Disclaimer: I own nothing but the OCs. Sorry.
If you'd have asked Kurt what he expected to be doing on his first Sunday evening at Dalton, the last thing he would have answered would be decorating cookies. It was around seven o'clock, and the six boys sat around the counter top, half of them covered in icing along with the table. In fact, the only thing that wasn't covered, were the biscuits. Wes, David, Nick and Jeff were each singing a rousing rendition of 'this is Halloween' from The Nightmare before Christmas.
Somewhere between the baking time and now, Blaine had left for the canteen to pick up several different flavoured pizzas which had now been reduced to empty boxes that lay scattered around the room. Discarded icing pens joined them along with bits of food. Overall, the kitchen now looked as if a bomb had hit it.
"You okay?"
Kurt was brought from his daze from a quiet whisper from his left and automatically, he raised his head and nodded at Blaine before ducking it again and staring at his pumpkin shaped cookie. He still wasn't used to anybody really caring for him, and, to be honest, he wasn't sure how he felt about it either.
"Woah Jeff!" David exclaimed, stopping the singing and staring at the boy's icing covered biscuit. Or more precisely, icing with a few crumbs of cookie beneath, "don't you think that's enough?"
"Huh? Of course not.."
"Jeff," agreed Nick, siding with David, "I think that biscuit's decorated enough. You'll make whoever eats it sick."
"But it's sugary!"
"Yes, but too much sugar can make you ill. Well, not you of course, but most people," Nick added, remembering the time his boyfriend ate about seventy packets of sherbet for a dare and ended up having a sugar rush until second lesson where he fell asleep whilst Mr. Clifford was explaining electrons and neutrons. The man had never let Jeff forget it.
"But it was going to be for Wes! I was hoping it might make his sweeter during warbler meetings..." He mumbled the last part but that didn't stop the other teens hearing at laughing at the eye roll Wes performed. It was common knowledge the boy took the warblers extremely seriously.
"Idiot," he smiled, 'accidentally' dropping some icing sugar into the teenager's dyed blond hair. Nick immediately went to move towards him, defensive for a moment before giving Wes a light punch on the shoulder. Kurt smiled slightly at this, the closeness between the boys amazed him. It was nothing like the New Directions where they argued frequently; these boys were like brothers. His face fell when he thought back to his old 'friends', he doubted they even really liked him anymore. He only learnt Finn and Puck did when they-
Nope. He had promised himself he'd try not to think about that.
Suddenly, the fire exit to the kitchen flew open, letting in a burst of the cold night, which sent a shiver through Kurt's already shaking body, along with two jet black haired boys. Behind them, angry shouts followed, making the gigantic, identical grins each twin wore spread wider.
"Theo? Fors? What the hell-"
"Shut up, Wes! RUN!"
With that, the gremlins tore through the kitchen, not bothering to shut the door the other boys that David recognised to belong to Lincoln. And they looked mad.
"Actually yeah," nodded Wes, climbing out of his chair, "run."
Before Kurt knew it, Jeff had grabbed a laughing Nick's hand and pulled him out the room whilst Wes deserted David who hurried to catch up with him. It would be a near futile effort though- Wes was one of the fastest boys in the school.
"Ugh, would you like to go to the common room, Kurt? It's best not to stick around for the consequences when Theo and Fors have annoyed off the Lincolns. They can be very...creative...with some of their payback. Mainly they're just plain mean though."
Kurt nodded, trying to be subtle with his eagerness to get away from the approaching boys, who's feet were pounding closer to them by the second. The fact all the other teenagers had disappeared did not help his panic.
"Okay, let's go quickly then if we want to avoid them," he replied, gently pulling Kurt in front of him so he could act as a barrier between them and therefore making sure the other house's scholars couldn't hurt the boy. Thankfully, Kurt by now had memorized the way to the place, even if he didn't visit (nor plan to) the well decorated room much.
Blaine watched as Kurt, instead of slumping into a chair as he did, rested lightly on the edge of the sofa, as if ready to jump to his feet at any given moment.
"Kurt, trust me, they do this all the time. You'll be fine, I promise."
Kurt smiled slightly, he doubted he'd ever really be fine but it was nice to pretend. Once Blaine found our the truth, he probably wouldn't be able to any more.
"They should be gone soon anyway, it's nearly eight- their curfews soon. It got moved earlier because the house decided to, well..that doesn't matter right now."
Without warning, a loud crash sounded from above them, shaking the room and making each boy jump, startled.
"What the-"
Another bang erupted over their heads, quieter than before but still managing to make the jewels on the chandelier overhead tremble. Shouts followed although Blaine was unable to distinguish who the belonged to.
"The Dean is going to kill us.." he muttered under his breath, reluctantly standing up and turning to the quivering Kurt. "I should probably go and stop them before they cause some real damage..that didn't go down too well last time. Do you want to stay here? It's most likely safer than going upstairs, I'll be back in a few minutes."
Kurt nodded- life was always easier if he just agreed, it caused less pain although he didn't think Blaine would hurt him. It still felt weird that he didn't feel as uncomfortable or unsafe around Blaine. Maybe it was because he hadn't run away from him yet.
"Okay..if you're sure. I'll be back soon," he said, giving Kurt a smile before leaving the room and racing for the stairs. He didn't want to leave Kurt, he strongly believed that the boy shouldn't be left alone when he was like he was. Not after what happened to Mark, but if he had to, he would be sure to take as little time as possible.
Taking the stairs two at the time, it was a miracle the short boy didn't fall over: the stairs were already quite steep. Spots of water- most likely from water pistols- decorated the carpeted floor, growing in size the closer he got to the hallway above the common room.
"You two really should have known better than to prank us by now. Where are your stupid toys now, hmm?"
Blaine peeked his head around the corner to see Theo and Fors cornered against the wall, two Lincolns standing in front of them with their backs turned to the gelled haired teen. Two discarded nerf guns lay forgotten on the floor.
"You're right-" one of the twins sighed, dropping his head.
"I guess you've really got us now," the other (Theo?) agreed, also staring at the wet floor.
"However.."
"You've forgotten one tiny thing."
Both boys looked , evil grins twisted on their faces, "this is our ground."
With that, both the gremlins pulled out water bombs that Blaine swore they conjured using magic, and the battle continued. Rolling his eyes at the mess he was certain would ensue, he grabbed the pistols from behind and joined in. They were going to have to clean it up anyway, why not have some fun beforehand?
Meanwhile, Kurt sat below them, listening to the thunder-like noises overhead, wincing every now and then when a particularly loud bang happened. He hoped nobody was getting hurt upstairs- he'd had enough of that for a lifetime in his opinion.
Without anybody else in the room, Kurt guessed that it should feel kind of weird, but being alone is what he strived for. Of course, he appreciated everyone trying to help him, but when he'd shut himself off from the world for so long to the extent of stopping talking, it felt odd and weird. Kurt liked routine. And, for a while, routine for him had just been being ignored.
Kurt was so lost in his own world (he preferred this to reality, in his own mind, he had control), that he didn't notice the athletic looking, mahogany haired male enter the room until he opened his mouth.
"So," the muscular boy drawled, "you're the new kid everyone's talking about. Kurt Hummel, isn't it?"
Kurt froze, standing up and cowering away from the talker teen who gave out an aura of 'I'm-better-than-you-and-there's-nothing-you-can-do-about-it', which Kurt couldn't help but feel frightened by. And people were talking about him? What were they saying? Did they know about his secret yet? Did they hate him?
"The name's Ford. Harrison Ford to be exact, you might have heard of me, I'm the Lincoln prefect."
Again, Kurt made no movement, hoping the teenager would just get bored and leave- but when did that ever happen?
"Don't talk much, do you? I'm not surprised. You're hardly in the same income range, are you?" He walked forward, leaning over Kurt intimidatingly and spat oh so slowly, "what are you even doing here?"
"Excuse me?"
Harrison's body prevented Kurt from seeing the figure behind, and even if he could see around him, he doubted he could focus. His breathing was too fast now and the practiced boy was struggling to calm himself down.
"Ah, Kane. I was wondering when you'd turn up."
Wait, Kane? Why was he here- did he not know Kurt was there also? He hated him.
"Fuck off, Harrison and get your smarmy arse out of here before I call The Dean."
"I doubt your precious Daddy would really care. Everyone knows he loves me more than you- and I'm not even his son!"
"Get out."
"Who's gonna make me? Surely not you or this weak thing at my feet."
Instinctively, Kurt curled up smaller. He didn't know why; he should have been used to the truth by now.
"You know what? You come to MY house, threaten MY friends and terrorize one of MY house's students. I think you bloody well know who's gonna make you."
Harrison laughed cruelly.
"So, I'm giving you two choices. Either leave now with your face intact, or stay and wait till our best boxer finds out which should be very soon anyway. However, I doubt he'll have much left for him once I'm finished."
"Y'know, you talk big, but you're not scary. Because that's all it is. Talk."
Kane took a step forward.
"Alright, alright. I'm going," he turned back to Kurt, a twisted smile on his face, "this isn't over though."
"Get out!"
Harrison flashed Kane a grin, now innocent and angelic, "why of course."
Kurt never remembered the teenager leaving if you asked him later, he was to concentrated on his breathing which was, by now, out of control. He could hear Karofsky's voice shouting in his ear, louder than ever before and demanding to be heard. But nobody else heard it, just the shaking boy on the floor. The last thing he heard was Kane swearing and running away. A tiny bit of hope died inside of him.
*flashback*
From an early age, Kurt had never been considered normal, whether because of his unique fashion sense or high voice, he had always been labelled as different. It was not a concept that was foreign to him, and, although none of that had changed when he started McKinley, the bullies had. No longer were they young and limited to cruel names and occasionally tripping him up but instead they were older, more stronger and filled with a need to hurt others in order to feel good about themselves. And as they grew more insecure, their techniques grew more and more pain inducing.
It was during this time of need that Kurt had first started glee club and formed the bonds of friendship between he and other members. They had been like a family, helping eachother when they got slushied and standing up for one another against bullies. Now, those ties were broken and it felt more like a war zone between them when they weren't singing, so when Karofsky first attacked him, he hadn't anyone to turn to. So he allowed himself to become another piece of furniture in the background and simply sway instead of singing at his usual standard.
It had been yesterday that Karofsky had stolen his first kiss and Kurt sat in glee practice, barely awake having not slept at all last night, shaking and stirring in his tear soaked bed as he had the constant feeling of Dave's lips pressed against his own. Mr. Schue stood at the front, talking about something that Kurt wasn't paying attention to. On the whiteboard behind him, the word duets was written and Kurt deduced that that must be what Mr. Schue explaining. He should probably start listening.
"Can anyone tell me what a duet is?" He asked, looking expectantly at the small crowd.
"A type of blanket," a blonde girl said at the front- Brittney unless Kurt was mistaken, although he doubted it. Although they had never been really close, she was the one he had held the last conversation with from the group.
"Erm, close. A duet is a song sung by two artists together and that will be your homework for the week." He turned to the board, picking up the pen, "okay, let's see...Santana and Mercedes, Mike and Tina, Sam and Quinn, Finn and Rachel and Brittney and Artie. You should all aim to perform it by this time next week."
Wait, what? Had they really forgotten about him? Nobody else seemed to had noticed, each already discussing with their partners song choices and Kurt couldn't help but wish Puck was there. He'd have said something. But wasn't this what he had wanted? To be hidden in the background? Yes, he admitted, he did...he just didn't think being forgotten would hurt so much. He sighed as the bell went, signalling the end of glee and the end of the time for him to say something. Within a second, Kurt had already bolted out the door, trying to get away before the tears could fall. He was so focused on getting to the bathroom, he didn't see Karofsky follow him or the fact he'd entered the male toilets until rough hands grabbed him from behind, twisting his body around so course lips could assault his.