Disclaimer: I own nothing except the OCs

The weekend soon came to an end and the three boys were sat outside in the courtyards; Puck sat on the back of a wooden bench whilst resting his feet on the seat and Kurt and Finn joined him, only both sitting properly. Glares were thrown at Puck from passing students, some more subtle than others, for disrespecting Dalton property but Puck didn't see them and when he did, pretended not to. Kurt could see he was itching to send them back his own glares in return but was holding himself back for his friend's sake.

Ever since Friday evening, the Finn and Puck had been constantly trying convince Kurt to continue to use a notebook they had bought the day communicated with them. Many of the questions they had asked him didn't get a reply but every so often Kurt would write something down which would make his friends' hearts swell- it was baby steps but they were sure his confidence was growing, if only slightly. And to put it short, Puck and Finn were extremely proud of Kurt. Hell, if their reactions were anything to go by, they were ecstatic.

*Friday evening*

The two football players looked at the note in surprise and Finn was the first to move, pulling Kurt into the tightest and warmest hug the porcelain boy had ever received.

"Dude, I- Oh my gosh, Kurt!" Kurt meanwhile, tried to pull away from the teen who was now constricting his breathing and scaring him. He valued his personal space greatly and, although he would sometimes admit to liking Finn's hugs, right then all he particularly wanted to do was escape before any memories returned to haunt him.

By this time, Puck had regained the use of his body and was acting, very uncharacteristically, like a fangirl. He was crying silently and just mouthing Kurt's name whilst looking like a mother who's child had just won gold the Olympics when they weren't even in their teens yet.

Finn reluctantly let go of Kurt when he felt him struggling and ran over to Puck, wrapping his arms around him to and doing a little dance before turning back to Kurt.

"Dude...I'm- I'm so proud of you."

The two had continued acting like this until Kurt eventually had to write to tell them to shut up before they were kicked out by the prefect for being too loud. Although, Kurt did seriously doubt Kane would even consider approaching the room with Puck around.

*Current day*

Those words. 'I'm so proud of you'; Kurt had been told that before very recently, from his roommate in fact. Why were so many people proud of him? He wasn't normal, he was a freak- at least that's what he'd always been told, so how come now people seemed to care?

He leaned back in the seat and looked up at the cloudy sky, thinking about Blaine. The boy hadn't been seen by Kurt at all since he had been sent away by The Dean and Kurt wondered what he had been doing. He really hoped Blaine didn't mind having to vacate his room for him because once his friends had left him, he'd be walking meat. Kurt was certain if Blaine wanted to hurt him, he wouldn't be able to put up much of a fight, though whether this would be because Kurt was physically weaker or because Kurt was so used by now to being broken he would give up emotionally quickly, he didn't know. But Blaine wouldn't do that right? The no-bullying policy flicked into Kurt's mind but it didn't really reassure him. Blaine seemed rather popular, the teachers would probably just ignore him if he put in a complaint. With the exception of Coach Sue, that's what all the teachers at McKinley had done. Even didn't do anything to stop it and he was the teacher Kurt had been closest to.

"Princess?" Puck's voice interrupted his thoughts and he turned around to look at his friend, raising his eyebrows. "Hobbit approaching at 5 o'clock. Want me to tell him to bugger off?"

Kurt rolled his eyes and gained a smirk from Puck. Finn just looked confused and cocked his head to the side like a dog. Sure enough, a short male with hair drowned in inhumane amounts of gel was heading towards then, smiling at Kurt when he looked up. He seemed unfazed that Puck and Finn were sending him evils and greeted them politely when he reached the other three boys.

"Hey Kurt! Hello Finn, Puck." He spoke to the McKinley boys with less enthusiasm; some may interpret this as a way of showing his distaste towards them but Kurt somehow the dapper boy wouldn't do this as he seemed to have too many manners. It was probably because he was slightly wary after the argument on Friday and he knew them less. Like he knew Kurt any better.

"Umm, so I was wondering when you guys were leaving? Not that I'm trying to kick you out- it's fine you two being here- I was just wondering if you'd be around for the warblers impromptu performance in the main commons later, it should be happening around fiveish."

Kurt turned to Finn questioningly.

"What's the garglers?" Puck asked, suspiciously.

"The warblers-"

"Whatever."

"-are the acappella glee group at Dalton. They're kind of like rockstars here and every so often they'll sing somewhere. It kind of disrupts everything for a bit."

"Wait, the glee club are cool here?" Interrupted Finn.

"Of course. They're a Dalton tradition and also, why wouldn't they be? Everyone like music in some shape or form."

"Wow."

"Yeah, so will you be able to make it?"

"Me and Puck were actually gonna head back before then, if that's okay with Kurt. Burt needs some help in the garage and then Puck's challenged me to a game night-"

"Which I'll win."

"Ha, it's on dude."

"Right.." said Blaine, turning to face Kurt as the other two started throwing joking insults, Puck however still kept a watchful eye on Kurt as he did so. "Will you come Kurt? It'll be the first performance this term."

The said boy shrugged his shoulders, avoiding the hazel eyes that searched him.

"Maybe? It's fine if you don't want to or can't make it; I understand."

Kurt nodded, wondering if the other boy was putting on the slight sadness in his voice for Finn and Puck's benefit or if it was genuine. He doubted it was.

"Well I'd better be off, Wes'll be hunting me down with his gavel if I'm late to turn meeting. I'll catch you later then..?" He turned to Puck and Finn, "just let me know if you need to move or find anything. Bye!"

He smiled and ran off in the opposite direction to where he came from and Kurt frowned, why was he acting so damn friendly? Nobody, except maybe Finn and Puck (and that was kind of obligatory- Finn was his brother and Puck Finn's best friend), cared about Kurt at McKinley, why should they here?

"Kurt?"

The glasz eyed male glanced over to his brother and instantly wondered where Puck was. The mohawked teenager seemed to had disappeared.

"I was just asking if you wanted to go back to your room- I was gonna start packing mine and Puck's stuff."

After a nod of agreement, both stood up and walked across the grounds, heading into the shade as they walked towards the door, Kurt immediately relaxing more as he reached the darkness he was so used to using for safety.

Blaine slipped through the crowds, walking fast towards the Warbler Room and biting his lip thoughtfully. Was he too blunt asking Kurt to come and watch the performance? Did he not want to? Oh God, what if he secretly hated Blaine still and set his friends after him? Was Kurt like that? He didn't want the other boy to continue avoiding him- he'd told nobody about the bruises and spent the rest of the time away in the gym to give Kurt space. Even Wes and David had begun to see the change in him and had been quizzing him whenever they were in their dorm together.

He was about to turn the corner when he felt a strong hand grab his wrist and pull him into an empty, none too gently either.

"What the fu-"

"Hello Blaine."

The shorter boy winced as he looked up at the jock, memories he had banished to the back of his mind being brought to the front. The last time he had been alone with a jock he had barely escaped with his life. Almost instantaneously, he fell into a combat stance, light on the ball of his feet which were around shoulder length apart.

"P-Puck?"

"That's me. I wanted to talk to you.. about Kurt."

"Kurt?" Oh hell, had Kurt really sent this guy to beat him up?

"Yeah- you're his roommate, right?"

Puck had now released his grip on Blaine, certain he could catch him if he ran away, although he doubted the hobbit had the guts to.

"Right."

"In that case, I have some valuable advice: if you hurt my princess, I will hunt you down," he punctuated the last three words by each time taking a step forwards. "So I recommend you don't, however, although Kurt doesn't speak, he had feelings. And if you, or your friend Kane-"

"He's not my friend."

"What?"

"Kane. He's not my friend, not since he attacked Kurt."

"...I'm confused."

"We've never been close, but any idiot can see Kurt is scared and nobody should be grabbing him like that."

"Y'know what kid?"

Blaine looked up, inwardly praying he hadn't said too much. Had Puck realized what Blaine was hiding?

"What?"

"You're alright." And with that, Puck left the desk filled room, leaving Blaine reeling in a midst of 'what the fuck just happened?' Luckily, his was soon rescued from his thoughts by a rather annoyed Thad.

"Blaine! Are you coming to the meeting or not? Wes' already pissed your late as it is, if you leave it any longer he'll have killed you with that damned gavel of his."

"Shit, right I'm coming, I'm coming."

Kurt waved as the car disappeared into the distance, carrying his two friends. Before they had left, they had made Kurt promise to try and socialise more with the other boys, even if it was just for Burt's sake. Kurt changed the subject by writing in his notebook.

Although he was upset Finn and Puck had left, he also felt weirdly happy. Without the other two, he was free to hide himself away again and avoid everyone for another week; he knew his dad would be saddened at this, but Kurt told himself it was okay as he'd already made progress by writing in his notebook...even if by hiding from people would probably lose the confidence he had gained to do this. Sighing, he turned and headed back inside.

"Hey Kurt," a gentle voice smiled at Kurt, making him jump even though the sound shouldn't have. Kurt turned and saw a boy looking up at him, a weasel dancing through his legs.

"I just thought I'd tell you that, at the moment, now might not be the best time to go down that particular corridor."

The glasz eyed teen looked curiously at him- how did he know his name?

"Oh, I kinda have friends everywhere, not human friends, but friends all the same. Like Ludo- that's the adorable creature at my feet. I'm Roderick by the way, but most people call me Roddy. Unless you're the Gremlins, then I'm Hagrid."

Kurt raised his eyebrows.

"I may or may not have a tendency to try and bring any animal around come and follow me and once I might have had a snake. Her name was Sally and she was perfectly harmless but apparently she had to go because she was venomous and she intimidated people. I mean really, she's tiny yet five foot tall humans ate the ones scared of her."

Roddy began to walk the opposite way the twins were supposed to be and, after a hesitation, Kurt followed, frowning.

"It's the Warblers," answered Roddy, spotting Kurt's expression and again, reading it accurately. All his time with animals had taught him how to interpret them well and, while humans were much more difficult, he prided himself with usually being able to. "They're just down there...do you want to go?"

Roddy looked at Kurt questioningly, allowing the boy an option to not see them if he wanted to. After a lip-biting few seconds filled with a slight ticking of the brain (okay, Roddy may have imagined that), Kurt carefully nodded his head, thinking back to Blaine asking him to go. He didn't really know why, but he wanted to see if this boy had told anyone about his bruises yet. And the only way Kurt could see to do this, was to take the plunge and go along to see if anyone treated him differently. Besides, he could always just hide at the back..