AN: This one is short, guys:( Time just has not been on my side lately! But, on the plus side, things are about to heat up (although not necessarily in the way I'm sure some of you are hoping;)) Next chapter should, hopefully, be loads better.

This chapter features Karofsky, who I've morphed to fit this little plot hole of mine.

Disclaimer: Alas, Glee is not in my possession.

Count On Me

Let it be known that Kurt Hummel is not scared.

He knows who he is, and that's all that matters.

That Friday night was the first in a long, long time.

And for some reason, he can't stop looking at the bruises. He traces his fingers over them in the mirror and bites down hard on his lip as he tries not to cry. When nobody's around, he counts the scars out loud.

But he is not afraid. Just because he starts shaking when he thinks about the way they hit him, just because he cries into his pillow when even thoughts of Blaine can't pull him from the hurt, doesn't mean he's frightened. No, because Kurt Hummel is strong.

He's better than them, and that has to count for something.

Right now, though, he doesn't know what to believe.

Dave Karofsky never scared him, not before. Sure, he was tired of being slammed against lockers, and the slushies were ruining some of his best clothes, but nothing about the boy ever intimidated him.

Until right this moment.

It's a little past three-thirty, and the hallways are practically ringing with silence. Students fled the moment the bell rang, teachers following not too far behind. Kurt was just running to his locker to grab a book he'd forgotten before an after-school glee practice when he feels unfamiliar hands pushing at his back.

"Hummel," he hisses.

"Wha –," Kurt gasps before he's very violently spun around and shoved up against the locker nearest to his own. "Karofsky? What are you doing? I just bought this shirt!"

Dave's smile is absolutely poisonous. "Don't worry about it. I'll buy you a new one. Now, how about we get out of here and go do something a little more…productive." He brings a hand up to tilt Kurt's chin.

"W-what? What are you t-talking about?" Suddenly, he doesn't feel so confident. The look in the other boy's eyes is one that he's never seen before, but that causes his face to go pale in fear.

"I don't need to go to practice. They'll do just fine without me. You definitely don't need to practice using the voice of yours. I wonder what you'd sound like…"

"Stop! Stop it, Dave, j-just go…"

He doesn't listen. He just looks Kurt up and down. "Come on. Let's leave. We'll take my car. Be back before anyone even notices."

His mouth doesn't seem to want to work anymore. His only defense is to kick the taller boy in the groin when he's too preoccupied to cover himself up.

Hands over his balls, Karofsky pulls away with a muttered, "Fuck you, Hummel."

Then, as if nothing had ever happened, he walks away.

The tears come before he can stop them.

And then, thankfully or not, familiar voices carry down the hallway. Slowly, he sinks to the ground and wraps his arms around his knees.

"Kurt? K-Kurt! Mercedes, it's Kurt!"

Footsteps sound quickly against the tiled floor and, seconds later, Sam and Mercedes are pulling him up. They mumble questions and apologies and theories until it's just too much and he gives up on listening.

Parts of his brain are telling him to shove them off – to tell them that it's all okay and no, no, I'm fine, really. But the tears won't stop.

They drag him down the hallway, towards the music room. He hears the clash of tuning guitars and the solid thump of a drum and lets out a choked sob.

Mercedes squeezes his arm, but he barely feels it.

Things were going so well. That Friday night, now weeks ago, had been nothing. It was supposed to be nothing. An accident. A slip.

Finn reaches him first. Then Brittany, and Quinn, and Artie, and he closes his eyes because he has to be strong.

"What's going on?" Mr. Schue practically demands, parting through the crowd of teenagers to reach Kurt. "Kurt, what's wrong?"

Sam and Mercedes talk in low whispers. They tell the group all that they know.

Everyone turns to face him. Mr. Schue looks a cross between sad and frustrated.

Kurt bites his lip.

"Nothing," he finally manages. "Nothing. Just…Karofsky being Karofsky. He slammed me against my locker, like always, and I'm a little stressed, so it bugged me more than usual. I'm sorry if I scared you, but it was nothing." He stares at the floor, and it should be obvious, but it's not, so he just keeps on staring.

What they don't know won't kill them.

Besides, he won't let it happen again.

Rachel places a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe we can help? Get the boys to shake him off?"

"Sounds like a plan," Puck chimes in, raising his eyebrows in serious consideration. "We may play on the same football team, but I've lost all respect for the dude. Let me tell him where to shove it."

Lips quirking to the side in an almost smile, Kurt swipes his fingers over his cheeks and rubs away the tears. "No, it's okay. Like I said: stressed. Lots of school work, you know." He shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly, and he doesn't think anybody notices how tense he really is. He sighs in relief.

Naturally, things go back to normal.

Rachel struts to the front of the room and sings some poppy song that hurts Kurt's heart a little, but it's not really like he's paying attention. All he can think about is calling Blaine and telling him what just happened, because he wants someone to know. And as much as he loves his glee friends, he's itching to get away. They won't understand.

They'll react with violent words and raised fists, but what will it accomplish? Karofsky is not the first, and he won't be the last.

He just wants to talk to somebody who understands.

Blaine Anderson seems like the only possible candidate.

Mr. Schue tells him, after practice, that he's going to talk to Principal Figgins, but Kurt doesn't let himself hope too much as he gets into his car. Nervously, he looks around the parking lot, but he's pleased to know that, other than a few other glee kids, he's alone. Finn won't be out for a few more minutes, so he leans back in the seat and closes his eyes.

His phone sits in his lap as he awaits a text message from Blaine. He won't tell him anything yet. What went down with Karofsky is too private to discuss through a quick message.

Finally, after five minutes of waiting, Finn throws the door open and slumps against the passenger seat. "Wanna tell me what happened back there? With Karofsky, I mean. You looked really upset."

Kurt puts the keys in the ignition and rolls his eyes, still hurting but, for the most part, back to normal. "Like I said, I'm stressed. His little shove felt like the end of the world. I'm fine now. And please, please, don't bring this up with my dad and Carole, okay?"

Finn winces. "Kurt, I don't know…"

"Finn, please."

They pull out of the lot and wave at Rachel as she slips into her own car. "But I'm worried about you, man! These past two months just haven't been your months."

"Let me worry about that, Finn."

Running his hands through his hair, Finn takes a moment to just look at his step-brother. He sees a tired face, rosy cheeks, and a fashion sense that blows most girls' tastes out of the water. He sees the same person he's always known. "What about Blaine? How are things with him?"

And Kurt smiles like it's all alright. "Great, actually. We're meeting up for coffee again on Saturday." Excitement sparks through his veins just at the thought.

"You seem pretty excited."

His cheeks burn. "Yah, you could say that."

Kurt falls back against the mattress with an exhausted yawn. Rubbing at his eyes, he decides that now's a good as time as any to call Blaine. What happened with Kaforsky is like a weight pressed against his chest, both painful and annoying all at once. He just wants to make it go away.

It takes a few seconds before somebody finally answers with a subdued, "Hello?"

Instantly, he recognizes the voice, although he's bothered by the fact that it isn't who he's expecting. "S-Sebastian? Uhm, is Blaine around? I kind of need to talk to him."

There's a moment of silence and an exaggerated sigh. "No, he's off at the library. Left his phone here. I'll have him call back…"

"No!" It's honestly not his fault when the word practically explodes from his throat. "I mean…I mean, can I talk to you, then?" He wants to smack himself. When it comes to keeping quiet, Kurt was never very good at it. "I need to talk to somebody."

Sebastian snorts. "And what makes you think I even want to listen?"

Well, okay, he wasn't expecting that. But he's still gotta try. When it comes down to it, getting to know Sebastian is just as important as getting to know Blaine. They need to be comfortable if he expects this friendship with Blaine to ever make it somewhere. "I was just hoping that you'd understand."

"Understand what, exactly?"

"What it's like to be gay in a world that doesn't want to accept it."

Again, silence. On the other end, Sebastian's doing that annoying thing he does with his mouth where he bites down hard at the inside of his cheek. This is Kurt, for crying out loud! Kurt Hummel, the kid that he hates because he obviously has eyes for his Blaine.

But the kid sounds pretty wrecked, and he can't forget how broken he was the night they found him. Some part of him just doesn't want to see that happen again. Because he does know what it's like. Although it was years ago now, he still remembers the way people looked at him. People who were supposed to love him.

He decides, although with a pained sigh, that he wants to listen and, if he can, actually help the other boy. "What happened, Kurt?"

And Kurt absolutely breaks. Had it been on any other day, at any other time, Sebastian would have laughed, called him weak, and removed his number from Blaine's phone. He would have made up a thousand lies just to convince his best friend that Kurt wasn't as good as he made himself out to be. He would have kissed Blaine and taken Blaine and broken Kurt's heart just to watch the hurt split his face.

But not now.

Not when Kurt starts crying over the phone because he can't tell this to anybody else and Sebastian is the closest thing he has to a friend. Not when Kurt's pain is his pain.

And when it's all over, he only knows one thing for sure.

He wants to punch the hell out of that Karofsky kid.

Every part of him hates that he's siding with Kurt. The very molecules of his being practically scream out in agony when he actually starts liking Kurt. Realizing that they could actually be friends is like taking a kick to the balls.

"Kurt, I want you to listen to me, alright?" Sebastian is not a compassionate person. He runs from strong emotions because they fucking scare him. Feeling vulnerable, afraid, broken – he doesn't like it. Even the good ones: love, hope, happiness; they always end up leading to the bad things in life. Which is why he's only ever trusted Blaine.

The way Blaine makes him feel doesn't scare him like the rest of the world does.

Kurt's voice his rough from talking through the tears. "Okay."

"This kid, Karofsky, is nothing, alright? Nothing. He's afraid, and you're not, and that makes you so much better than him. People like him are jealous and big-headed because of it. Don't let anything he does or says scare you, because he can't hurt you. Not without getting hurt back."

The way Sebastian manages to put himself out as so kind and protective sort of shocks Kurt to the core. He's silent for a few moments, contemplating just what this whole thing means.

Maybe he just has to give Sebastian a little more credit.

"Kurt, you there?"

"Y-yah, uhm…"

There's some talking on the other end, and Kurt automatically recognizes the other voice as Blaine's. His shoulders slump without his realizing as he lets out a sigh of relief. Sebastian is nice, but Blaine is the one he really wants to talk to.

A few seconds later, his panicked voice is speaking out at Kurt. "Kurt? Kurt, what happened? Sebastian said you were crying!"

He laughs through the tears. "How was the library?"

"Not important. Kurt, what happened?"

"Well, there's this stupid football player…"

By the time everything's been said and done, it's somewhere close to midnight. Blaine doesn't want to hang up – wants to resists Kurt's goodbye, Blaine, but he's so caught up in all that he's just heard that he can't form the right words.

All he wants is for Kurt not to hurt anymore.

Even when they were past the sad stories and into the casual joking and small talk that was their relationship, Blaine could hear the difference in his friend's voice. That small note of sadness that he only ever remembers hearing when they were in that hospital. It breaks his heart.

"Hey, don't look so upset," Sebastian says, pulling him from his thoughts. "Let's get some sleep."

Blaine's eyes are wide with shock, sadness, and fear. Fear for Kurt. Fear for his friend. "I don't think I can sleep along tonight, Seb. Can I…can we share a bed?"

Sebastian's smile is soft and carved gently from his understanding. "Of course."

The shorter boy doesn't even bother with putting on pajamas. He just crawls beneath the blankets and takes comfort from Sebastian's warmth.

His voice is liquid against the quiet ringing in Blaine's ears. "He'll be okay. I may not know him very well, – hell, I may not even like him – but I know that he's strong. I can see it in his eyes, Blaine. You don't have to worry." And for two entirely different reasons, there are knots tied up tight in their throats.

Blaine wants to cry.

Sebastian just wants to throw something out the window. He wants to smash glass and punch someone's nose until it breaks because he doesn't like the sensation that is his heart tearing itself to shreds.

For Kurt.

And that's a hard pill to swallow.

He never wanted to like the kid, let alone hurt for him.

Blaine curls against his side, and it's a nice feeling. Like dipping his toes in warm sand or sinking into a nice, hot bath after having been outside in the cold all day. Clinging to it greedily, he falls asleep pretty quickly.

His friend, however, is up for hours, just staring at the ceiling and thinking Kurt, Kurt, Kurt.

AN: Don't forget to look out for Chris Colfer and the rest of the lovely Glee cast tonight at the PCA's!:D Hope you all voted!

~and I'm only just saying that to be polite; really I'm so excited just to see Chris and if he wins just a'lkadjf'lkajdsf;kljasd;lk~

~oh, and I voted~

~for chris~

~like six thousand times~

~anyway~