She wished she hadn't checked Facebook.

After being discharged from hospital, Unique hadn't even considered logging into her account. She had been preoccupied with counselling and talking with her parents. She didn't know why, but she felt like logging in just before Blaine picked her up, to see if Marley had sent anything. That was not what Marley usually did, as it was usually texting or calling, but Unique knew why she logged in, and she didn't want to admit it: because she wanted to know if everyone at school knew yet.

Four new messages from people who weren't her Facebook friends. The first one was from Kelly Johnson. She didn't recognise the name, but the girl in the profile picture she recognised as the popular girl who had shouted insults at her. She dreaded what it would say, but she clicked on it anyway.

'Heard about your pill-popping adventure, shame it didn't last :('

Unique stared at the screen, speechless. She may have briefly hoped that if people found out they would send sympathetic messages, but she never expected hate mail. How could you say that to someone? Why would she say that to someone?

She doubted that the other three messages would be different, but she couldn't help herself. She clicked on the next one from a Rick Calbrese.

'why didn't u just die tranny fagot, beter luk next time'

The profile picture showed Kelly's boyfriend, taking a selfie. Bastard. Unique clicked on the next one.

'wish you hadn't survived, fatso. dont come in tomoz.'

Next one.

'piss off back to trannyland'

She didn't reply to any of them, instead logging out of her account and shutting down the laptop.

She stared at her reflection in the mirror in the corner of her room. She was all dressed up as herself tonight, ready to go out and have a good time. What was wrong with that? She wasn't hurting anybody.

Watching from her window, she saw a car pull up, and Blaine got out. Obviously he had passed his test, but he had presumably borrowed the car from his dad. He wasn't dressed up as he didn't need to be, but he looked very handsome in some brown chinos and a leather jacket. Unique already knew there was no hint of romance tonight, but she couldn't but notice her attractive 'date' for the night.

"Unique, Blaine's here!"

Her mother never called her that. She was still scared that her 'son' would try to… do that again. Maybe the idea of mentioning Wade would send Unique down a suicidal spiral and she'd throw herself out of the window. She didn't like how smothered she had become, but it was deemed necessary. It was her own fault for doing what she did, or at least that's how she viewed it.
As she descended the stairs, her mother was waiting there, smiling. But behind that smile was agony and fear. Part of her worried that her 'son' would throw himself off a building as soon as she got a chance. But the doctor said that it was a good idea to have a night out. To escape the smothering. Well, those weren't Dr Parker's exact words.

"Oh darling, you look stunning," she exclaimed, taking in the sight of her boy in a dress.

"Thanks, mom."

The doorbell rang. "Ooh, that will be your date!" She rushed to the door.

"Not a date, mom."

She didn't hear. She opened the door to a strapping Blaine. "Hello, Blaine."

"Good evening, Mrs Adams. Is Unique…" He stopped, seeing Unique at the banister. "Wow, Unique… you look great."

"Are you sure I'm not trying too hard? I don't know if I should change into something else, or…"

"You don't need to change, you're fine as you are. Your chariot awaits."

He deliberately said that last sentence in a jovial manner to try and avoid an awkward silence. This didn't feel like a good idea. They hardly knew each other.

Nevertheless, Unique smiled. "Alright then, let's go."

"One second, before you go," said her mom. "I just need to talk to her for a minute, Blaine, if that's okay."

"Of course, I'll be at the car. Goodbye, Mrs Adams."

"Goodbye, Blaine. Have a lovely evening."

Once Blaine started walking over to his car, Unique's mom partially shut the door.

"Unique…" she started, taking a deep breath. "I know you probably don't need to be told this, but I want you to be careful."

"Mom…"

"I'm sorry, but I just got you back. I don't want you wondering off with strangers… like you would do that anyway."

"Mom, it'll be fine. I promise."

She smiled, looking apologetic. "I love you, sweetie."

"I love you too, mom."

They hugged, but it was an awkward hug. Neither was particularly comfortable, but they made do.

"Alright then, you should go now. Don't want to keep your handsome date waiting."

"Mom!"

** G ** G **

They barely said anything in the car. Unique asked where it was and a few other questions, and that was about it. It wasn't a promising start to the evening, but maybe it would pick up once they got there.

"Here we are," said Blaine enthusiastically, pulling up outside a bar with a big neon sign over the front door. "I used to come here all the time with Kurt."

There it was. Kurt. Now Blaine was going to be noticeably less fun that evening. Unique didn't want to talk about him getting mopey over an ex-boyfriend because she didn't have a leg to stand on in that argument. After all, she had taken moping to an extreme.

They got out of the car and went in. Music blared and some men danced on the dance floor, but there were also people at tables and at the bar. A glamorous man in convincing drag of a red dress and duffle bag wandered past them. Unique no longer felt overdressed.

"Told you it would be fine," said Blaine cheerily. "Do you want a drink?"

"Err… what is there to drink that we can legally have?"

"…Juice. But I have ID."

"Where did you get… Never mind, I'd like a beer." She did in fact want something a bit fancier, like champagne, but teenagers couldn't afford that sort of stuff. Beer was the cheaper option.

Blaine looked surprised but didn't comment on it. "Okay then, shall we go to the bar?"

"Yeah, alright."

They walked over to the bar, but they were stopped by a handsome man in his late twenties.

"Hey, gorgeous," he slurred, holding a glass in his hand. "Wanna dance with me out back?" This was directed at Blaine.

"No thanks," he said politely. "But there's a cute guy alone at that table over there." He pointed to a table where a single man was sat on his own, sipping a beer. "Why not spruce up his night?"

The drunken man grinned like an idiot. "Okay, gorgeous. I'll go do that." He stumbled over to the table and practically fell into the seat, spilling some of his drink.

"Why did you do that?" asked Unique.

"That guy's bothered me before. He's usually quite insistent, so I send him off to some other guys."

She didn't know what to think about that, but it didn't really matter.

They made it to the bar and Blaine ordered two beers.

"So…" said Unique hesitantly, thanking Blaine for passing him a beer, "what do you… do here?"

"Drink and dance."

"Dance? Err… I'm not so sure about that."

"You do it in Glee Club."

"No. We do it in Glee Club. It's not as bad in a group."

"Look, people are dancing." He gestured to the sort-of dance floor, which was basically just the empty space between the bar and the tables. A few men were up and half-heartedly dancing to a catchy song. Unique wasn't convinced. "It's not much, I know, but it's the only gay bar in the nearby area."

"Sorry, I just… don't know what I expected." Not this, at least.

Blaine was smiling. "Are you embarrassed?"

"About what?"

"Dancing?"

"Well, yes. I don't like dancing on my own."

"Why?"

"Because… I look stupid."

Blaine gestured to the dancers again. "They're having a good time, because they don't care what people think. No one does here. You'll have fun if you give it a try."

Unique sipped her beer. "Well, I guess I could…"

"What do we have here?"

Unique swivelled round to the sight of a boy wearing a Warbler's uniform. He was recognisable almost immediately.

"Sebastian," said Blaine dryly, clearly not pleased to see the student.

"Hey Blaine," he replied cheerfully, coming between Unique and Blaine as he went to the bar.

"Who's this glamorous drag queen you're with here?" His words stung Unique. "Oh, that isn't Wade Adams, is it?"

Unique didn't reply.

"What are you doing here, Sebastian?" asked Blaine, sounding tired. "I thought you didn't come here anymore."

"You haven't been here for months, so I've been coming back way before you. I'm here to drink and take a guy home. But it looks like you've already got company, so you're off my list." He looked at Unique. "Heard about your little 'accident'." He was enjoying this.

"I don't want to talk about it," said Unique as firmly as she could, but there was a hint of a sob.
Sebastian grabbed onto that hint. "Oh, did I strike a nerve? And what did you do, strike a vein?"

Unique held in a gasp, but the shocked showed on her face. "At least I'm not a drug addict."

It wasn't exactly a well-thought comeback, but it was said loud enough and with enough anger to make everyone turn to look at them. But Sebastian didn't care. He barely batted an eyelid.

"Let me remind you of something, drag queen. If we hadn't done that, we still would've won Sectionals and you'd still be disbanded losers because of that bulimic girl."

"Oh really? Why did you take drugs if you thought you'd win without them?"

That created a reaction on Sebastian's side this time. He bit his lip, clearly blank of comebacks. But then he smiled. "At least, when life got hard for us, we didn't try to off ourselves."

Unique slapped the cocky student across the face with her free hand. It wasn't a powerful hit, but it made a satisfying sound.

"I get that a lot," he smirked.

Unique put down her beer and walked out, feeling the eyes of everyone inside the building on her.

"You're such an asshole. The whole 'being nice' thing must have gone out the window as soon you started injecting yourself," said Blaine, following her out.

Sebastian shrugged, and took Unique's drink.

** G ** G **

Unique walked down the street, the wind from passing cars brushing past her. Walking on the concrete was proving difficult in heels, and she immediately regretted the decision to storm out and walked home. She was slightly relieved when Blaine caught up with her.

"Stop!"

She complied, waiting for Blaine to catch up. As he was wearing flat shoes, it didn't take long.

"I'm sorry about him. He's a prick."

"It's not just him," she sobbed, feeling tears strolling down her face and smearing her make-up.

"What else?" He was stood there so awkwardly, not sure whether to hug her or pat her arms or something; his arms were stretched out in such a suggestive way.

"He's not the only one who's thinking that. For all I know, you could be thinking it too."

"I don't think that, Unique. I'm sure no one else does, it's just that he…"

"I got some messages on Facebook. People telling me to try again. Everyone at school will know by tomorrow, if not already."

"Maybe not."

"Don't bullshit me, Blaine!"

He was taken aback, and it showed on his face.

"Sorry, Blaine, it's just... It's the truth. Everyone at McKinley knows, everyone at Dalton knows, and now everyone in that bar knows. It's gonna follow me around forever."

"Not if you don't let it."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't listen to them. Ignore them. If they give you a hard time, report them."

"But then I'll be a tattle."

"Tattling is just something made up by bullies to keep their bullying secret. Tell on them."

"I," she started, but Blaine was right and she couldn't argue. "Okay, I will."

There was so much sympathy in his face. "Come on, let's go back."

"I'm not going back in there."

"Not there, back to the car. I want to take you somewhere."

"Where?"

He smiled. "You'll find out."

** G ** G **

Blaine briefly went back inside to pay for the drinks he had got for himself and Unique; Unique hadn't gone back in with him as Sebastian would be waiting to make another offensive comment. Blaine didn't say what happened but he was red-faced when he returned.

Unique said nothing as Blaine drove. She was just happy to be away from the bar, where judgement lurked. She stared out of the window the whole way there, watching the bright lights from cars flash past. She felt like they were travelling incredibly fast, hurtling towards an unknown end. Maybe he would crash the car and finish it for both of them. But she didn't wish that on Blaine. He still had something to keep him going.

She was so distracted by the beautiful scene outside her window that she was shocked when it all disappeared. She could faintly see trees blocking her view. She looked through the windscreen and the headlights were illuminating a stone path covered in pebbles, going up. A hill of some sort.

Blaine made it to the top, where a parking lot could be seen. No other cars were parked there. He took a space with a barrier at the end of it to stop cars toppling down the hill. The journey had taken about fifteen minutes.

"Where are we?"

"This is Brokeback Mountain."

Unique would have laughed, but she was so surprised someone had actually named a mountain after a movie. "First off, this is a pretty small mountain, and second, are you actually telling the truth?"

"Yes, someone really named a large hill 'Brokeback Mountain'."

Now she laughed. "Is that official?"

"No, just one day someone nicknamed this nameless hill that, and since then it's been like a gay haunt."

"Don't other people come here as well?"

"Not really. I've never seen anyone else here."

"But you just said it was a gay haunt."

"It was all the hype a few years ago. I heard about it when I was at Dalton, but it almost became like some sort of forbidden place."

"Why?"

"The local homophobes spun some crap that it was riddled with 'fag' diseases, and for some reason no one comes here because they're scared of being 'infected'."

"But you're not."

"I'm already infected, aren't I? Besides, it's peaceful. Everyone's too scared to come up here, so I'm never harassed."

"Did you come up here with Kurt?"

"Yeah. A few times. But recently, I've found myself coming up here by myself, and I just… sit here. It's beautiful."

Unique looked out of the scenery in front of her. "Blaine, you can't see anything. It's dark."

"I don't mean what you see. What you hear. Listen."

She listened for something, but didn't hear anything. "I can't hear anything."

"Exactly. Silence. That's what beautiful. No one shouting 'fag' at you, no one telling you what's wrong with you. I feel safe here, and so should you." He waited for Unique to reply; when she didn't, he continued. "What happened in the bar… was my fault. For your first day back, I shouldn't have taken you somewhere full of people. I thought that if I took you to a place full of people like you – I don't mean anything by that by the way – you'd be comfortable and have fun. But I forgot that gay people can be assholes too."

"I appreciate you trying to help me, Blaine," she replied with real sincerity. "I have to get back to being used to being in big crowds of people, and I understand you were trying to ease me into it by doing that, but I'm not ready. I'll never be ready to go back. But when is anyone ready for what life throws at them? I just have to do it and get it over with."

"What are you saying? I'm confused."

Unique looked confused too. "I don't know. I really don't know what I'm trying to say. God, why is everything so difficult?"

"I'll try to understand as best I can. What you're trying to say is: me trying to prepare you for going back to school tomorrow won't work because you'll never be prepared for going back, and that you just have to will yourself through it. Is that what you're trying to say?"

"Yes, actually. I'm not ready for tomorrow, and no amount of drinking and dancing at a gay bar will prepare me for that. I'm not ready for most things."

"Like what?"

She clearly regretted that last sentence, but she couldn't back down now. "Like, what happens with me? How is life going to work as Unique? How am I going to find a boyfriend? I've never even been kissed by a boy, let alone been with a boy."

"You're here with me."

"But that's different. You're in love with Kurt and I'm a… freak."

Blaine bit his lip, thinking of a response. He stayed silent, but was staring intently into Unique's eyes. Before she knew what was happening, he was leaning closer, and suddenly his lips locked with hers.

It wasn't passionate or long, but it was her first kiss. They broke apart and Blaine slouched back in his seat. They stared at each other for a few seconds, and then burst out into laughter.

Every time they tried to stop, they would look at each other and burst into laughter all over again. It must have been at least ten minutes before they were able to stop, and even then it was a struggle.

Blaine smirked, still straining to keep a straight face.

"Now you've had your first kiss," he said cheerily.

"That was interesting."

They fell about laughing again.

** G ** G **

After a while, they took their conversation outside and took a seat on the bonnet of the car. It was a tight squeeze at first for Unique, who had to lean on the barrier and push herself up onto the bonnet. At least she had a footrest though. They sat next to each other, gazing into almost complete darkness, but for Blaine's headlights shining on distant trees.

"So, what are you going to do about tomorrow?" asked Blaine, gently tapping his feet on the barrier.

"Just turn up and go about my day as normal. It's all I can do."

"Are you gonna be okay?"

"Who knows? I'll have to grit my teeth and get through it. It might go badly, or it might go brilliantly. Either way, I can't avoid it."

Blaine didn't reply, because he didn't need to. He looked up at the stars, pretending to have some interest in them. Unique continued.

"Did you propose to Kurt?"

He nearly fell off the bonnet in surprise, just managing to steady himself by slamming his hands down. Any harder and he could have set off the car alarm.

"What? I…"

"After Mr Shue's wedding, I saw you holding a little box behind your back."

"I didn't…" He stopped himself, looking weak. "I chickened out in the end."

"Oh." She wasn't surprised. "Who else knows?"

"Sam. He's coming with me to take the ring back. But… why did you just ask me that? It's not really any of your business."

Unique was too cold to act offended. "Defensive. I guess it's fair to say that me tipping pills down my throat was none of your business, but here we are."

She had won. He sighed. "Sorry. You're right; I am defensive about Kurt. I just feel like I can't do anything right."

She would let him talk before criticising his complaints. "How so?"

"Well, I cheated on Kurt, tried to get back together with him and failed, his Dad told me not to propose to him, he's got a new boyfriend now and I'm too chicken to tell him how I really feel."

"As you've helped me today, I'm going to help you."

He looked ready to interrupt, but knew that wouldn't be a good idea.

"If you really love Kurt, be patient. If you're destined to be together, then you can propose to him after you've both graduated."

"That's a long way away."

"Maybe, but you don't want to ruin your life for love. Wait until you're both comfortable. I mean, you don't even live in the same city!"

"But… okay, fair enough."

"I know I shouldn't get involved, but if we all stayed quiet and let things go on it would be a lot worse. You wouldn't be here, for example."

Blaine smiled at her.

"What?"

"I've never seen you so confident before."

Unique smiled back. "Thank you."

"Alright. Maybe I'll wait a bit longer for Kurt, but as soon as he's single I am going to be right in there."

"You don't think Adam will last long?"

"Maybe. I don't know. He could be with Kurt for a while."

"How come?"

"He's tall, handsome… and he's British."

"You don't stand a chance," said Unique, laughing.

Blaine laughed too, but it wasn't fake. "That damn accent!"

They laughed and talked for a bit longer, as the time slowly passed by.

** G ** G **

Wade 'Unique' Adams stood in front of the front door to McKinley High School the next morning. His mother had just dropped him off and was on her way to work. He waited, like he said he would, for Blaine and Marley. They arrived at separate times, but soon it was just the three of them stood in the parking lot.

"Are you ready for this?" said Blaine. "We can cut class if you want."

"No, I have to do this," Wade said confidently. "I just need a minute."

He turned to Marley. "Marley?"

"Yeah?" She looked more worried than him.

"I'm sorry for what I said to you. None of what happened was your fault."

"It's okay, Unique…"

"No, it's not. To lump you with so much blame was wrong, and I don't want to ever make you feel like that again. I want to be friends again."

"You don't have to ask, silly," she said, smiling. "We were never not friends."

They hugged, and it was clear to Blaine that the two were best friends again. When they released the embrace, they turned back to face the school.

"Okay then, let's get this over with."

They walked forward to the school, the door approaching them as they approached it. They had no idea what they would be walking into.

They stopped at the front door. It led into the hallway, where dozens of students could be seen walking through the small windows on the door.

Wade looked at his two friends, smiled and grasped the handle.

Unique 'Wade' Adams opened the door, ready to face whatever was in her way.