Tuesday morning Blaine texted Kurt before he went down to breakfast.

Im sorry Kurt

I know

friends?

Kurt hesitated for a bit, his heart yearning for more, but he reluctantly typed back friends

:)

The bell rang, signaling the end of first period. Everyone stood up and rushed towards the door. As Blaine was attempting to exit the classroom, he kept getting violently shoved back in the room. Every once in a while he would hear shouts of 'get back fag' or 'outa my way fairy.'

Blaine was surprised—sure every once in a while he would get a slur thrown at him, but not all at once like this.

He was just about to finally break free from the crowd when someone tripped him and ran past. For the second time in the past few days he found himself lying helplessly on the floor.

He sighed and picked himself up, finally able to walk free in the hallway. Suddenly he spotted David outside a nearby classroom and gazed at him, a question tugging at his mind. Had David told anyone about overhearing the drunk phone call to Kurt?

Reluctantly he walked over to stand in front of the taller boy. "David?" he asked forcefully as he tried to stand up as tall as he could.

David looked down at Blaine. "What?"

Blaine mentally tried to calm himself as he asked quietly "Did you tell anyone about that phone call you heard me make when I was drunk?"

"Of course! How could I just let something like that stay quiet?" David sneered.

Blaine felt like the air had been punched out of him. "What-what did you say?"

"That you were in love with a guy named Kurt." David smirked.

Blaine's eyes widened and David grinned. "Calm down Blaine, now everyone knows you're gay. Big deal."

The bell for the next class to start but Blaine ignored it, instead he launched himself at David and punched him in the jaw. "I'm not gay." he said forcefully.

David scrunched his face up as the copper taste of blood trickled into his mouth. "Fag." He spat as he tackled Blaine to the floor and Blaine grunted at the weight of the other boy on top of him.

Blaine squirmed and managed to get his arms free as he began to punch David repeatedly. David got in a few hits himself until a teacher came out if the classroom and pulled the boys off of each other.

"Hey. Hey!" he yelled and the boys stopped fighting to break free.

Blaine looked up at the teacher and saw that it was Mr. Johnson, one of the stricter teachers. All hope of being able to just walk away was gone.

"Come with me." Mr. Johnson said as he released each boy.

David and Blaine had no choice but to follow Mr. Johnson to the principal's office.

After meeting with Mr. Fullon, the school principal, Blaine trudged to his second period class, his heart heavy. Not only did the whole school know he was gay, he had lost the privilege of seeing Kurt this Sunday as a consequence of fighting David. He supposed he had gotten off easy, only losing one day of freedom, but he was still upset.

At the end of the school day Blaine went back to his room and went into the bathroom. He turned the sink on and called Kurt. He hoped the noise of the running water would prevent anyone from overhearing his conversation.

Kurt answered his phone on the third ring. "Hey Blaine, what's up?"

Blaine kicked the wall. "The school knows. They know I'm gay. Someone overheard me telling you I loved you and told everyone. I've been trying to avoid people as much as I can but it's been pretty bad today."

Kurt sighed. "I'm really sorry Blaine."

Blaine angrily paced the floor, stomping his feet against the tiled floor. "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have gotten drunk in the first place. And now I can't see you on Sunday. I-I beat up the guy who told everyone and I can't leave this week." Blaine said, ashamed.

Kurt's heart sank at the thought of not being able to see Blaine this week. "You did what you needed to do."

Blaine sighed. "I can't believe the school knows."

"I know how you feel." Kurt said quietly. "It's hard."

"I'm scared Kurt. There are some bad guys here. I don't wanna get too hurt." Blaine said timidly, the realization hitting him as he stood still and leaned against the counter.

Kurt inhaled sharply and his heart clenched at how fearful Blaine sounded. The thought hadn't even crossed his mind that Blaine could be in danger. "Fight back if you need to Blaine. Refuse to be the victim. But please, try to stay safe."

Blaine would've laughed at how concerned Kurt sounded if he hadn't been so worried himself. "I will."

"But try not to get into too many fights. I'm gonna miss you Sunday." Kurt said, smirking.

Blaine gave a weak smile. "Bye Kurt."

"Bye."

Wednesday afternoon Blaine felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He peeked at the math teacher who had her back to the class as she was writing on the blackboard. He snuck a peak at his phone and opened the message from Kurt.

Courage

Blaine rolled his eyes at the cheesiness, but he realized throughout the day that he was able to hold his head a little higher as he walked through the hallway and heard snarky remarks shot at him.

Blaine managed to get through the rest of the school week unscathed, for the most part. He ignored the stupid remarks shot at him as best he could. Sure, they stung, but they weren't any different than he had heard at his old school. The one time he had fought back had been when a boy shoved him hard against the wall, causing pain to shoot throughout Blaine's side. He had jumped up and tackled the boy to the ground, but the fight hadn't lasted long at all before a teacher pulled them apart. Blaine had been lucky to get away with only two days of after class detention.

"Hey Kurt."

Kurt looked up from where he was sitting on the living room couch reading that month's edition of Vogue and saw his dad standing next to him. "Yea dad?"

"You going out today?"

"Why?"

"I'm just wondering." Burt put his hands up in mock surrender. "You've been out every Sunday for the past month or so."

Kurt absentmindedly flipped to the next page in his magazine as he said "No. Blaine got in trouble and can't leave." His eyes widened at letting that slip and he looked sheepishly into his dad's face. He hadn't told his dad about Blaine, knowing that he wouldn't want Kurt hanging out with a reform boy.

"Who's Blaine?" Burt asked, just as Kurt knew he would.

"A friend of mine." Kurt said, and he couldn't help himself look a little downcast at the statement.

Burt noticed the sad look on his son's face and even though he didn't really want to, he sat down across from Kurt and asked "You like him, don't you Kurt?"

A look of worry passed over Kurt's face and he stared at the magazine sitting in his lap. He knew his dad already knew that answer, but he also knew he had to tell him. "Yea, I think so."

Burt sighed, reallynot wanting to ask the next question that came to his mind. But he did anyway, not wanting a repeat of what happened with Finn. "Is-is he like you Kurt?"

Kurt rolled his eyes and looked at his dad. "Yes he's gay, if that's what you're asking." He said, sounding irritated.

"Sorry!" Burt said quickly. "I just don't want you to get hurt."

"I'm fine dad."

"So he go to your school?"

"No." Kurt said, turning another page in his magazine.

"What school does he go to then? Somewhere close by?"

"Yea."

Burt gave Kurt a pointed look and although Kurt kept his head down, he rolled his eyes up and saw it. "He goes to Dalton." He said, hoping his dad wouldn't make a big deal of it.

"Dalton? That reform school? What're you doing hanging out with someone from there?" Burt asked sternly.

"He's nice dad, he's ok."

"Has he hurt you?"

"No." Kurt said forcefully. "Just because be goes to Dalton doesn't mean he's all that bad." Kurt said, reiterating the words Blaine had said when they first met.

"So why's he at Dalton?"

Kurt sighed. "It's complicated."

Burt nodded, knowing Kurt wouldn't elaborate. "Just be careful." He said, standing up.

"I'll be fine."

Blaine flopped on his bed in exhaustion. It was Sunday, and instead of getting to go out and see Kurt, he had been punished. At first he just stayed in a classroom serving a detention, and performing small, pointless tasks the teacher had decided to give him—such as cleaning desks, sharpening pencils, and organizing papers. Then he had to help some other boys who had been punished fertilize the gardens. Blaine didn't understand why exactly Dalton had gardens, but he thought it was just an excuse to have more work for the students to do, while attempting to make the place seem less like the prison it was.

Blaine hated that he hadn't just lost the ability to leave, but he also had to work. He envied the boys doing their homework, or hanging out in the lounge.

But finally he had been allowed to go.

As he was drifting in and out of sleep he thought of Kurt, and how much he missed seeing him today. He knew he would have to be careful the next week, so he wouldn't get in trouble again. He didn't think he could go another week without seeing the boy. Because as much as Blaine hated to admit it, he really did like Kurt. And Kurt had said he liked him back.

Suddenly, right as Blaine was about to fall asleep again, his eyes snapped open. He had told Kurt they couldn't be more than friends because he didn't want anyone to find out that he was gay at school. But now everyone knew he was gay...

TBC

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