Yup. Don't own Glee.
Man… I hate doing this to Blaine… but there's no way to get out of it if I'm going to keep things going where I want them to. Sorry to all those who like Darren Criss' Blaine, and I hope you enjoy this chapter! Thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, favorited, and alerted my humble little story. Y'all are the best!
"Finn," Kurt addressed his stepbrother. "Can I have a word with you?"
"Sure." Finn put down his pencil. "I wasn't making much headway anyway. What can I do you for?"
Hoo-boy, how to phrase this? Probably have to go the direct route, Finn just didn't get it any other way. "Lay off of D- Karofsky, okay? He's not bugging anybody, least of all me, and he doesn't deserve to be intimidated."
Finn protested, naturally. "He threatened to kill you," he reminded Kurt, "in case you've forgotten. I screwed up last semester, but nobody is going to get to you this time. You have my word on that, bro." He hesitated, before reaching out and clapping a brotherly hand to Kurt's shoulder. "I love you, man. You know that, right?"
A wry smile crossed his face. Just the words he'd wanted to hear, though they were now two years and a lifetime too late. But he knew what Finn meant, and he took it that way. "Yeah. You too, Finn. Just… Karofsky's not going to be an issue this year. He's… he's changed a lot."
"He's still wound tighter than a spring," Finn argued. "Who knows when he'll break and who he'll take out when he does?"
"Likely just himself," Kurt murmured.
Finn's ears perked. "You know something I don't?"
A lot. "Dave Karofsky is fighting his own demons right now," Kurt told him. "He and I have come to our own understanding."
The quarterback nodded slowly, though what he got from that cryptic statement, Kurt couldn't begin to guess. "But this is Karofsky we're talking about, Kurt," he protested. "There's stuff that went on between the two of you that you're not telling anyone." Kurt flushed, remembering the kiss and wondered how his dunce of a stepbrother had noticed that he'd been holding something back. "I'm not leaving you open to that sort of thing again."
Kurt swallowed hard, throat suddenly tight. So this is what it was like to have a brother, a guy who always had your back. It felt… it was staggering.
But still… "Thanks, Finn," he said, voice slightly choked despite his best efforts. "But… I don't want my brother to become like my enemy, just to try to protect me from him. You've got him as scared as I was, looking over his shoulder, flinching whenever he sees a letter jacket." Well, Karofsky hadn't actually said that, but Kurt figured it was a good guess. "He didn't slit his wrist for nothing, you know. He's pretty messed up. Still. I don't want you guys to be the reason his dad has to call the cops to break down his door. He's… not exactly the most stable right now." Kurt belatedly realized that maybe he was spilling too much, telling Finn something that might get spread around glee club and then to the whole school, but it was too late now.
A confused look crossed Finn's face, replaced by a thoughtful expression. "I guess…" He looked down at his book, then back up. "I'll talk to the guys. We won't bust on Karofsky. But we won't stop watching him, either. He's not going to get a second chance to make your life hell, Kurt. I promise."
Kurt sighed. It was the best promise he was going to get, and it came a lot easier than he'd thought. He smiled. "Thanks, Finn. I knew I could count on you guys." This time, anyway.
Finn grinned back. Then his face sobered and he leaned in, conspiratorially. "I never thought to ask before," he said in a low voice, "but what did make Karofsky… you know." He mimed drawing a knife across his wrist.
Just when he thought his stepbrother might be maturing a little bit… Kurt leaned in, mimicking his posture. "He got dumped," he whispered. "His Martian lover got miffed that he wouldn't board the spaceship and head back to Mars to meet the parents."
He grinned, and Finn grinned back. It was kind of stretched. "Not gonna tell me, are ya?"
Kurt shrugged. "I just found the guy. It's not like he was going to pour out his heart to me while we were waiting for the ambulance."
Finn's lip twitched, and he rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright, I got it. I'll grab the guys before school tomorrow. We'll watch, but no more interfering."
"Thank you," Kurt said, and Finn picked up his pencil. "The answer to question six is 'metamorphosis,' by the way."
"Really?" Finn looked down at his homework paper, scrubbed out his answer, and wrote down Kurt's. "Thanks."
~~~glee~~~
Humming under his breath, Kurt passed his bouquet from one hand to the other. Blaine's birthday was this weekend and he was going to the party, but he wanted to surprise his boyfriend today. Just to let him know that he was thinking about him, as always. He grinned like he usually did, thinking about Blaine. He truly was the best thing that had happened in Kurt's life so far.
He nodded cordially to some of the Dalton boys, Mike and Wes, friends from the Warblers. He didn't go to the fancy prep school anymore, but he knew his way around. Mostly…
"Hey," he stopped the pair. "Do you know where Blaine is? I can't find him anywhere." He'd looked everywhere, in fact, all his usual places. His boyfriend was nowhere to be found.
The two boys looked at one another, then at Kurt. "Kurt. What are you doing here? I thought you went back to that public school…?" Mike led.
"I'm allowed to visit my boyfriend. Especially on his birthday. Why? Where is he?" Kurt clutched the brightly-colored flowers tighter. Mike and Wes looked at each other again, a whole conversation bouncing between their eyes. Kurt watched, nervously. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. "Mike? Wes? What is it?"
Wes looked at him, sympathy in his eyes. "I like you Kurt. So believe me when I say, go home. You don't want to be here."
"…what?"
"Go home, Kurt."
Over Wes' shoulder, a motion caught Kurt's eye. A familiar, tall profile exiting a classroom. "…Blaine?"
"…Kurt?" Instead of looking happy to see his boyfriend, the soloist's expression was deer-in-the-headlights-trapped. "What are you doing here?"
"Blaine?" A thoroughly-mussed looking boy who Kurt didn't know came up behind Blaine, wrapping his hand around his bicep and standing close to him. Possessed, and possessing. "What's going on?"
Nerveless fingers lost their grip on the bouquet and the blossoms hit the marble floor with a rustling thump. "Blaine? What is this?"
Blaine looked stricken. "Kurt? This is… I don't… I can explain…" The unknown boy touched Blaine's neck, in exactly the place that Blaine liked to be kissed, a place that Kurt himself had only recently discovered, and Blaine turned his face down to meet the eyes of his… his partner. Kurt recognized him now. Percy. Spoiled, rich, a playboy member of the upper classes, who took and discarded people like toys. And Blaine had obviously just been collected.
"You don't need to explain," Kurt snapped, coldly. "I can see perfectly well for myself."
"Kurt!" Blaine called after him, but the contralto didn't turn back, stalking away, spine stiffened with rage, eyes brimming with hurt.
"…Kurt!"
The voice bounced off the walls, but Kurt ignored him. That echo belonged to the world of the rich. And Kurt was only a visitor there.
As he would always be.
~~~~glee~~~~
"…can't believe I fell for it!" Kurt hissed again. Mercedes nodded, touching his back consolingly. Again. "Blaine was never any different. Oh, I thought he was, he thought he was, but they're all the same! Spoiled little rich brats who never give a damn about anybody else, about the promises they make. I should have known it was only a matter of time before he showed his true colors! He – rrrgh!" He banged his fist against the lunch table where they were sitting.
"Hey, don't worry about that turn-coat," Mercedes soothed him. "He ain't worth your time. Or your pain. You just put that jerk out of your head."
Kurt bit back a sob, burying his head in the safe cave of his crossed arms, and Mercedes barely kept herself from rolling her eyes. This was the bad part about having a drama queen for a friend.
"I just… I really thought he was for real, you know? I wanted so bad for it to be real… High school sweethearts…"
"It'll happen again, Kurt. It will. You'll find the right guy for you, I know it. Cuz the world wouldn't be so unjust that a sweet guy like you would never find someone real. He's out there, Kurt. You just have to believe it."
Kurt sniffed, raising red-rimmed eyes. "You really think so?"
She handed him a tissue. "Sure as my name's Mercedes. You rock, Kurt. And you're going to net you a guy who rocks just as hard."
He wiped his eyes and blew his nose, gratefully. "Thanks, 'Cedes. You're the best."
The black girl grinned at him. "You know it, white-boy. Now come on, we're gonna be late to class."
Preoccupied as she was with extracting her book bag from under the table, she didn't notice David Karofsky staring across the lunch room at them.
Nor did she see Kurt, staring back.