Something important to address, it seems, before I go on. For anybody who didn't come to this story from Kiss, I apologize because I did leave something very important out of my last authors note that I put in the Kiss authors note.

This fic is AU. Very AU. I am well aware that Kurt's experiences at McKinley were not as bad as I have written them. This is myself letting my creative licence out to play, something I believe I am entitled to as a FanFiction author. So I could get annoyed and start calling out on comments that were made, but I'm going to leave it for now because it was my mistake for not mentioning that too. Just to make it perfectly clear from now on: This fic does not follow the proper events during the first part of Season Two. So anybody who feels the need to tell me this from now on, I do already know and have written the fic in that manner intentionally.

Though there is one comment I do want to address, about how the reaction from ND was probably a bit over the top after Kurt finished singing the song and walked out. I don't know about you, but if I found out that someone who was a part of something I considered a family had been wanting to kill themselves, had been bullied to the point of broken bones, and I hadn't noticed, I'd be damn upset with myself. And that's how I wrote it.

So this chapter takes place before the events of the previous chapter. There'll be one more like this and then we'll get into the aftermath.

For the sake of the fic, the place where Blaine, Wes, David and Kurt are having coffee is a part of Dalton. And I'm not going to do their whole progression through to the first part of the previous chapter, just their first meeting. We know what happens next.

Blaine.

Blaine frowned, staring at the boy across from him who was gripping his coffee cup, his knuckles turning white. He gestured to Wes and David, the two immediately realizing what was going on and moving away. Blaine turned back to Kurt, not entirely sure how to go about talking to him. It was clear that Kurt was struggling with bullying problems, and Blaine would have just talked it out if he hadn't seen two vital things; the way Kurt was sitting, his back slightly arched away from the chair as if he was in pain; and, as he had reached for his coffee, the edge of a bruise that had peeked out from under his sleeve.

"Kurt, can you tell me what's going on at your school?" Blaine did his best to keep his tone friendly and light, but Kurt still tensed up further, ducking his head. "Hey, it's alright. I'm not going to push it, but I just want to know that you're safe."

There was silence, then a quiet response. "I'm not."

Blaine bit his lip, his suspicions confirmed. He wanted to reach across the table and take Kurt's hand, but he knew that physical bullying meant Kurt would most likely shy away from any kind of touch. "Okay." He took a deep breath, knowing that there was only one way to get Kurt to talk.

"I've been there too."

Kurt's eyes shot up and Blaine could see the glimmer of unshed tears in them, as well as the shock on his face. "Y - you have?"

Blaine nodded. "That's why I'm here, at Dalton. I know what it's like to be in an unsafe environment. I just need to know, Kurt, how bad is it?"

He couldn't tell whether he'd pushed too far or not. Kurt's eyes had dropped back to the table and his death grip on his coffee cup hadn't lessened. Blaine just picked up his own cup and waited, hoping Kurt would end up talking.

"They've been bullying me for years, but there's one in particular who seems to want to make my life a living hell. And as time's gone by, he's gotten more and more violent and the others have followed his lead. It used to just be dumpster tosses and slushies, but now they shove me into lockers, trip me in the halls... and that's just the stuff they do when there's people around to witness it." Kurt's words rushed out and Blaine knew with a certainty that he hadn't told anybody else about this.

Kurt hesitated for a moment before rolling up his sleeve. Blaine choked back the gasp that threatened to escape, then held out his hand, keeping a good couple of inches between himself and Kurt. "May I?"

There was the moment of hesitance, before Kurt allowed Blaine to take his hand. Blaine moved it gently, twisting slightly to see the full extent of the deep purple bruise in the shape of a hand. "How did this one happen?" he asked, still keeping his voice light and gentle even though all he wanted to do was get out there and find the idiots who were hurting this angel and make them pay.

"Karofsky - the leader - found me walking out after Glee one afternoon on my own. He grabbed me and sh-shoved me up against the wall and I didn't know what he was going to do - and I don't think he did either because he just stood there for a minute before shoving me again and leaving." Kurt's voice was cracking and Blaine knew he was close to breaking down. Standing, he gestured to Kurt to follow and led him into the choir room which was mercifully empty.

"Your back, how bad is it?"

Kurt stared at him for a moment as if weighing up his options, then turned and lifted the back of his shirt.

This time, Blaine couldn't hide the gasp. Kurt's back was scratched and bruised with what was clearly at least weeks of physical bullying taking its toll on his skin. The freshest wound, clearly from being pushed up against the wall, was an angry red and Blaine bit his lip. "You've never had these checked out, have you?"

Kurt shook his head, lowering his shirt but keeping his back to Blaine. He heard a sniff and knew Kurt had finally succumbed to his tears. "I'd offer you a hug, but if you're anything like I was, you won't want it." Kurt shook his head again and Blaine put a hand on his shoulder gently, guiding him over to a couch and sitting him down.

"It's alright. Let it out."

And that was all Kurt needed. Tucking his knees up, he curled into a ball and began to sob. Blaine just sat silently, wishing there was more he could do but thinking over what he could. Forcing Kurt to talk about his problems with someone wasn't going to work, and there was no way Blaine was going to tell him to stand up to someone who was beating him up every day. As Kurt's sobbing eased to quiet crying, Blaine knew all he could do was be a friend to Kurt and hope that, in time, he could get Kurt to open up to him and to someone who could help.

Kurt lifted his head, wiping at his eyes and looking embarrassed. He opened his mouth to speak but Blaine beat him to it. "Don't apologize."

"How'd you know?"

Blaine smiled. "I've been here, remember? I did the same thing the first time I told someone about my bullying. You need to get those feelings out somehow and unfortunately it seems that crying is sometimes the only way."

Kurt seemed to be responding well to hearing that someone else had been in his situation, but Blaine needed to steer it back to Kurt. "Does anybody know this is going on, Kurt?"

"No." But Kurt seemed to have decided that after losing it completely in front of Blaine, there wasn't any reason to keep things from him. "Unless, of course, you count the majority of the student body, including people who call themselves my friends, who watch me get verbally and physically harassed every day and do nothing."

Blaine winced at the bitterness in Kurt's words, but more so at the fact that people were seeing this and still doing nothing. At least Blaine's bullying was done more privately; Kurt made it seem like everybody could see what was going on, including -

"What are the teachers doing about it?"

Kurt shook his head. "Nothing."

"Excuse me?" Blaine was sure he had heard wrong. "Please tell me it's because they don't see it."

"No, they see it." Kurt's eyes were burning and Blaine knew he had been angry about this for a long time. "I just need to learn to stand up for myself, I can't let them have power over me."

His tone was mocking and Blaine felt the anger rising. "What kind of idiot told you that?"

"My Glee teacher. The same one who bailed out our pregnant cheerleader when she wrote a list defaming half of our club, stopped a couple of guys from getting expelled for slashing tires and constantly preaches equality and compassion."

Blaine shook his head incredulously. "Kurt, you need to get out of there."

And then Kurt deflated. "I can't. I can't afford to come somewhere like this, and even if I could, my dad doesn't know about it." He struggled with his words for a second before blurting it out. "He had a heart attack not long ago and I - I don't - I..."

"You don't want to cause him any stress," Blaine finished. "I understand that, but he'll be more stressed if he finds out this has been happening to you, Kurt. And if you don't do something, it's going to get worse, you know that as well as I do."

Kurt ducked his head. "I don't think I'm ready to tell him yet."

"I know. But you will be, and I'm going to help you get there." Kurt looked at him almost disbelievingly and Blaine knew. "I know, you've been let down before, right? Well all I can do is try to earn your trust and show you that I care about you, Kurt. I do want to help you."

Blaine pulled his phone out. "I'm going to give you my number. I won't make you give me yours, but I want you to have mine if you need it. If things get worse, please tell me."

Kurt nodded, pulling his own phone out. Blaine took it and entered his number as Kurt did the same for his phone. "Now, I want to try and make things easier for you. You need something to take your mind off things, and I would love to be that for you. Movies, coffee, musicals, just hanging out, you name it."

Kurt's jaw literally dropped and Blaine could almost read his thoughts: Another gay guy wants to hang out with me, just because they can? "It's up to you whether you want to. At any rate, I'll be at the Lima Bean tomorrow afternoon and if you want to -"

"I'll be there." Kurt's voice was determined, but relieved. Blaine smiled, and for more reason than one. While his primary focus was absolutely on making things easier for Kurt, he couldn't hide the sparks of interest he was already feeling towards the boy, especially when he smiled like he was right then.

"Now, Kurt... Hummel," Blaine checked the last name in his phone, smirking when Kurt chuckled. "Tell me a bit about you."

Kurt's smile was far more relaxed as he began to talk and Blaine immediately resolved to do everything he could to get that smile on Kurt's face more often. Because Kurt was worth fighting for - Blaine could tell that after one meeting, and the rest of his 'friends' who couldn't see the same absolutely did not deserve him.

So there's the happy-but-not-so-happy chapter. Perhaps the chapter that gave Kurt hope.

Next Chapter: Burt.