Chapter Two

"Kurt!" Sighing, Kurt turned to close his locker and looked down to see a very angry Rachel Berry storming towards him. After getting back on Saturday, Kurt had told Rachel that somehow her karaoke machine had been put in the back of his car. But all throughout the week, Rachel had been pestering Kurt to bring it to her and slowly he was running out of excuses as to why he didn't give it back.

"Do you, or do you not have my karaoke machine? I need it back! How do you expect my voice to be absolutely perfect for my solo, and duet at Sectionals if I can't practice?"

"I'm sorry Rachel, I left it at home. I'll bring it to you tomorrow, okay?"

Rachel gave him a wary look. "You've been saying that to me all week! If you don't bring it to school tomorrow, I will personally come to your house to collect it, even if it will interrupt your Friday Night Dinner."

"Fine." Rachel looked at him surprised, normally he would bite back. Now she looked at him properly he looked awful.

"What's wrong Kurt?"

"I've just had a bad day." He sighed, "Look, I'll bring your machine to you tomorrow. Stop pestering me about it!" He turned and began walking down the hall when he saw two Jocks approaching. He cringed at what he saw in their hands, and just as he was about to turn away, he felt the sting of ice against his face. Taking a deep breath, eyes closed; he gathered his thoughts, trying hard not to get too upset about it. But how could he not? These Jocks had nearly ruined another outfit of his? Luckily he had Carole at home who would help him get the stains out of his clothes.

Kurt headed to the toilets and recounted his day. His day had been dreadful; nothing seemed to go right. His alarm didn't go off to wake him causing him to be late to school. Luckily his teacher didn't realize his absence from class, so he had managed to sneak in. But being late also meant that he didn't have enough time to get ready, meaning he had to cut his skin care regime down a lot and his hair wasn't up to his usual standards. This meant that he was in a foul mood and after nearly screaming at Finn in the corridor; his friends thought that they would give him some space. After spending his lunchtime re-writing a French assessment that he had left at home, he decided that as soon as school finished, he would go home, relax and watch Greys Anatomy. But, instead of going home now as classes have finished for the day, he would have to go to the Toy Shop to get Rachel's karaoke machine. In the case of Rachel turning up unannounced tonight, he would have to go straight from school. That would mean going to the shop in slushy-stained clothing.

Kurt sneaked into the shop, looking out for Blaine and low flying objects. Going to the shop wasn't necessarily a bad thing, as it meant he might see Blaine. But considering nothing was going well for him today he wasn't sure a meeting with Blaine would be a good thing. He didn't want Blaine to think he was too over eager to see him again by going back to his workplace. Blaine might not even be working today, but with Kurt's luck, he would be and he would see Kurt in his ruined outfit.

Kurt had sent Blaine a text on Sunday evening telling him that he was free of concussion and asked if he'd managed to attack anyone else with another remote control vehicle. They had a short conversation, neither boys wanting to come on too strong. Blaine had sent Kurt a few texts throughout the week, which looked promising to Kurt, but he didn't want to get his hopes up only to find out Blaine was just sending a few harmless, although slightly flirty, texts to him.

Remembering where the karaoke machines were located in the shop, Kurt quickly found them. The shop seemed very quiet and was almost empty, but he supposed it was because most parents would bring their children here over the weekend. He found the machine he needed, and made his way over to the till. After paying for the machine, Kurt began to find the exit. Despite not wanting to see Blaine, he was extremely disappointed. He would've liked to see at least a glimpse of him.

Just as he was thinking this he stopped paying attention to what was going on around him. Therefore he didn't notice a boy walking towards him holding a very hot cup of coffee. Kurt looked up just as he walked into him. The coffee went everywhere and the boy gasped in shock.

"Oh my god. I'm so sorry," Then Kurt looked at the boy in front of him, who was wiping down his trousers. Recognizing who was in front of him, Kurt smirked. "Karma,"

"What? Oh." Blaine then looked at Kurt, and laughed. "Yeah I guess so."

Kurt chucked. "I'm kidding, I'm sorry. I don't normally walk into people. I didn't burn you at all did I?"

"No, no, it's fine. Only a little drop went on me. So what're you doing here anyway? I would've expected you to avoid this place after what happened on Saturday."

Kurt blushed and looked down. "."

"Sorry, I didn't catch that." Blaine smiled, obviously aware of Kurt's embarrassment.

"I, uh, I forgot to get Rachel's karaoke machine last Saturday. I guess I got… distracted."

Blaine laughed. "Well, that's understandable. I did nearly concuss you."

"Yes, that's true." Kurt said, laughing along with Blaine.

"So, Kurt, how have you been?"

Kurt looked slightly taken aback. No one ever really asked him that. They just assumed he would be okay. He loved his friends, he had nothing against them, but sometimes they got so caught up in their own problems they were unaware of other things happening around them. Kurt felt the tears begin to build up.

Blaine noticed Kurt's overly bright eyes, and reached over to put his hand on Kurt's shoulder noticing it was still slightly wet. His eyes darkened in recognition but, he decided not to mention it. "Bad day, huh?"

Kurt looked down and mumbled, "Something like that." Determined to not let the tears spill over, he managed to control his emotions. "Sorry"

"Hey, don't apologize. It-" Blaine was interrupted by his phone going off. He took it out of his pocket and silenced it. "Sorry, I have to get back to work. But you seem like you need someone to talk to, or just to cheer you up. How about I take you out to dinner tonight?"

Kurt eyes immediately brightened. "Yes, that would be nice."

"Okay then, 6 at Breadstix? I'll meet you there."

"It's a date." Realising what he said, Kurt blushed.

"Yes, it is." Blaine smiled.

Kurt was freaking out. He had 15 minutes until he needed to leave to make sure he wasn't late to Breadstix and he still needed to fix his hair. He grabbed a can of hairspray and started styling his hair and tried to calm himself down. Kurt hadn't told any of his friends about the date mainly due to the fact that he had been freaking out since he got back and since Finn had also been home, he ended up having a slightly uncomfortable encounter with him. Even though they were brothers, Kurt didn't really want to share this aspect of his life with Finn.

"Hey, Finn! Can you let Dad know that I'm going out to Breadstix when he gets home please? I did text him, but he didn't reply."

"Sure dude. But what are you so stressed about?" Finn said as he walked into Kurt's room and laid on his bed.

"I just told you, I'm going out. I need get my hair perfect. It would be much appreciated if you would leave so I can get ready."

"Your hair is always perfect, where are you going that would get you this frantic about it? What's wrong with how it was earlier?" Kurt just sighed in reply not bothering with a proper answer hoping Finn would just leave. But Finn suddenly realized what was going on.

"You've got a date."

Kurt froze eyes wide. "I, um, I guess so."

"When's he picking you up? I need to act as the big brother. Wait, is he picking you up? Or are you picking him up? Normally, the dude will pick the girl up, but you're two guys so I don't really know." Before Finn could carry on rambling Kurt cut in.

"For your information, I'm meeting him there. So no, you don't need to go through the whole 'big brother' act, especially considering I am older than you."

"Yeah, whatever dude. He still needs to know that he can't hurt my brother."

"As much as I appreciate the sentiment, it's one date." Really, Kurt didn't want it to be just one date, but he didn't tell Finn that. "The whole date might go disastrously wrong and we may never see each other again even though I really hope that doesn't happen. It's the first time someone has taken an interest in me other than throwing slushies in my face."

"Okay! Okay! But if it gets more serious, I want to meet him. I don't want him to hurt you."

"Okay, whatever. Now, would you please leave and let me finish getting ready." Kurt said, pushing Finn off of his bed, and out of the door.

Blaine was already at the restaurant when Kurt arrived. He was so worried that he had been too forward, and Kurt wouldn't want to go and was only going because he felt guilty about running into him earlier. What if Kurt didn't turn up? He stood there, wringing his hands together. Normally he was so calm and collected, but something about Kurt made him nervous. He looked up and noticed Kurt walking towards him. Blaine's face light up with a wide smile.

"Hey Kurt. You look great!" Blaine said. Kurt had on ridiculously skinny black jeans, with a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled back to his elbows. It was a very simple outfit, but looked great on Kurt.

Kurt blushed at the comment and replied. "Thanks, you too!" Blaine felt underdressed next to Kurt, after work, he barely had time to go and get changed. He was wearing black skinny jeans, although nowhere near as tight as Kurt's, and a red polo top.

"Shall we go in then?" Blaine asked and then grabbed Kurt's hand a lead him towards the restaurant.

They both headed into the restaurant and once they were settled at their table they sat in a comfortable silence. At first Kurt had expected Blaine to ask him about his almost-breakdown earlier; but he didn't.

"So Kurt, you're a musical guy. Which one is your favourite?"

The conversation flowed almost constantly from that point on; stopping only when they had to order and to eat. They found out more about each other interests, their friends, family. Blaine kept the conversation away from what had happened at the toy shop earlier, and Kurt was grateful for that. He didn't really think it was an appropriate topic to discuss whilst on a date.

Blaine was telling Kurt about being on his schools fencing team when Kurt then realized he didn't actually know what school Blaine went to.

"So Blaine, where do you-" Kurt suddenly stopped as he recognized someone walking towards him. Blaine looked up at Kurt noticing him tense.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Instinctively, Blaine moved to touch his hand but Kurt flinched and pulled it away quickly. Before Blaine could get an answer the Jock walked past their table.

"Fags"

He carried on walking past, and Kurt let out a breath he didn't realise he had been holding. He just looked down at the table, avoiding Blaine's gaze. He was so embarrassed; he hoped Blaine would understand. Kurt hated how his tormentors could ruin everything by one extremely hurtful word. He hated how scared he got and how weak he felt, not standing up to them.

"Come on. Let's go." Blaine got up; throwing some money on the table before Kurt could interject, and lead Kurt out of the restaurant. As they reached Kurt's car, Blaine noticed Kurt still had his eyes cast down, so he held Kurt's hand. Kurt, shocked, looked at their intertwined hands, then back at Blaine.

"Come on, let's go for a walk." Kurt nodded, and they began to walk. After about 10 minutes of walking in silence, they reached a park, and Kurt lead Blaine over to sit on a bench in the park.

"Blaine, I'm so sorry. I hope this didn't ruin everything."

"Hey Kurt, it's not your fault. I know what it's like. I used to get it all the time. I take it you know who that guy is?"

"Yeah, he is a jock at my school. He's been making my life a living hell." Kurt said, his eyes overly bright. "I don't know what I can do. I hate it."

"Listen to me, Kurt. I know what it's like; no-one really understanding. You have family and friends in your life that care, but they just don't understand right? I do understand Kurt. I understand how alone you are probably feeling right now; it's exactly how I used to feel. I don't want you to be feeling that way, you have me. I don't care if it's a dumpster toss or getting slurs thrown at you, I'll always be here if you ever need someone to talk to. You can always come to me if you need someone, okay? I don't want you to feel alone."

Kurt looked up at Blaine, tears glistening in his eyes, and whispered, barely audible. "He kissed me."

Blaine's eyes widened in shock, he didn't know what to say.

"I was just so tired of the way he way treating me. Every day, at least once, Karofsky- the jock in Breadstix- would shove me into the lockers, or he would threaten me. I couldn't take it anymore and I just snapped. I chased after him into the locker room and confronted him." Kurt let out a small sob. "It was my first proper kiss."

"Oh Kurt," Blaine gave Kurt's hand a squeeze before wrapping his arms around him in a tight hug. After a few minutes, Kurt pulled away, embarrassed by his outburst. Noticing Kurt's embarrassment, he got up, holding his hand out to Kurt.

"Come on, let's get you home. From what you have told me about your dad and brother, they seem very protective of you. I'd rather they didn't hate me before they even meet me." Kurt let out a small laugh and took Blaine's hand.

"Thank you Blaine."

AN: This chapter took me so long to write, I don't even know why. But, What do you think? :D