Disclaimer: Yup, pretty much own nothing except my OCs and my cool socks.

Kurt managed to escape the room quickly as the bell rang out, vanishing into thin airas the bell rang out, vanishing into thin air as he moved through the door, deserting Blaine as he attempted to catch him. Blaine sighed as he looked around, slightly disappointed with himself for not managing to talk to him; they hadn't communicated since he had walked in on Kurt changing. He searched around the building, trying to spy the well groomed chestnut hair and equally stunning face of his roommate, silently whispering curses at himself for not saying anything to him when seeing his bruises except to excuse himself from the room.

Those bruises. How could he have got them? They had decorated his back like an artist's painting the way the colours merged together, Kurt's back being the canvas. Was this why Kurt had moved to Dalton? Blaine had recognised the pain and slight denial in Kurt's eyes when he had made him untimely entrance, it was an expression he had worn hundreds of times before, at least, before he had learned to love Dalton. But there must be something else to it, his silence had shouted decimals louder than the taller boy ever could reach and Blaine couldn't help wondering if what Kurt had faced was greater than he first thought; greater than what Blaine had endured.

As he turned the corner, about to give up, Blaine was crashed into by a small, lightly tanned boy who's eyes had been glued to the floor.

"Oh sweet llama God. Blaine, are you okay? I didn't see you," he said apologetically, brushing his long, dirty blond hair away from his face.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You okay, Roddy?"

Roderick smiled at his older friend, he was in the year below Blaine but knew him well as they both belonged to Windsor. Despite being remarkably clever, Roderick never worked hard at school, preferring to concentrate on topics he enjoyed, yet he still achieved some of the highest grades in his year. It wasn't that Roddy was lazy, it was just he didn't see the the point of learning about subjects he didn't care about- how was history supposed to support his raving passion for animals?

"I'm good, it's Ludo I'm worried about. The twins arrived back early and he escaped."

"Ludo?"

"Yeah, my weasel."

"You have a weasel now?"

"Of course, not sure how long he'll hang around with the gremlins back, though."

Blaine sighed in slightly shocked admiration. Roddy always seemed to have an animal with him, from a normal hamster to, at one point, a fox cub. That had not gone down too well when The Dean had found out.

"Just promise me you won't collect any dangerous creatures this term, the kitchen's barely recovered yet."

"Hey, that was not my fault. Thad shouldn't have trapped her in there, I've told him lots of times wild animals don't like to be trapped."

"Yes, but-"

"I've gotta go," he interrupted suddenly, spotting a tail amid some nearby bushes and walking over to it, calling out softly in his low voice he saved for animals. Blaine watched in awe as the weasel crawled out to Roddy, completely unafraid of him, and he couldn't help but feel vaguely jealous. He knew no animal would ever do that for him; Roddy simply had something in him they trusted- something he had never seen in anyone else.

Blaine smiled at the pair, his stomach growling slightly as he headed to the dining hall, hoping Kurt would have found his way over there. It was lunch time after all.

Five minutes later, Blaine entered the hall and a wave of worry swept over him when he couldn't spot Kurt. Was he okay? If he wasn't here, did that mean he hadn't ate breakfast and lunch? He must be starving by now if so. Or maybe he was just late coming..? But he had left before Blaine-

"Hey Blaine!" Nick said just then, pulling Blaine back to reality. "Have you heard the news?"

"News?"

"Yeah, the gremlins are back," he said, pulling Blaine down next to him on their usual table.

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, Roddy told me."

"Has he still got that lizard? Er- Lizzy I think he called it."

"No, he's somehow acquired a weasel now."

"Aw, shame. I liked Lizzy. One of the only pets he's had that's perfectly harmless."

"If you forget David."

"I don't think I could ever forget that scream," he shuddered, "it was three in the morning as well. How did she even get in the room?"

There was a pause as they both met eyes, knowingly.

"The twins," they agreed together.

"Nicky!"

The two boys looked up at the door the happy shout had come from and saw Jeff almost skipping towards them, David and Wes trailing behind him.

"Hey Jeff!"

Kurt shut the door to the auditorium quickly behind him, leaning against it, his breath jumpy. He had ran to the room as soon as the bell had rung out, darting away from the dark haired teenager who he knew would be looking for a chance to corner him since he had disobeyed him and left the dorm when Blaine was in the shower. He was starving as he checked his cheap phone for the time, wishing he had brought some food along with him. 12:46. He was about to return it to his pocket when he realized he had a new message from his Dad; he reluctantly opened it, slightly afraid of what it might say before reminding himself only his father and Carole knew this number. There was no way any of the jocks could have got it.

'Hey Kiddo, how's your first day? Anyone giving you trouble, tell me and I'll be over there in a flash.'

Kurt read the message over again, thinking of a reply; he briefly thought of his roommate. Blaine had scared him, sure, but he wasn't giving him trouble, at least, nothing like at McKinley. Besides, he hadn't hurt him, just made Kurt vaguely, okay very, scared of him, or more, what he could tell everyone. But Kurt couldn't tell him that, especially with his Dad's heart in consideration.

'I'm fine Dad, don't worry about me.'

Kurt sent his reply, smiling sadly. Burt shouldn't have to constantly worry about him, he didn't have to about Finn.

''Of course I do, you're my son. Are you sure you're fine though, you took a long time to reply'

'Dad, I'm fine, stop worrying. I don't want you having another heart attack.'

'Screw my heart, and I'm sending Finn over later to check you're not lying.'

'You don't need to do that!'

'Of course I do, and no arguments. Finn wants to see you as well'

Kurt collapsed into one of the chairs which faced the stage, groaning annoyed at his dad. He knew what he was saying was for the best but it didn't mean Kurt had to agree with it.

'Fine,' texted back Kurt eventually, giving in, 'I've gotta go now though. Classes.'

'Ok, see you soon buddy'

Kurt winced slightly at the lie, he still had forty minutes left of his lunch break but he didn't want to continue talking to Burt in case he said something that would upset him. He had to think of his Dad's health. Although Kurt disliked talking since the incident, he didn't mind texting. He found it easier to write his emotions than say them and, though he would only communicate like this with Finn, Carole and his Dad: it helped him to not close himself off completely. He didn't like having to lie about his problems but he had been doing it for so long now, it came to him naturally.

He scowled at the time, willing it to speed up; as soon as his classes for the day finished, Kurt would be allowed to reach his cereal bars he hid in his drawers and rest his eyes. He had only slept last night for around four hours last night due to having a nightmare. Karofsky had been chasing him down the corridors of McKinley and eventually he became trapped by a dead end which he was sure was not usually there. The bully had been closing in on him and Kurt could had been almost able to smell his eyewateringly vulgar odour. He had woken up then, panting heavily and dripping in a cold sweat. Kurt had layed, shaking in his bed, not wanting to turn the light on in case it awoke Blaine from his slumber so he had resounded in lying awake until he could get out of bed at a respectable hour.

But now those missing hours were catching up on him and Kurt was beginning to wonder if it was safe enough to take a nap in the auditorium. There was nobody around and he didn't think many people knew about this room so he didn't really care about people finding him, but what he really wanted to know was if he could wake up in time for chemistry. Kurt couldn't risk missing it, especially since his dad and Carole had spent their honeymoon money to let him go to this school.

He yawned and guessed this probably made up his mind. Kurt stretched out over the seats, lying his body over three of them , wiggling until he was comfortable, his eyes already closed. Moments before his head hit the cushioned arm rest, sleep overtook him and he drifted off into sleep's midst, too tired for his mind to take him to dreamland.

Kurt awoke two hours later, having slept halfway through his third lesson, with a start and wondered what had disturbed him. He checked his phone and kicked himself: he had missed most of his lesson which would almost definitely take its toll on his grade if he didn't bother to collect notes on the lesson, but to do that, he would either have to ask another student or his teacher which would indefinitely result in detentions. He froze as he heard a voices and a banging noise on the door, quickly hiding between the rows of seats in hope he wouldn't get caught in the room. That would be difficult to explain, especially when Kurt didn't use his voice box.

"It's never been shut like this before."

"Well except when we first opened it."

"Hang on, I think I have some wire in my pocket."

"I don't think it's actually locked Theo, more stuck."

"How? No one ever comes down here."

"All the more reason to open it."

"So we ram the door?"

"Yep, we ram the door."

"On three?"

"Three!" The two voices chorused and was soon followed by a heavy thud which made the door open; two bodies falling heavily on the ground. Kurt gasped slightly as they flew in, the two boys startling him. Both were completely identical, from their messy, soot black hair spiking up wildly to each boy's surprisingly clear green eyes which were alit with mischief.

"Ow" they groaned together, pulling themselves to their feet and gently brushed eachother off.

"Well at least we didn't need the wire."

"Or the exploding pellets."

"We'll have to use them again sometime, they worked well."

"At destroying Lincoln's common room."

"But they had it coming."

"Can't disagree with that."

"Except Harrison did," grinned one twin.

"I swear our nerfs have never had that much fun in one day ever."

"Which is probably why most of the prefects hate us now."

"Meh."

Kurt tried to understand what they were saying, but was almost lost by the speed of their talking. He knew Lincoln was a dormitory, one of the four: Windsor, Thatcher, Lincoln and Kennedy. He wondered what dorm building the two boys were in.

"Wait, what's that?"

"Huh?"

"There's a piece of thread over there. Which wasn't there before."

"Where?" The twin looked to where his brother was pointing, both boys had impeccable memories and the teenager frowned. That piece of cotton definitely hadn't been there when they had left the room and it wasn't supposed to be in use currently.

He pounced forward towards it, inches away from where Kurt was hiding and Kurt held his breathe.

"It's warm," he said, a marginally maniacal smile appearing on his face as he felt the seat Kurt had previously been residing in.

"Really?"

"Yep."

"So someone's in here." It wasn't a question, more of a statement filled with crazy impishness.

"Hey, Theo.."

"Mm?"

"Look."

Kurt peered up at the pair, frightened of the two who were leaning over him from the tops of the seats he was hiding behind. He shook in fear, being reminded greatly of McKinley and felt himself being pulled into a flashback.

Kurt had arrived early to school, grinning as he outsmarted the jocks by pulling up outside McKinley fifteen minutes before most people got there. He walked across the car park, glancing around for signs of people watching him. He couldn't do this very often or the bullies, dumb as they may be, would figure out what he was doing and attend school even more ahead of Kurt so they could get him. Kurt slipped into the building, heading towards the choir room; Mr. Schue wouldn't mind if he hid in there until lessons started and, if he did, he could always pretend to be practicing a song for later. He hadn't wanted to open his locker without anyone else around since Karofsky had dragged him in to the closet and- he gulped, telling himself off for thinking about it. He guessed what Karofsky had said was true. He did ask for it, after all, why else would everyone target him unless there was something wrong with him?

He sighed as he opened the locker door, suddenly wishing there were more people around. Sometimes the best hiding place is in full eyesight- at least Karofsky couldn't kiss him, or worse, in public. He was too far in the closet for that, in fact, any deeper and he'd find Narnia, or at least some decent clothes which weren't jeans and a Letterman jacket. You'd think that for all the time he spent in the closet, he'd at least have a good dress sense. He laughed aloud at his own joke.

"Something funny, Hummel?" A fist slammed into the locker next to him and he physically jumped, swearing loudly. Why the hell didn't he arrive later with Mercedes or Finn? Oh right, because he was an idiot.

"No, no Karofsky."

"Then why are you laughing? I can think of something better your mouth could be doing." Kurt shuddered what the comment implied.

"Karofsky, stop. Stop, please."

"What? Does lady face suddenly not want me? You didn't exactly stop me before."

"Karofsky-"

"You realize I'm the best you'll ever get? Who else would want you?"

"Shut up!"

"Oh, you don't mean that," the bully towered over him, making Kurt shrink as the bigger boy's body drastically invaded his personal space. "Why else do you still bother singing and prancing about? You're begging for attention."

"No."

Karofsky ignored Kurt, pushing him lips towards Kurt's but was stopped when the shorter teenager, without thinking, brought his hand up, sharply slapping Karofsky's face, hard. He froze and pulled back as Kurt took his chance and teared himself away from him.

"Why you little," he reached out, grabbing Kurt's arm and flinging him onto the floor, kicking him in the stomach. Kurt curled up into a ball, gasping for air.

"Yo, Karofsky! We were looking for you."

Kurt opened his eyes which he didn't remember shutting and caught a glimpse of the owner. It belonged to Azimio Adams, Karofsky's best friend and Kurt's second biggest bully. He almost laughed at the irony, his bully just saved him.

"Azimio! I was just sorting out the trash."

"I can see, you might want to be more careful where you do it though. You don't wanna get kicked off the team." Azimio looked uncaringly at Kurt who pleaded for some kind of pity and for him not to let Karofsky continue when he was already wounded. "Come on man, the others want to talk tactics about the next match."

"Right, just coming," said Karofsky, catching up with his friend.

As they walked away, Kurt caught bits of their conversation as he struggled to stand.

"What did he do this time?"

"Apart from decorating this place with his fairy?"