Disclaimer: I own nothing but the OCs and the storyline
Also, I'd like to thank everyone who favourited/followed this fic as it means a lot and I love every single one of you- and finally, a huge thanks to TweetArya and Gleek10660 for being my first two reviewers! I'll admit they both made me squeal and blush for longer than I probably should have..
It was almost a week after Blaine had told Kurt about what had happened to him, and somehow, the two had grown closer. Kurt didn't know how it had happened, he didn't mean for it, but slowly he found himself learning to trust again. Maybe it was because he now knew he wasn't the only one with a black past; maybe it was because, in the depths of his mind, he was beginning to understand the other boy wouldn't hurt him. Whatever it was, for after a long time, Kurt finally felt he might have found someone who could be his friend.
This didn't mean however, that Kurt was happily socialising with everyone and had his confidence back. He still avoided most situations where he'd have to be too close to someone or rely on them, even talk (well, write) with them a lot. He did, however, find himself using his notepad a lot more around Blaine, and occasionally around other people. When it wasn't his roommate, it would generally be one word answers, but it was progress all the same. For his tiny smiles and meeting of their eyes, it was as if it had changed his perspective on the world. Maybe there might be somewhere where people didn't want him hurt.
It felt weird when he thought about how he wasn't talking and was in a school where he knew almost nobody, but he almost considered this week to be the best he'd had in a long time. Dirty looks and locker slams seemed a whole world away at this school, although that might just be because, if he had annoyed anyone, they had worse planned. But that would be in the future and, at the moment, Kurt nearly considered himself happy. Each day this week, he had awoken early and quickly jumped in the shower so Blaine could go in when he woke up, sometimes going for a run beforehand to calm himself down, but every time without fail, there'd be his coffee order waiting for him from Blaine. It was a small thing, but it was the little gestures like this that made Kurt feel safe.
Although he wasn't uncomfortable, he couldn't help but feel upset. After this class, he only had lunch and then one more as all their year had a test in p.e during fourth. Due to a doctor's note, he didn't have to attend this and so he planned to complete some more of his catch up work. It was funny how at Dalton, they didn't have p.e lessons as such, but they were made to do at least an hour of exercise a week, although they could do anything from table tennis to soccer for this. Of course, out of class he had been advised by the Dean to join a sport club, but Kurt didn't plan on doing that anytime soon. However, that was not the reason he was feeling slightly down. It was Friday and tonight he'd be missing yet another of his family's friday night dinners and wouldn't have seen his dad or most of his friends for yet another week. He couldn't return home just yet, not when Karofsky hadn't been caught and safely tucked away in prison. He already knew where he lived, hi family had told him it would probably be best if he didn't return home until the fugitive was found in case he got hurt. Kurt couldn't help feeling, however, that his dad was lying when he said this and merely wanted the boy away from him. Before the incident, Kurt would never even have had this cross his mind, let alone consider it to be true as his dad had always told him he loved him...nowadays, he wasn't so sure.
Kurt was sat in Chemistry, his lesson that resided before lunch today, and dutifully took down notes. Blaine had somehow managed to persuade Mr. Clifford to let him sit next to him- something about being his roommate and so he could help Kurt if he got stuck. Blaine knew how hard it could be to catch up on work if when you've moved from a public school during term.
Jeff, after silently returning a text to his boyfriend, careful as a ninja not to get caught, would occasionally glanced back over the tables to see if the pair was okay but couldn't seem to see anything wrong, even if it was slightly quieter than usual. He smiled gently as he noted the way Kurt didn't lean away from Blaine, instead only leaving a gap of around three inches between them. It may seem like a lot, but Jeff, although sometimes appearing slightly dumb, definitely noticed things. And he liked to think that made him rather smart too. He had always known there were different ways of being clever, and he was around people. Grades never had really bothered him; if he failed, he failed and if he passed, he passed. It was only letters.
"Mr. Sterling!" Mr. Clifford called loudly from the front, making the blonde jump and hurriedly pretend he was actually paying attention, "I know you think Blaine is pretty, but I doubt Nick will like it if you're constantly staring at him so please turn back around and put whatever you're playing with under the table away. Now is not the time."
Jeff blushed brightly as a few muffled giggled broke out at the innuendo and he hastily placed his phone into his pocket.
"Thankyou, now. What was I saying?" The teacher paused, twirling a glue stick as he thought, "Ah yes- atoms!" The glue stick was thrown lightly into the air before the man caught it deftly, using it to point at the boys, "whatever you do, do not trust them; they make up everything."
The poor joke was applauded with groans breaking out from all of the boys.
The bell rang out through the room nearly an hour later and the boys were dismissed, each filing out the door and, Kurt guessed, discussing the lesson and the awful puns and jokes (- what do you do with a dead scientist? Barium!) The blue eyed male stayed behind, wanting to find out how to do a particular part of the syllabus he never covered at McKinley and confused him slightly. Although he was smart, science had never been his strong point.
Five minutes later, he left the room, feeling satisfied he could now at least attempt the questions with some level of understanding. The teacher had helpfully explained it in detail with Kurt barely having to say anything; it had really helped lower the pressure and unreasoned fear behind him that his mind had built up.
As he exited through the door, he was surprised to see Blaine standing patiently outside on his own, a friendly smile forming on his face in greeting as he saw the other teen. Hesitantly, he gave a tentative response before turning to walk down the corridor, expecting Blaine to go into the classroom as it was free now.
"Hey Kurt, wait up!"
The porcelain teen turned to see Blaine jogging up behind him and couldn't help but be reminded of when the bullies would chase him through the school, playing a game of 'who can hurt the gay kid first.' That was a very fun game for Kurt- note the sarcasm. Blaine had by now reached Kurt, the grin still playing on his face yet he sounded slightly out of breath- Kurt hadn't walked that far had he?
"Hey," the shorter boy's eyes were bright and Kurt wondered if his would ever be again; Blaine was hurt yet he now seemed happy enough, maybe one day he could achieve that too.
'Hey,' he wrote in reply, having recently taken to not putting his book away but keeping it out in a way of challenging himself to communicate with more people.
"So, um, it's lunchtime."
Kurt nodded.
"I mean, I haven't seen you in the hall and I was wondering if you'd been getting anything to eat and I kind of didn't want you to get ill because.. I'm sorry, I'm rambling. Anyway, what I was trying to ask was whether you'd like to come and sit with me and some of the others?"
'I'm sorry, I can't, I have to go somewhere,' Kurt was glad he wasn't speaking so Blaine couldn't hear the stutter he made as he read it in his head and spot his lie in seconds. If he was honest, he had nothing on- he was just going to eat the cereal bar he'd put in his bag for lunch and then go and hide in the girls bathrooms. As it was an all boys school, they were only used when the girls from Crawford Country Day came to visit which didn't happen very often, or so he had overheard. He didn't want to risk the auditorium after all the times he had been caught there, besides, at McKinley he had always felt safest there, why should it change at Dalton? Aside from the fact that there was the no bullying policy and the students were so well mannered they'd never dare to intentionally hurt anyone.
"Oh Kurt please? Just this once, I promise you can leave at any point with no questions asked. Nobody will hurt you or try to, and if they do, I'll protect you. I just want you to make some more friends and open up. Please?"
The question sounded so simple, yet Kurt could see how much it could pain the other if he didn't, especially thinking back through his history. He was just trying to do for Kurt what he couldn't do for Mark. Reluctantly, Kurt gave a small sigh before nodding whilst biting his lip nervously- he didn't think Blaine's grin could get any wider, but it did.
"Y'know, you should rub sugar into it, it'll heal it quicker. Hang on, I think I've got some somewhere.."
"No Jeff, it'll be fine. Look, the bleeding's stopped already-"
"But I don't want you to be hurt."
"I'm fine, Jeffy, I promise," said Nick, rubbing his boyfriend's hand reassuringly. He had just accidentally caught himself on something which had resulted in a small cut the back of his hand- it didn't hurt, but Jeff would always over react when it came to him. It was part of what made him so adorable.
"Aww, guuuuys! I'm trying to eat here but all I can taste is the sweetness you two radiate, can't you be cute later?" Wes groaned, pushing his sandwich away dramatically.
"I don't think it's something they can turn off.." answered David, rolling his eyes slightly as the couple made what the twins referred to as 'heart eyes' to eachother. They were completely loveable, but they only had a set amount of time for lunch, and Wes and David preferred to eat rather watch the lovesick couple. "Hey, isn't that Kurt?"
"Hmm? Oh yeah, Kurt! Come sit with us!"
The pale skinned boy looked up as his name was called, having been following Blaine a step behind so he only needed to follow his shoes. As he looked over, he recognized four of them from when they had watched Iron man and he was fairly sure most were in some of his classes, although he generally ignored most of the others for fears of unwanted harassment. He looked around curiously, searching for the other boy whom shared his name. But as he realized nobody was reacting, it slowly clicked that the group was calling him.
"Gee, thanks guys, I feel really welcomed," said Blaine, grinning as he subtly diverted the attention from the other boy, knowing he wouldn't want to be bombarded by his friends' comments and questions yet. "Look after our stuff? We need to go collect our food."
"Sure," the Asian replied as Blaine placed his bag on a spare chair. Kurt kept his bag on, he wasn't going to leave his things with people he didn't know, he'd probably get back and half the stuff would be missing. But maybe that was their plan, to get him to trust them before attacking him as soon as they saw a chance?
"Kurt, are you coming?"
Kurt turned to see Blaine looking back at him, his expression encouraging him to follow. With a small smile, Kurt followed him, gripping his bag tightly as he tried to figure out Blaine. He had barely known him a week, yet already, the other boy had opened up to him about his past and extended a hand of nothing but kindness. Never had Blaine commented on his poor sleeping habits which meant he hardly slept for fear of nightmares and never had he left his side except when Kurt had purposely hidden from him, such as lunch times when he was too scared of going into the hall. But now he was there, he realized he wasn't scared, because for once in his life, nobody had attacked him in days, and Blaine had promised to protect him. He knew he shouldn't, but he was beginning to really consider Blaine as a friend.
"Is that all you want?"
The two had just paid for their food, Blaine's plate filled with chips and almost all the unhealthy options whilst Kurt had picked up a small salad which consisted of only three tomatoes, a few cucumber slices, barely any lettuce and a light dressing. If Blaine was honest, he'd probably feed a rabbit more stuff than the boy had and wondered if Kurt usually ate like this. When he had first moved and heard about Mark, he had barely eaten for days and it was only due to Wes and David force feeding him he hadn't fainted from hunger.
Kurt gave a gentle nod of his head, glancing down at his food and looking surprised as if he didn't remember picking it up. Blaine made a mental note to try and get the other boy to eat some of his so the boy didn't starve himself.
"All I'm saying, is Teenage Dream is a real showstopper and I think we should really consider using it for sectionals."
"You mock me, sir!"
"David, although I agree it's good, I'm siding with Thaddeus on this, Teenage Dream simply isn't the right song."
"Hang on, do my ears deceive me, or did Wes and Thad just agree on something?" Blaine asked, joining the conversation and pulling out a chair for Kurt, not wanting him to feel excluded or nervous in case he took the wrong seat, which was impossible anyway as they didn't have set places to sit. Well, Wes might have a mental one, especially with his love for them that was only beaten by his gavel.
"Nope, actually I think we just witnessed an event that might be going down in the history books..." said Nick jokingly, although his eyes widened when Jeff brought out a thick book from his bag and flicking through the past achievements- why did he have that in his bag?
"Yeah...wow, I thought so," he closed the book loudly, "gentleman, well done, you've just recorded a new world record." The group burst out laughing, even Kurt cracking a tiny smile, he rather liked Jeff already.
"It's not that rare," said Wes, rolling his eyes even though he too was smiling.
"Sure it is," a slightly rounded boy grinned, "but what I want to know is why Jeff carries around a world record book in his bag."
"Ah Trent, you should know by now, never ask about why I have something. The reasons may scare you."
Trent's eyes widened in dramatic fear before joining in the laughter again. As Blaine side-glanced at Kurt, he was proud to see a seldom seen, real smile on his face, and internally celebrated.
Maybe Kurt was going to be okay.