DISCLAIMER: I do not own Glee, nor am I associated with it or Ryan Murphy. I am just an out-of-college daydreamer who sometimes gets into these writing funks and ends up tossing out a story after letting the idea sit in my brain for a few days!

Sometimes You Need More Than Courage

By: xSlythStratasfaction (formerly known as LadyStrata821)

Pairing: Kurt x Blaine (friendship only)

A/N: I decided to write this after having nothing but Klaine stuck in my mind for a week. I tried to go back and rewatch a lot of the scenes the two of them had together and then I started wondering about the mysterious Blaine and his past. That's when I thought of perhaps writing something about him (I'm pretty sure many others have done this as well; I haven't gotten around to reading many Klaine fics, so if this idea has been overdone, I apologize!). Anyways, Blaine's story will be a mix of stuff that I've seen a few of my own gay/lesbian friends go through. This story is dedicated to those friends. I hardly see or hear from any of them very much anymore, but I still think of them! This takes place between the episodes of SEXY and ORIGINAL SONG!

WARNING: There's some language in here that may be offensive!

"What do you mean he's being suspended?"

Mr. Anderson's deep voice boomed in the small office. Blaine sat in a chair next to him, between both of his parents actually; his small form crumpled up in pain.

Earlier that afternoon, he was jumped by Leonard Addams, his hellish tormentor, in the gymnasium. After what had seemed like hours (but had only been a matter of minutes), someone had finally walked past the gym and saw Leonard's fists slamming repeatedly into Blaine's bloody, tear-streaked face.

There was a lot of commotion as students and teachers alike entered the gym, wanting to see the epic fight that was going on.

Blaine remembered hands reaching out and pulling Leonard's burly form off of his. He remembered the blood he saw caked on the other boy's fists. He also remembered leaping up off of the floor with a huge burst of adrenaline as he threw a massive punch to Leonard's jaw.

And that's what landed him in the office: the punch.

It was stupid, really. After all the damage that Leonard had done to his body, Blaine felt that he had a right to at least hit the bigger boy back just ONCE. But, the principal didn't see it that way. Since a couple of teachers had been holding onto Leonard when Blaine swung, it was considered an assault… on both Mr. Addams AND the teachers, even though Blaine was no where near hitting anyone on the faculty.

Whimpering, Blaine moved the ice pack that lay over his right eye and looked over at his mother. She had tears streaming down her cheeks, her hands white as snow from clutching the arms of the chair.

"He was only trying to protect himself," his mother whispered, her voice small and broken. She seemed terribly distraught and it broke Blaine's heart to know he had failed her.

He turned his head and looked at his father. William Anderson looked absolutely pissed as he sat there in his seat, seething to the core. His hazel eyes burned green with intensity as he argued back and forth with the school principal, Mr. Collins.

"My son has done nothing wrong! NOTHING! Ask his friends, they will vouch that Blaine is NOT a troublemaker!"

The balding head of schools just sat in his reclining desk chair with a smug look on his face, as if he was happy to see Blaine go. He barely argued back with Mr. Anderson, instead watching the man go off the handle with a smirk. "Mr. Anderson, your son swung at one of our faculty. I cannot simply allow that to be unpunished. He and Mr. Addams will both be under out of school suspension for a week's time. Once they return, both boys will have two weeks of in-school suspension at the alternative learning center. I must also suggest that you get young Blaine some anger management classes. It may help his issues in the future."

Blaine's eyes shot up at the principal that very moment. Only one of his eyes could focus properly (the other one was swollen to hell), but he could clearly see the look of satisfaction on his principal's face when he said those horrible things about him. His stomach churned as he watched the principal slowly rise from his seat and start towards the door.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting to be getting to. Please remove your son from the school premises immediately. His suspension starts now."

"You shouldn't have been suspended, Blaine."

Kurt's voice was soft and soothing to the shorter teen. Blaine laid his cheek against his palm as he sat up on the mattress. He could easily see the younger boy's blue eyes watching him intently, waiting for him to continue his story.

"Do you want to know why I hit that asshole?"

"More than anything," Kurt's eyes flashed as he leaned closer to Blaine's body. He reached out and placed a hand on Blaine's shoulder. "I know he deserved it…"

Blaine sighed, "My mom is from the Philippines. I hit him because he said something about my mother."

"What did he say?"

"I don't really want to repeat it… but he just kept on saying things about her. About her race. Over and over and over again. I got sick of hearing it."

Kurt didn't miss the tears that started to form in Blaine's hazel eyes. They glossed over very quickly as the boy began to talk about his mother and it made Kurt's heart throb in pain. He got emotional about his mom as well, even though she had been gone for years…

Blaine continued softly, "I can take people saying things about me… but not about my mom. Or either of my parents, actually. I love them to death, despite the fact that-"

He stopped.

"You should've kept your hands to yourself!"

William Anderson's voice was loud and menacing. His knuckles were white from squeezing so hard on the steering wheel and his hazel eyes were still as wild as they were when he was yelling back at the high school.

Blaine closed his eyes and leaned back against the cool leather seats of his dad's luxury car. He balanced the melting ice pack on his swollen eye and took a deep breath to try to calm himself. He had just spent the last few minutes in the car sobbing because his dad was so furious with him and from all the crying he had just done, he had aggravated what was a dull ache in his ribs. The dull ache had now built up to a full on throbbing and it hurt to breathe.

Calm yourself, Blaine… calm down… he's just upset…

"Now you've been suspended for a WHOLE WEEK! A WHOLE WEEK, BLAINE! What are we going to do?"

The yelling had grown louder and it was now giving Blaine a horrid headache. In all reality, he kind of wished he was curled up under the bleachers in the gym. If only Leonard had beaten him up and left him for dead in the gymnasium, then he could rest and just sleep. His head hurt him so bad…

"William, darling, please. Blaine is hurt! You can't just keep yelling at him like this. We have to get him to the doctor. I think he may have-"

Maria Anderson's voice was much more calm… and much quieter. She had turned around in her seat and was slowly running her fingers through her son's bloody, matted black curls. Blaine opened his eyes to look at her when she ran a finger over a gash in his forehead.

She was absolutely stunning, he thought. Her jet black hair was shiny, straight, and silky. He wished he had her hair (curls can be a bitch sometimes); he had inherited his father's curly locks and hazel eyes. The dark hair came from her though. His father's hair was a brown shade, almost red in certain lights. Also, unlike his mother, Blaine had lighter skin like his dad. He did tan well though, but he certainly wasn't as tan as his gorgeous mother.

…Am I dying? Is that why I'm being so observational?

Blaine's thoughts switched from his mother's looks to his potential well-being. Something was off. He never really reflected on how pretty his mom was unless something was wrong. Groaning, he leaned into her touch as she placed a cool hand against his bruised cheek. Something was definitely wrong…

"Blaine, honey. Can you stay awake for mommy, please?"

Her incredibly dark brown eyes peered down at him with tears sparkling behind her long, black lashes. She looked frightened.

"William, I think he may have a concussion. He's zoning in and out."

Mr. Anderson huffed, "Well, if he would learn to keep his hands to himself, he wouldn't be in this predicament."

"I think somewhere between the school and the hospital, I must've passed out at least eight times. My mom kept on shaking me awake and I was so mad. The last couple times she woke me up, I threw up in the car and then I had to listen to my dad scream at me for messing up his leather interior…"

Blaine took a swig of his water and stood up from the air mattress. He slowly began to pace the room, ready to continue on with his story.

Kurt watched him pace.

He had spent a few hours in the ER that night. It turned out that he had a concussion, as well as some bruised ribs and a black eye. He also had to get stitches in one of his cheeks, on his forehead, and in his lower lip. Leonard Addams had truly fucked him up this time.

Laying in bed was really the only thing Blaine could do at the moment. He was on so many pain meds that the days and nights he spent at home seemed like they had meshed together and created just one long period of time. He had a tutor who would come in for a few hours each day to catch him up on his homework and she was basically the only visitor he got…

His parents had spent even less time with him than Blaine thought they would have. His mom stopped in periodically to bring him food or to check his temperature, but most of the time, she stayed away. He never failed to catch the disappointed look in her eyes though when she stood over him as she took his temperature. He could never figure out why she would give him such a look though…

As for his father… his dad was pissed at him. Pissed because they had to shell out more money to the hospital for Blaine's emergency room visit and pissed because they had to hire a tutor to come over and teach Blaine while he was suspended from school. Blaine thought the whole ordeal with his father being pissed was hilarious. The Andersons were NOT poor. They had enough money to live comfortably and then some, so Blaine never understood his father's anger over having to help out his injured son.

However, late one night, as he laid in bed curled up with a bag of ice on his swollen eye, he heard his parents arguing out in the hallway, right outside the door to his room.

"I can't keep dealing with this shit, Maria."

"But Blaine is-"

"I'm not going to keep shelling out thousands of dollars to keep fixing that kid up! Every few months, I have to throw down hundreds of thousands of dollars just to keep him in school… and for what? So he can get into another fight and then get suspended again?"

"Those kids are picking on him…"

"He needs to let that shit go, Maria."

He tried to let that SHIT go… he really did. His parents had NO idea how many other times he had hidden the bruises and stuff he came home with… they had NO IDEA.

"He's just so small, William. He hasn't hit his growth spurt yet… and you know how mean kids can be to someone who is different than they are."

"It's not because he's small… and you damn well know that."

"William!"

"You've heard the rumors. You've seen the way he acts. Our son is-"

"WILLIAM!"

"He's a fucking faggot, Maria! What am I supposed to do with a fag son?"

Silence.

"That's what I thought."

And everything got quiet. The hall light turned off and Blaine curled himself into a ball and sobbed himself to a fitful sleep.

His parents were so disappointed in him…

A/N: Sorry if this chapter seems rushed. I'm a little bit under the weather and my sister just started going back to school, so I'm trying to get back into writing again since she's no longer hovering over my shoulder asking me, "HEY! WHAT'RE YA WRITING?" Anyways, I'm also very sorry that I haven't gotten to the Josh-is-like-Finn connection, but I will be getting to that in the next chapter, hopefully. Thanks for sticking with me though! And thanks for all the reviews as well! I really appreciate them; they motivate me to keep writing (plus I love getting ideas from my readers as well!)