they talked during a bullying incident, he wasn't withdrawn anymore and he was putting the weight back on slowly and his stomach had no knots or churning and all of his bruises were mostly gone and he didn't have to wear make up to hide them or his dark circles under his eyes because those were now gone too after 2 weeks of freedom from tyranny.

Kurt had sat on Tuesday with Blaine after glee in the coffee shop in Westerville and agreed, the coffee was foul compared to the bitter tasting ones in Lima but drank it regardless. He just had to put more sugar in it and creamer, ironically, to hide the taste of the watered down drink. The cup in his hands was steaming and huge and he smiled at Blaine over the top of the cup as he drank. Blaine was going on about something, Kurt had already lost track but he was enjoying how animated Blaine was as he spoke and how passionate and how much he cared. They were both in their Dalton uniforms and they weren't alone.

Blaine froze as he caught Kurt's look. The smile was in his eyes and on his lips and just his pose and how he sat with both legs on the chair, but one knee supporting his cup and the other crooked around him and the steam wafting up against his face and around him caught Blaine's breath in his throat and the words died forgotten as he looked back. Then he shimmied over to Kurt and took the cup out of his hands and kissed Kurt, deeply. When he pulled away, Kurt's smile was contagious and Blaine smiled back at him. "What was that for? Not that I minded. I was enthralled in your story and you just stopped."

"You have no idea what I was talking about, it was sports related." Kurt hadn't realized it was but that made more sense now and he didn't deny it. "You were just too cute just now not to kiss."

"Just then?" Kurt cocked his head to the side and Blaine laughed and came in for another kiss.

"No, always but I can't always stop myself." His lips skated over Kurt's and Kurt tried to follow him but he was too quick. Then Kurt reached out with his good arm and grasped Blaine's shirt and pulled him back for a longer and more satisfying kiss. Blaine pulled back, breathing heavy and looked around to see if anyone was watching them, but everyone was minding their own business purposefully not looking their way. "I'd love to take you back to my dorm and show you exactly how I'd like to kiss you, not exactly appropriate for our current setting." Kurt let him go in surprise and Blaine cursed himself internally. "Not that." He slid his fingers along Kurt's jaw and down his neck. "There's a few other areas north of your shoulders that I'd love to kiss."

"Oh." Kurt hadn't realized. He was feeling the jolts of electricity from where Blaine's fingers traced as if Blaine's mouth was there instead and he couldn't help the small purr the came from him. "You're right, this is not appropriate for the coffee shop." He was all baby deer legs as he scrambled to his feet to take Blaine up on his words, still getting used to his extra height, it had come so quickly and he was still learning where his body was whenever he moved, used to being small and now he wasn't, at least height-wise and now even more thin and lanky than before and still he sat and acted as if he were and Blaine didn't think that would ever change. He'd always view himself as a lot smaller than he was, than other guys, even though he was taller than Blaine and most of the guys at Dalton, but not all. Truthfully, he wasn't even all that tall now, just taller than average. Blaine was the national height average at 5'8" whereas Kurt was 5'10" and most guys at McKinley started at 6' and just went up from there. He'd gone from 5'6" to 5'10" over the summer and still didn't really realize it but unfortunately he was still a lot smaller than the ones that bullied him and they still looked at him as that 5'6" boy too and his slenderness only made him seem smaller whereas if he'd had some muscle or breadth then they would have viewed him as bigger. The breadth would come, he could already see Kurt's shoulder's widening slowly but he'd still always be tapered and slim through the chest and down through the hips with butt and legs. His butt though was very muscular with all his hip thrust dance moves and other moves and the curves there were muscle not genetic. He loved watching Kurt do that dance move in his tight, tight pants when they weren't in their Dalton uniforms. He liked the shimmy too. Blaine liked everything about Kurt.

The baby deer movement was turning him on too and he had to stop Kurt for a second for another kiss. He was lithe and flexible and could contort himself into different pretzel shapes. Blaine couldn't do that anymore. Between dancing, rugby and boxing, he had lost some of his flexibility for muscle and only the dancing kept him as flexible as he was. He was quick though and light on his feet and knew all the steps and knew he'd nail all of them in time with anyone else and on the beat.

Kurt was excited too and he gathered up his things and then his phone went off and he groaned. It was just his alarm telling him he had to start heading back to Lima. Blaine was disappointed but respected Burt's wishes in this matter, Burt had a right to dictate what time his son got home by in order to best protect him and Blaine not only wanted to respect those decisions but wanted Kurt safe too. He had forgotten about the danger toward Kurt while they were at Dalton and in Westerville until that bloody alarm went off and then he'd be worrying the entire hour and a half back until Kurt text him that he was home safe and sound and then he'd worry in the morning until he saw Kurt once more.

Burt programed the new time in daily, keeping it mixed up so Kurt wasn't following a pattern anyone could follow and anticipate. So Kurt and he were always forgetting even though Kurt knew the time his dad programmed and could look at it too. It always came as a surprise every time, no matter what the time it was because they were just so wrapped up with each other and didn't realize the time passed so quickly already.

Kurt had been given the clearance to drive again by the hospital the weekend prior to transferring to Dalton but Blaine had been prepared to drive Kurt back and forth while his arm healed. The cast was still there but he had no pain or anything and it would come off before the wedding with a brace replacing it for the duration but he could take it off for photos. The SUV was repaired and no trace of any damage could be seen. Blaine's Prius was given the same treatment.

Kurt came in for one more kiss before he danced out of the coffee shop and Blaine hissed and chased after Kurt, he couldn't just kiss and run like that. Blaine caught up to Kurt at the car and was very careful as he pinned him to the side of the car, giving him an easy out and kissing him again and Kurt moaned into the kiss and kissed him right back, not feeling trapped at all and found this kind of stalk and pounce game fun; as it was done with complete consent from both and they liked each other. Besides, it was playful, not punishment or dominance.

Leaning back against the car, Kurt pulled Blaine in after him and wrapped his arms around Blaine's neck holding him close as they kissed, Blaine brushed up against Kurt and held himself still as he pressed against him and Kurt wiggled his own hips back letting him know that it was ok. Blaine pressed in a little closer and started kissing more of Kurt's face and Kurt returned the favor.

The second alarm rang out through the mostly empty parking lot and Blaine groaned into Kurt's lips. "Do you really have to go?"

"The wedding is this weekend." Kurt sighed. "So yeah, I do, I'm the one organizing everything."

"Why do you have to be so fantastic that everyone wants you to do everything?" Blaine didn't realize what he was saying, as he was one of those people.

Kurt laughed. "Because that's just how fabulous my style and taste and skill is. I would have been offended if they hadn't asked and they would have suffered for it too. It wouldn't be nearly as great as it's going to be."

Blaine didn't deny it, he agreed with everything Kurt said completely. "I just hate that it pulls you away from me." He rested his forehead against Kurt's and just held him for now.

"I agree." Kurt held Blaine in return and just liked being in his arms while both tried very hard to settle down their hormones but being that close to the other was making it harder but neither wanted to pull away and so worked on it together so they weren't as obvious to onlookers when they did part. "Again, it's this weekend so I will have more free time after." He wiggled his eyebrows and Blaine laughed and Kurt doing that was making Blaine's pants tighter again and Blaine's laugh was having the opposite effect that Kurt was working for too, his laugh was so devastatingly sexy. Blaine and Kurt were glad that the blazers mostly hid their obvious responses to the other. A third alarm and he opened his door and slid in without breaking complete contact with Blaine until he needed to shut the door, his dad knew him too well and knew it would take 3 alarms before he was forced to leave. He sent a quick text to his dad too to let him know that he was heading home now. He got a thumbs up in response.

–

Wednesday Kurt had to leave after glee club with Blaine and they didn't even really get in a lot of kisses that day as it was a busy day at school too and lunch everyone had piled in at the table with them. Kurt went home and walked in to see Finn and Burt packing up Burt's truck. "What's going on?"

"We're going to go to McKinley." Finn explained. "The choir room has the space and privacy that we need to surprise mom." They had forgotten to tell Kurt their plan.

"Oh, I'm teaching you two to dance, am I?" Kurt laughed when they told him their idea. "I'm honored and am up for that challenge."

He didn't even feel odd about going back to McKinley, he was with his dad and his brother and was in very good spirits. They were there for probably a half an hour, he'd taught his dad the basic steps for any song that he would want to play and while he was a bit disappointed in the music choice, he respected that it meant something to Burt and Carole.

Finn's song selection was a bit more along Kurt's standards and it was the song Finn wanted to dance to with his mom and she would be surprised. It was incredibly sappy and Kurt wanted to cry every time he heard it. Kurt instantly knew what song he'd chose for his dedication to his dad and it would be one that his dad could dance to too, and the one he would choose for his happiness for both of them and having Finn join his family. He wondered if Finn was planning on surprising them with a song too that he hadn't told Burt or Kurt about yet.

Burt had no problem dancing with Kurt and despite all the growth they'd had and new understanding, Finn still hesitated before coming up to Kurt and taking his hand and placed his hand on Kurt's hip but Kurt moved his hand further back, but still on his hip, but a tighter hold. It was just awkward for Finn to hold another guy like this, it wasn't Kurt that he was having difficulty with, just his own masculinity and acceptance of this change. He had asked Kurt to teach him this dance, had been planning on it for weeks, he just didn't account for the public viewing by the students still littering the halls after their activities.

Finn was getting into the moves, glad that he had Kurt to show him because he wouldn't have known that footwork had he not asked and would have probably ruined his mom's dress and shoes with his big feet. "Ok, now you can spin her too." Kurt was holding his hand with his good one and the cast was coming off tomorrow after school but he was still holding it just off Finn's shoulder so the weight and awkwardness wasn't distracting him but so he would know where his mom's other hand would be. "And if you're feeling extra motivated to show off, you can dip her too."

"Show me that dip." Finn was no longer paying attention to any of the students watching or glancing their way. He was oblivious to them now as he got into the dance moves and learning. He didn't even remember that Kurt was a guy and he wasn't supposed to be dancing with him, it was just a lesson and Kurt was his brother and teacher right now and he was having fun.

He dipped Kurt the way Kurt taught him and they both looked up at the body now in the doorway. Karofsky was standing there and he made a very rude gesture insulting all of them in the room and himself even though he didn't view it that way. It was one of those mocking gestures people associated with females of the past and a certain type of gay man and Burt jumped to his feet as Karofsky walked away and down the hallway.

"What the hell was that?" He asked Kurt who was being lifted up from his dip by Finn who was careful not to drop him and made sure he was fully back on his feet before letting go.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know he was back, they didn't announce it and Mr. Figgins didn't tell me." In fact, it seemed very secretive and manipulative that Karofsky was back now and he hadn't seen him in the halls all day but now he was back after school on the Wednesday that he had booked the choir room and Kurt was was there. He had planned it perfectly to disturb Kurt and get them all riled up after their reprieve.

"That is Karofsky?" Burt asked in shock, he had expected the guy to be bigger than Kurt, of course but he was massive and dwarfed Kurt, making Kurt appear even smaller, even Finn who was bigger in height than Karofsky didn't make Kurt seem that tiny. "He's definitely using his size to intimidate you." Burt said to Kurt. "That's not ok." None of it was ok but Principle Figgins had a lot more to answer to, of course the jock would have an easy time bullying Kurt.

"Dad, let it go, he's not worth it right now."

"No way." He was out the door and Finn and Kurt had to run to catch up and they found Burt pinning Dave to the wall. "Do you think it's fun picking on someone smaller than you? You should be disgusted with yourself for choosing him as your target."

"Dad." Kurt's voice was soft, he was done hiding and running but he also knew that he couldn't fight every time Karofsky did something, sometimes he could just ignore it too and that way it was more powerful when he did fight back. "Please. We were having a good time before he showed up. Let's go back to that."

"Not right now Kurt, we've done what we came here for. I'm going to talk to the principle now. He should have called me and let me know that Karofsky was back."

Ball-less Principle Figgins sighed in irritation as he saw the Hudson-Hummels and Karofsky in his office. "As I've told your son, there's not enough proof or witnesses to expel Karofsky. The events that happened off campus are regrettable but not something I can do anything about here. Besides, there's been no more incidences of violence or anyone coming forward about Karofsky since Kurt left school. I couldn't keep him suspended indefinitely, he had a right to an education as well."

"That's because Kurt has transferred to another school." Finn argued. "And he has done so much to Kurt on campus too and you didn't do anything."

"Nobody saw it though, so now it's his word against his and now that Kurt isn't a student here anymore, I can't expel Karofsky for anything he does to Kurt on campus because it isn't one student harassing another one."

"Even though he has been doing highly questionable things? It shouldn't matter if Kurt is a student or not because Karofsky is still behaving inappropriately on campus and shouldn't be allowed to get away with violence, against anyone." Burt argued.

"So far Mr. Hummel, it's you who has been seen assaulting a student and it's within my right to ask you to leave and not return since you don't have a child attending school here at this time. I could ask you both to leave."

"You've had to have gone through your own discrimination at times." Kurt spoke without thinking better of it. "How can you sit back here and let him discriminate against someone? He's been attacking me because of what I am and it's a hate crime."

"I'm not sure what you're talking about, please clarify Mr. Hummel on why someone would discriminate against me." Mr. Figgins held Kurt's eyes and Kurt's only narrowed in annoyance, how had this gotten to this point, what was Mr. Figgins hiding or what did Karofsky have on him?

Sue appeared at the door. "I think he should be expelled."

"Sue, I thank you for your input but this is not the time or place." Mr. Figgins glared at her and she held his gaze back with a smirk on her face.

"Oh, I think if you recall back to last year's conversation about this time, you might see things a little differently."

"Go ahead Sue and tell my wife everything, that won't change my stance on this matter." Figgins wasn't going to be blackmailed on this.

"Who got to you?"

"Football is a highly recognized and national institution and I'm not going to apologize that I'm unwilling to risk our first national championship and all the proceeds that will come flooding in with endorsements if we win. It will only benefit the school if we win and then when that's over, we can then deal with this matter, but until then, Kurt is fine at Dalton and Karofsky stays on the team and at this school. After the football season we can talk about punishment and Kurt returning to this school and allowances that will be made to keep him safe."

Several pairs of eyes just looked at Mr. Figgins but Karofsky had a half smirk as he realized that he wasn't going to get in trouble and it only motivated him more to continue in his way, he was untouchable when it came to the school. He did miss the part that since he was a senior that after the football season he would likely be expelled since his usefulness to this school was over; unless he found a way to stay for another year and help them win another championship. Perhaps that had been part of Figgin's plan too, suspend him so he failed at least one class and then have him repeat his senior year next year and get more money flooding in with another win with the senior+.

"I'll have your job." Sue warned. "I can't believe you're going to put money over the safety, well-being and education of your students. This school should be the pinnacle of public school education and instead you're focusing on football being your legacy. I should have known when you pulled Coach Beiste and gave her 10% of the Cheerios funds."

They were all with Sue on this matter but Karofsky's smug grin was the only thing that Kurt could see and he wanted to spring out of his seat at him, fly across the room and claw his eyes out and wipe that smirk off his face. Finn dropped an arm around Kurt's shoulders as if he had known Kurt's desires or had to stop himself from doing the same thing or supporting Kurt, he wasn't sure.

Sue would do it for them though and Burt would support her climb to principle, despite all their disagreements this year. Sue was protecting his son too and that made them allies now.

Figgins sat back satisfied that he'd said too much, his hands were tied, all the money was in football in this country and if Sue and the newly appointed congressman could band together and get public opinion rallied behind them, maybe education and arts would persevere once more. Education and physical education were Sue's priorities but she would make it a safe and inclusive school for people like Kurt. He didn't think that he would be removed from his position though, he just needed the path cleared for him because the donors made their desires clear on this matter.

–

Kurt was quiet on Thursday and Blaine noticed it instantly and at lunch he tried to cheer him up with an impromptu song and it did it's job and Kurt was singing along with him and having fun. It wasn't until Friday though that they had the opportunity to talk about what was wrong after the good mood Kurt had been in when he left on Wednesday. He had practically been buzzing with happiness and excitement.

"How's the arm?" Kurt had been given rare permission to stay with Blaine at Dalton Friday night as long as he promised to be early for the events on Saturday and Kurt didn't know why his dad sprung the idea on him and he frankly didn't care, he was happy to spend time with Blaine at night on his campus and terms and space.

They were lying on Blaine's bed side by side and Blaine's fingers traced the more exposed skin the brace allowed him access to. "It's fine, feels weird after having the cast on for so long but it doesn't hurt or anything."

Blaine nodded and kept getting distracted by the new flesh he could see. In rare form, Kurt had the sleeves of his white uniform shirt rolled and pushed up passed his elbows. As Blaine touched the skin so softly and gently, Kurt found he had difficulty concentrating on anything too. Blaine's head dipped down and explored that flesh with his mouth and Kurt's breath was coming out in difficult puffs as Blaine's lips on his arm set his blood boiling and turned him on so hard that he didn't know what to do without embarrassing himself by coming in his pants. He was trying very hard to find something to turn him off or cool him down but he couldn't think of anything but Blaine and his mouth and fingers.

"Blaine, Blaine- you have to stop." Kurt's voice was struggling to get out and Blaine pulled back in surprise but listening to what Kurt was saying and stopping but thought it was for a very different reason.

"Was that-"

"No." and then Blaine understood and he rolled away from Kurt with a laugh, giving the other boy space to cool down rather than be wrapped up in their warm little bubble, that kept getting hotter and hotter.

"Sorry, you're just too damn sexy." Blaine couldn't stay away from Kurt for even that long and pulled him up against him.

"That's my line." Kurt protested as he was the one having trouble keeping it together. He didn't know if it was just Blaine or if it was because he had no experience with this stuff or if his arm was extra sensitive to touch since it had been wrapped up in a cast and now exposed and the nerve endings were going crazy... it was probably all of it but mostly Blaine. "And you're doing it again." Blaine's hand was rubbing circles over Kurt's back and he consciously stopped his hand and opened his palm and placed it firmly on Kurt's back, warm and comfortable but not distracting. "Thank you." Kurt had no problem with Blaine touching him, it was just a bit too much being alone in Blaine's bed away from prying eyes with a closed door and being able to spend the night there. It felt like they were sneaking around but his dad knew exactly where he was and would know if something happened. Maybe not know what it was but he was always aware when they took another step in their relationship.

"Do you need a cold shower?" Blaine asked and Kurt looked at him in confusion. "Because I feel like I do." There was still confusion in Kurt's eyes and Blaine sent him a curious look back. "Don't you-? Have you ever-?"

"Hey, no sexy talk like that!" Kurt sat up and tried to block out what Blaine was saying, he was slowly entering this world and that was too much.

"Can you not even hear the word masturbation?" Blaine pushed and as Kurt turned crimson Blaine laughed so hard and was smacked with a pillow, Kurt was not remotely amused and was totally embarrassed. He calmed down and asked with all seriousness. "Really, you've never had sex education? Even the boy/girl stuff?"

"McKinley doesn't teach that." Kurt was still as red as a cherry and Blaine removed his hands from Kurt carefully, oh that was an entirely new territory for Blaine, he had no idea just how innocent Kurt had been before all of this. Dalton had sex ed every semester and covered all the different components and styles and preferences. Even his old school did the basics. Anything else Blaine was curious about, he'd looked it up himself on the internet.

"You're not enrolled in those classes here either?" Blaine thought it went through senior year and Kurt shrugged. "Your dad picked out your classes, didn't he?" Blaine sighed and collapsed back into his bed with an arm over his face and Kurt followed him down, resting lightly against his chest and not understanding what the problem was with Blaine. Blaine couldn't keep his hands off of Kurt and held him to his chest with an arm around him. This was going to be difficult territory to navigate with Kurt, more than he'd realized. "You're precious." Blaine said with all seriousness and let the subject drop for a minute while his brain whirled with the implications of everything. Kurt may not have even fully realized what Karofsky was going to do to him and once he did, he may retreat even further from knowing this stuff. "Tell me what you do know."

"No way." Kurt huffed and rolled away from Blaine's chest but his back was still against him and Blaine rolled over to wrap his other arm around him too and held him within his embrace and his face was cheek to cheek with Kurt.

"Ok, sorry, I won't push." Blaine didn't want this distance between them even though he was enjoying spooning with Kurt. He kissed Kurt's ear who squirmed in his arms at that.

"Stop it." Kurt pouted and Blaine kissed his ear again and got another squirm. "Seriously Blaine, not cool or fair."

He really wanted to help Kurt in that department, oh god how he wanted to help Kurt learn what to do with that rock-hard hard-on. He never wanted to teach anyone anything more than he wanted to teach Kurt right at that moment but he let Kurt deal with it in his own way. His own was growing the longer they stayed like that and he scooted his hips back and away from Kurt's backside. That would be far too much right now for the guy in his arms and truly, too much for Blaine too. Neither were ready for that leap yet.

Blaine definitely didn't want it, but maybe for both of their sanities, Kurt should go home or at least sleep in the other bed. He'd kept changing those sheets weekly just so they stayed fresh in case someone did crash there some night rather than have stale sheets to sleep in. Even the thought of stale sheets wasn't enough to distract him from how intoxicating Kurt's smell was or the comforting warmth of his boyfriend in his arms. It had only brought to mind images of them between the sheets. Maybe a movie would help? Maybe not. There were only 2 things that could help with the uncomfortable and yet very pleasurable feeling in his pants right now that didn't include them helping each other out. One meant leaving Kurt's arms and going to go take that shower and he didn't think Kurt would appreciate that after their very brief but awkward conversation.

"Tell me what happened Wednesday." This was not something he wanted to bring into their personal space either, but it was something that he knew was still bothering Kurt. He felt hot tears on his arm instantly and he dragged Kurt back and tight against his chest. The distraction in their pants far out of mind once he knew Kurt was crying.

"Principle Figgins chose money over my safety!" Kurt turned to look at Blaine and explained what happened and Blaine turned stone cold with fury at Kurt's story.

"It's always going to come down to money. Until this minority starts making it and keeping it in our community, nobody is going to pay attention to us or care." Blaine hissed. "It's the same old sad story and I'm tired of it."

"We're going to become super famous and rich and we're going to change minds." Kurt promised Blaine and he nodded needing to hear that, Blaine was feeling vulnerable just then himself, remembering his own path here. They'd reach as many disenfranchised communities as they could, teaching them that it was ok to be different. Nobody should feel as alone in this fight as the two of them were. Yes they had their family and friends, but it shouldn't be on their shoulders alone, the community should want to support them too, even if they were total strangers. Sometimes it was family that was the worst culprit too and those kids really needed somewhere to go

Unfortunately what Blaine said was the problem for every community, those who needed it didn't have it and those who had it didn't want to lose it and become a disenfranchised minority themselves. Slowly, carefully, they could all share the wealth if everyone was open to it, but too many minority communities pounced on a way to make that money and then kept it for themselves and only built themselves up rather than everyone and those communities were often the worst in how they treated people like Kurt and Blaine.

Society wasn't perfect but with effort and education (and money) people were learning and becoming more tolerant of each other and slowly more people were allowed to live their lives in peace. It just wasn't happening fast enough for the duo on the bed.

"Don't go back to that school." Blaine whispered into Kurt's neck once they both settled down a little again. They were both lost in thought of the terrors they'd faced and the safety of this room, of this school, of those around them.

"It's not going to be of my choosing." Kurt sighed, he didn't want to leave the security of these arms ever. It was much more than that though, but right now that was the most important factor. He felt safe with Blaine and secure to be himself and he felt that way about Blaine too, wanting him to be his full self and Blaine felt that way too, for the first time in his life he didn't feel as if he was doing something wrong, was something wrong as Kurt liked him for being himself and he liked who he was too. All those old words faded into a buzz and was getting smaller and quieter every day that he knew Kurt and was supported by him. Blaine was getting more secure and confident in himself every day since meeting Kurt, he had been doing a fantastic job of pretending before that. Now he wanted to be who he pretended to in earnest for both of them.

Blaine clung onto Kurt that night, needing him close and loathe to let him have even an inch to himself, Blaine needed Kurt, more he thought to himself than Kurt needed him.

–

The wedding was fun and Finn had surprised Kurt (sort of) with a song that showed how he felt about their mixed family joining together and he even danced with Kurt that slow song with him and Kurt was just touched by his actions. Granted they were only with friends and family but it was still a nice step and gesture.

Kurt and Blaine danced to a lot of different styles of dances together and Kurt was spun around and through all of his friends in attendance and he danced with Carole too, as the male lead that time, as he was when he danced with the girls. He and Blaine had taken turns being the leads, like they did in everything together or they were equals if they could during a dance or activity or life. Kurt even danced with Puck and sat on Artie's lap as Artie wheeled them around on the dance floor. Everyone danced with Finn and Blaine too.