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!

The first weeks of summer were always the greatest.

When he was younger, Blaine would spend his summer break playing with his friends. He would spend weeks on end at Josh's house, where they would spend every lazy afternoon floating in the swimming pool talking about sports and video games. As Blaine grew older, he also began to run more in the summertime; he enjoyed the heat of the sun on his skin and how great the ice cold water tasted to his tongue, parched from running.

This year, however, summer wasn't going to be very pleasant or eventful.

It had been a few weeks since Blaine's official 'coming out' dinner fiasco and he had been currently hauled up in his bedroom, ignoring his family and ignoring life in general.

Never had he felt so useless or unloved in his lifetime. After he and his parents fought that night in the dining room, he had locked himself in the bathroom and cried for hours. He cried so much that it hurt just to blink; his eyelids had grown raw from the saltwater tears.

Even though he had been sobbing wholeheartedly, he was still able to hear the conversations going on between his parents and Josh's family. He heard his parents apologizing to Josh for what had happened; they also apologized to Josh's parents for Blaine's behavior. Not once had they mentioned Josh's betrayal or the fact that Josh had become one of Blaine's bullies. It was like they imagined it to have never happened.

They just let it go…

By doing so, Blaine felt himself pull away even further from his family. After he heard them go to bed that evening, he tip-toed out of the bathroom and snuck downstairs to the kitchen, grabbing up a few days supply of snacks and bottled water. The last thing he wanted to do was to have to face his parents for a while, so he decided to take things back to his bedroom so that he wouldn't have to even leave his room.

And that's what he did: he stayed in his room.

The first few weeks of summer, which had usually been a godsend to Blaine, were instead spent in his bedroom. Blaine laid in bed and watched television all day. Every once in a while, when he wasn't sick from disgust, he gnawed on a granola bar and had a bottle of water. That was it. His appetite seemed to have disappeared.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that the lack of actual meals was getting to the young boy. By the second week of just relying on granola, cookies, and water, he found himself growing dizzy from the lack of vitamins he had been putting into his body. Sometimes he would find himself blacking out while he was watching tv or playing a video game. He didn't think much of it, even though he knew he was losing weight and this new weight loss combined with his previous weight loss (brought on by the stress of bullying) was causing him to become very sickly.

Finally, near the end of the second week of hiding, Blaine came out of his room to gather more supplies. He had run low on bottled water and snacks and needed to restock.

It was during his kitchen raid that something happened. Blaine hadn't been very physically active for several days, nor had he really eaten, so when he left his room and went downstairs to the kitchen, his body acted oddly. It felt weird to walk; he was dizzy. His eyesight was slightly blurry and his mouth was dry. He was only able to make it a couple of feet into the brightly lit kitchen when he abruptly crumpled to the floor in exhaustion; his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell into a seizure. The amount of noise he caused during his collapse roused his mother from her sewing in the craft room and she rushed into the kitchen. Originally, she believed someone had broken into her home, but when she entered the kitchen, a horrid sight befell her. She found her son's body jerking around violently on the floor.

"Oh my Lord! WILLIAM!"

Where am I?

Blaine blinked his sleepy hazel eyes open slowly as he took in the dimly lit room. His body felt sluggish and he was uncharacteristically warm. Yawning, he brought his hand to his mouth and cringed when something pulled inside of his arm. He glanced down and found himself staring at an IV line taped to his arm, coming out of his pale hand.

Oh God, what happened?

He blinked the sleep out of his eyes again and struggled to gain focus of the rest of the room. There was a tv mounted on the wall, a reclining lounge chair in the corner, a couple bouquets of flowers in the window, and a few machines beeping happily next to his bed. He stared at the machines curiously and let his eyes travel from the wires connected to machines to where the wires were leading to: his body.

What the hell happened…?

A soft snore brought his attention back to observing the rest of the room. He glanced to his left and saw a tiny form curled up in a chair. The person was curled up by his bed; their head laying gently on the mattress, a Bible tucked underneath their hands.

It was his mother.

"Mom?" The voice that slipped out was coarse and tired. Blaine almost didn't recognize that the voice that came out was his own. It definitely didn't sound like him, nor did it feel like it was his voice. It sounded like someone else, someone foreign, someone… broken.

"Mom?" He called again and watched as the sleeping form stirred, looked around, and then sat up quickly.

"Oh Blaine!" His mother leaned forward and pressed her lips to his forehead. She laid kiss after kiss after kiss on his hairline as she mumbled soft apologies to her son. Her fingers latched themselves in his curls and he felt wetness fall onto his forehead. Oh great, she's crying…

"Oh my baby, I was so scared that we lost you." She pulled his rake thin body close to hers and pressed more kisses into his hair, still sobbing loudly. "You wouldn't stop shaking! I couldn't get you to stop shaking!"

Blaine raised an eyebrow, curious as to what she was talking about. He listened to her mourn and cry some more before he finally got sick of the fake sympathy and pushed her away. The more she cried, the more he began to remember.

He remembered stumbling down the steps and shuffling into the kitchen. He remembered reaching into the cupboard and going to grab a bag if beef jerky when he all of a sudden felt weak. He had felt a strange shiver run up the base of the his spine into his brain and then everything jerked forward and crashed to the ground.

That was all he remembered, minus a bit piece of people hovering over him and talking. Other than that, he really didn't remember much else.

However, sitting here now, listening to his mother- the exact same woman who had slapped him not just two weeks before, now crying over his health- it just made him sick.

"Why are you here?"

He was staring up at her with those same hazel eyes her husband had. However, Blaine's were more emotional, more hurt, and definitely more lost. He seemed so annoyed that his mother was in the room, crying over his well-being, when just weeks ago, she had practically spat in his face by apologizing to Josh of all people about the fight that occurred during dinner.

Groaning, Blaine tore his eyes away from his mother's teary face and looked back down at his IV laden hands. "Why am I in here? I want to go home."

"Honey," his mother was holding one of his hands now, "you're on fluids. You were dehydrated and you went into a seizure. You weren't nourishing your body properly and it finally just shut down. You've been out of it for the last two days. We were so scared."

"…we?"

Blaine didn't miss the plural at all. He saw his mother in the room, but he didn't see anyone else. His eyes took another sweep of the room before he turned back to face his mom's dark eyes.

"I don't even know why you guys even bother."

"Oh baby," he felt his mother's hand leave his as she stood up and pulled him gently into her arms. Long ago, Blaine would've loved to have been pulled into an embrace by his mom, but at that very moment, he would have rather hugged a flaming cactus. "Your father and I are very, very sorry about all this. We-"

"Mother, I can't-"

"Please honey, just listen-"

"Just leave, mom. Please just go." Blaine pushed his mother away forcefully and looked up at her with watery hazel orbs. "I don't even care to hear your excuse. Just leave."

He watched as she opened her mouth to argue, but he beat her to the punch and started yelling. Tears started to fall freely down his cheeks as he yelled for his mother to leave the room. All he wanted was to be alone. He didn't want his parents false apologies or their feigned concern. All he wanted was to curl up and cry.

Was that too much to ask?

"Was she really expecting you to be all 'OMG MOM I LOVE YOU?'"

Kurt was leaning back against the wall, his fingers crossed over his stomach as he watched Blaine with an amused gaze. Honestly, as unfunny as the entire situation was with Blaine's hospital stay was, he really couldn't find any way to understand the Anderson parental units whatsoever. He raised an eyebrow at Blaine when he saw the shorter boy stand up from his chair and make his way across the room.

"Where are you going?"

Blaine smirked as he stopped in front of the coffee pot, "To get a refill. Where'd you think I was going?" He sat his coffee cup down, glanced at the door, and acted like he was about to run out of the room. This earned him a bitchy glare from the blue eyed boy across the room and he grinned.

"Do you want a refill?"

Kurt gazed down at his empty cup of joe and nodded. "I'd love some more if you don't care."

The two boys went on to make second cups of their specified coffees: cinnamon for Blaine and mocha for Kurt. Then they settled back into their seats. Kurt took a sip of his drink and watched as Blaine drummed his fingers on his desk.

"To be honest," the older Warbler muttered, "I think my mom was expecting me to be all excited to see her there and stuff, you know? She had ignored me for so long and then when I woke up and saw her there, I think she was hoping that I'd forgive her and all would be well."

"I really hope you didn't forgive her that easily."

"Oh don't worry," Blaine commented as he sipped his coffee. "I didn't. I didn't really forgive anyone for a while."

Blaine was excited to be home from the hospital, but he was also sad that he had to leave… if that made any sense.

Being in the hospital allowed him to spend a lot of time alone and reflect on things. Sure, he had been alone those few weeks he had hauled himself up in his room, but that was different. At home, he was bombarded with having to hear his parents moving around the house (yet ignoring him completely) and he was surrounded by pictures of his happy past when he was friends with Josh still and his parents actually loved and accepted him.

His stay in the hospital allowed him to be alone with his thoughts without having to deal with his parents. All he had to do was to tell one of the nurses that he wanted to be left alone and his parents stayed away. Without them there (luckily they complied to his requests, believing that he would eventually forgive them), Blaine was able to focus more on himself getting better. The IV fluids he was on were slowly phased out and he was started on a solid diet again. He found himself putting on a little more weight and he felt a bit more energetic now that he was eating again. Overall, things felt a little bit better for him physically.

It was the emotional aspect that was still messing with him.

One of the biggest things that got to him came in the form of a bouquet of flowers he saw sitting by the window sill. One day, as he got out of bed to look out of the window, Blaine noticed a bouquet of white carnations (one of his favorite flowers). He lifted them up to his nose, smelled them, and then pulled a tiny blue and white card from the bouquet. Part of him faintly recognized the handwriting on the envelope, but he couldn't place the writing, so he opened the card to see who the flowers were from.

Get better soon, Blaine! Much love - Gary, Charlene, and Joshua

Upon seeing whom the flowers were from, Blaine's grip on the card slackened and the card slipped from his fingers to the floor. Why would they send him a get well soon bouquet? Why did they even care?

…Why?

The dark haired boy leaned down and picked up the fallen card, glancing at the pretty lettering on it. Most of the writing on the card was made out from Charlene's precise cursive, however, both Gary and Josh's names were signed differently. Blaine knew the family long enough and well enough to know each and everyone's handwriting; it seemed that Charlene was able to get both her husband and her son to sign the get well card. He stared at the piece of paper for minutes, his mind racing with the thought that Josh had actually signed the card for him.

I still care about him…

It hurt his heart to think about it all, really. Josh and Blaine had been best friends since they were just toddlers. Their fathers worked together at a law firm and their mothers became best friends who decided to hold play dates for their growing sons at each other's houses. It was inevitable that Blaine and Josh would become the best of friends: an inseparable pair.

They truly were inseparable… or at least they were until Blaine's secret came out.

They loved each other, as best friends do. If one was hurt, the other one felt it. If one cried, the other did too. If one boy was in trouble, the other one would step it up and defend his friend (Josh was the one always doing the defending though). They just cared about one another. Later on, Blaine's caring developed into something more.

Before Blaine had fully accepted that he was gay, he started to have these lingering feelings for his best friend. The feelings frightened him a little bit; as time went on, however, he began to realize that he actually cared a lot about Josh… and not in a brotherly, mentor sort of way. Yeah, Josh was like his protector (he was quick to step in and take up for Blaine in a fight, especially when they were little and kids would pick on Blaine for his curly hair and small stature), but as time went by, Blaine knew that he cared about Josh quite a bit and not just because Josh watched out for him.

He wanted Joshua to be that guy that he saw in the movies. The guy who would sit with him on the couch and hold him during scary movies. The guy who would make him breakfast and would stare at him lovingly as they ate. The guy who would throw his coat over a rain puddle and allow him to walk over it (okay, maybe not that dramatic, but he wanted something special with Josh, not just a friendship). He was in love with his best friend.

And his best friend hated him for it…

So, for Blaine to be standing there in that hospital room, staring at a card that had been signed by the guy he still slightly cared for… it really hurt. Especially since the guy that he cared so much about was one of the main contributing factors as to why Blaine was even in the hospital in the first place. Sure, he was the one who chose not to eat and was the one who ultimately made himself so sickly, BUT it was Leonard Addams and JOSH who had ran his self-esteem and his will to live straight into the ground.

Sighing quietly, Blaine set the card back into the flowers and stared back down at the white, fluffy blooms. He didn't notice the footsteps that came up behind him.

"So you finally decided to look at your flowers?"

Blaine jumped, startled from the voice, and turned around to face a tall, slender blonde nurse. She was wearing scrubs with Disney princesses on them and her face was lit up with a knowing smile.

"Some boy brought those flowers in while you were still sleeping. He seemed very sad, so I told him that he could go in and see you if he wanted, but he just asked me to put these in here for you."

A lump formed in Blaine's throat as his mind raced with questions. Was it Josh who had came to bring the flowers? No, it was probably some random flower delivery guy…

The nurse placed a hand on the short boy's shoulder and looked at the flower arrangements lined up on the window sill, "I don't know if that guy was your classmate or anything, but he had on a letterman's jacket." She pointed over towards the recliner chair in the corner that housed Blaine's letterman jacket, "It was like that one, except his said something like James or Jackson or-"

"Joshua?" Blaine's brows rose and his voice came out hopeful.

"That's it! Joshua!" The nurse grinned, "That's what his name was! He handed me these flowers and he looked so sad. I think he felt bad that you were in the hospital. When I took the flowers from him, he asked me if you were alright and I told him you were resting and on fluids."

"Then what did he do?"

"Well, he was frowning and he glanced at your room like he wanted to go in, but he didn't. He ended up leaving and going back down the hall to where a few of your other schoolmates were."

"Other schoolmates?" Blaine felt his face grow hot as his mind raced to figure out who else came with Josh. His body grew cold when he started to imagine the others who may have came with his ex-best friend.

The nurse noticed his tenseness and bit her lip, fearing she may have said too much. She took her hand off of the thin boy's shoulder and went to move out of the room when she heard him ask quietly.

"Was there a tall, blonde jock-ish looking guy with him?"

The nurse looked up thoughtfully, allowing her brain to replay the moments of the previous day in her head. She remembered the dark haired, light eyed boy disappearing down the hall towards the elevators and meeting up with another guy and a girl. Her mind flashed with thought, "Why yes, one of the people he was with was a blonde guy and a dark haired girl. I think the other two were too scared to come see you."

Blaine's stomach turned and knotted as he imagined Josh, Leonard, and Julia entering the hospital. He could only imagine what kind of things Leonard was saying as they entered the hospital and he could imagine Julia laughing at everything he said.

"Looks like that stupid faggot put himself in the hospital this time."

"Leonard, you're so mean!" Giggles.

"Let's hurry up so I can drop off these stupid flowers my parents insisted on sending. I don't want that queer to see me and try to confess his love again."

"I totally understand why he'd want you though, baby. You're hot!" Giggles again.

Sure, the conversation may not have gone like that, but with the way the three of them treated him over the last few months, Blaine was pretty sure those words came out of them exactly how he imagined it. With his fists clenching, Blaine felt his jaw lock up in anger. How dare Josh bring those two to the hospital with him! How dare he!

The nurse had sensed Blaine's distress and placed her hand on his back, "Mr. Anderson, perhaps you should sit down?"

"No, I'm fine," he grumbled as he stared at the carnation bouquet once more.

"I think it would be for the best, honey." The woman was staring at him with concern flashing in her eyes. She led him to the recliner and sat him down before she pulled another chair up close to him. She placed a hand on his knee. "Those kids… they aren't your friends, are they?"

Tears brimmed in his eyes now as he stared up at the nurse's soft brown eyes. "No, no they aren't. They are the reason I'm here in the first place."

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry. If I had known I wouldn't have-"

The hazel eyed boy raised his hand, stopping the nurse from talking. "No, no. It's alright. I just-" he took a deep breath and let a few of the tears fall. "I just want to go home."

The nurse smiled sadly as she patted Blaine's knee, "I believe we're going to discharge you tomorrow, actually. You've been showing significant improvement over the last few days and since you've started eating again, I believe we can send you home soon."

"Really?" Blaine's eyes were sparkling, from both his tears and from the hope that he could just go home.

"Yes. I believe you can go home tomorrow."

Blaine reached up and brushed the remaining tears from his eyes and glanced out the window into the morning sky. He barely noticed when the nurse got up from her seat and left the room, he was too busy staring out at the clouds. His mind raced with the thoughts of the things he was going to do when he got home. He wasn't going to lounge around and pity himself anymore.

He had a whole summer of growing up to do. He wasn't going to be the same old Blaine Anderson who let people walk all over him and who let people tear him down. He was going to be stronger, smarter, and better.

A/N: Well this chapter was a bitch to get out (sorry for the language). I've been so tired over these last few days that anytime I would start to write, I would fall asleep on myself. That's why it has taken me so long to update. I'm hoping to maybe put up another update otherwise tonight or tomorrow, but we'll see. I'm getting tired just writing this author's note! Ha! Anyways, any reviews are appreciated! And thanks again for the previous reviews and favorites! I'm hoping to at least hit 100+ reviews before this things dies off in, like 3-4 chapters… hopefully!