(Authors Note: Just really wanted to say thank you to everyone that writes me reviews! They really really mean the world to me. And they honestly inspire me to keep writing. So once again thank you soooooooo much! I really appreciate each one.)

Klaine ~~~ Kurt and Blaine LOVE

The War of the Warblers

Chapter 6: Regret, Repent, Be Strong

They all just stood there. Blaine, Kurt, and Karofsky just stared at Scott not knowing what to say.

After a long pause Blaine asked, "Scott, why are you sorry?"

Scott sighed and looked down at his knees.

"Tell me what you mean." Blaine said.

Kurt stood there furious. He wanted to keep yelling! He even wanted to throw something at Scott but… he also wanted to know what Scott had to say. So he waited.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this. I didn't want any of this." Scott ran his fingers through his hair and then looked at Blaine again. "Might as well sit down, it's not a short story."

Blaine, Kurt and Karofsky all took a seat.

Scott pressed forehead against his palm and began to talk. "I… I didn't really mean to do all this. To ruin any lives." He said looking at Kurt. "But… Well… the truth is… Blaine… the truth is that I've waited years just to tell you…" He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I've never regretted something more than how much I regret what I did to you."

"What did you do?"

"It's a long story."

"Well we're not going anywhere so go for it." Kurt said rudely.

Scott nodded at him and then looked back at Blaine. "You wouldn't know but… I used to go with you to your old school."

Blaine's eyes were unblinking as he nodded.

Scott looked down at his knees. "Well… I started high school already knowing. I had always been attracted to guys. But I also knew it was something you didn't go around telling people. For me it was an automatic thing. If you were gay you just have learn to keep it to yourself, especially around here being gay wasn't just not normal or wrong it was even punishable. So keeping my sexuality a secret was as natural as breathing to me, and honestly… I was good looking, outgoing, and popular why would I ruin all that. So I kept the lie up, dating tons of girls, I even slept with them so no one would even question it. And then… There was a buzz going around the school. Some freshman had come out of the closet." Scott glanced at Blaine but then looked back at his knees.

Blaine had understood. This freshman was himself.

Scott continued. "Everyone was talking about it. Of course I wondering so sought him out. He wasn't in any of my classes but I've seen him around. He was popular too but now… I watched…" Now he looked at Blaine and kept his gaze on him. "I watched how you couldn't even go down a hallway without someone shoving you into a locker, calling you names, or tripping you. I couldn't believe it. It was like the entire school had a new punching bag. I started to follow you around. And as time passed it just got worse and worse. I would always look at you and wonder. Does he regret it? Does he wish he never said anything? Does he wish he was never honest about who he was? But there you were taking it all day after day. I wished I could be as brave. It wasn't long before I developed a crush. But still I just watched never saying anything, never daring. There were so many times I imagined myself actually going up to you and telling the kids messing with you to back off. To tell you, you weren't alone and that you were the bravest person I ever met, but of course… I never did. I let my fear control everything about me." Scott sighed and broke his and Blaine's eye contact.

"Then the Sadie Hawkins Dance came. I remember actually standing at my locker looking at you out of the corner of my eye wondering what if I actually asked you. What if I actually confessed my feelings and we went to that dance together not caring what the world thought? Maybe I could be brave if you were there beside me. But then I blinked and realized this wasn't some stupid movie and it wouldn't be like that. So… when the first girl asked me I accepted. The day of the dance came… and I pretty much spent the whole night watching you and your friend. I was glad you had someone but I was still disappointed in myself that it wasn't me. I knew he was just a friend." Scott gave a little smirk. "I even told myself if it was me we wouldn't be going as just friends. The end of the night came and… I had lost my cell phone… and then…" Scott took a few deep breaths and held onto his knees. "Then… my brother, who was a senior found it. You see… a few weeks earlier I had snuck a picture of you and I… made it my wallpaper. Stupid thing to do really. I don't know what I was thinking back then. Well my brother obviously saw it and it didn't take him long to put two and two together. Next thing I know he was yanking me out of the gym. He threw me against the wall and showed me the phone. "What is this shit?" He yelled at me. I froze. I was completely panicking. My deepest darkest secret was discovered and by all people my homophobic brother. "You're a fag like that kid out there!" I just stared at him not knowing what to say. He threw my phone to the ground and stomped on it. He told me if he ever saw something like this again… if he ever heard anything about me being gay he was going to tell our dad and they both would put me in the hospital and then disown me. At that moment…" Scott began to shake. "You and your friend walked out of the gym. We watched as you both sat outside on the cub waiting for a ride. My brother smiled and called two of his friends over. He laughed and said, "I'm going to show you what happens to faggots around here."" Scott buried his face in his hands. "I... I tried…. I grabbed him and told him don't do it! But… he punched me and told me if I tried to stop them he was going to do worse to me…" Scott's eyes began to water. "So… I sat there… and watched… as my brother beat the living crap out of the guy I liked. I did nothing."

Blaine shivered as the memory came to him. It was one of the worst memories of his life. It was something he hated to think about.

Kurt looked from Scott to Blaine. His cheeks were already stained with tears. Hearing all the things Blaine went through was as painful as if it was happening to him. Blaine's pain was his pain. Kurt reached out and placed a hand on Blaine's shoulder.

Blaine gave him a feeble smile and nodded.

Then they both looked back to Scott.

Scott swallowed and then continued. "So there it was, from that point on my brother was on to me. He kept a close watch waiting for me to do anything 'gay' so he could do the same to me. Meanwhile… I had never felt guiltier in my entire life. After a few weeks when you finally came back to school I just… every time I looked at you wanted to just shoot myself. I had never regretted something more. All I ever wanted to do was to at least go up to you and apologize for what happened. It was my fault you had to go through that I couldn't even say sorry. I felt so bad. What if my brother saw me go up to you? What if he told everyone the truth about me? What if he attacked you again? I was scared of what he would do to me. So for the rest of the year I walked around with chains of guilt weighing me down." Scott wiped any trace of tears from his eyes. "That summer my brother moved out and went away for college. I felt free. There was no one hanging over me waiting for a reason to beat me up. I even told myself the second school starts again I would go up to you and apologize. It was something I had to do! I couldn't move forward if I didn't… I remember that first day. I saw you at your locker. It was my chance." Scott looked at Blaine and chuckled. "You probably don't remember but… I went right up to you. And then… I froze… What was I thinking? Even before my brother found out I still was living a lie. He wasn't what was stopping me from apologizing or coming out… it was myself. I was too scared… I was too afraid of how the world would see me and treat me… so after a minute went by you assumed I had the locker next to yours and walked away. Why wasn't I brave enough?" Scott sighed again. "Even with my brother gone kids continued to harass you and by the second week of school you were gone. Rumors said you transferred to some private school."

Blaine nodded.

Everyone took a deep breath.

"Over a year went by and I told myself I had lost my chance at redemption. Then at the beginning of this year my dad got a promotion. My parents always wanted me to go to Dalton but could never afford it. Now they could. I didn't protest. I didn't really care. So… I came here." Scott looked around the room. "I was still in the closet and I didn't plan to change that here. Who knew… maybe Dalton was filled with even more homophobes than my last school. After a month here I found out it was just the opposite. Dalton was like a safe haven for gays, for anyone really. No bullying. I couldn't believe it. I found myself asking around if there were really gay kids here that never had a problem. Someone told me that the school's glee club, the Warblers, had two gay kids and they never had a problem. They told me that the lead vocalist himself was gay and he was like a rock star at this school. His name was Blaine." Scott smiled at Blaine. "When I heard that I couldn't believe it. Could it really be Blaine? The Blaine I liked and always regretted never saying sorry to. So I wandered into his very room to find you. But of course I was too late. You had just transferred to McKinley, McKinley where the other Warbler Kurt was. And then that's when they invited me to join. They told me that they usually competed against McKinley and there was a good chance of seeing him perform. So I said screw it and joined. Who would have thought I could actually sing?" Scott gave a little laugh. "Then we found out we would not be competing with McKinley for sectionals. But they told me if we won that we would go against them for regionals. So I became determined. Winning at Sectionals meant meeting Blaine again. Well we won and then… we were performing at the mall and they told me their friends from McKinley were coming to watch. When I turned around on that stage and saw you there watching, my heart almost ripped out of my chest. I told myself this time would be completely different. Dalton had made me braver. I might not come out but I would at least approach you. Befriend you if I could and when the time was right… tell you who I was and finally say sorry. And I'm not going to lie in the back of my head I thought, and maybe after all that you might accept me as more than a friend. But then… there was you." Scott looked at Kurt.

Kurt folded his arms and didn't say anything.

"The other Warblers had already told me that Blaine had got involved with you. I couldn't help but be insanely jealous. Blaine had a boyfriend? When did that happen? And of course I thought that could have been me! I knew him first. And then when I actually met you and you were rude and calling me Steve I wanted to shoot myself. This is Blaine's boyfriend?"

Kurt frowned.

Scott looked back to Blaine. "But still… I told myself… it didn't matter just at least befriend you. But… from the word go… meeting you again. Seeing how much you've grown since being at our old school… I fell for you all over. You were now so confident and amazing and I just… wanted at least a chance to be with you." Scott couldn't help but slightly blush at his confession. "So I couldn't help it. I saw how easy it was to push Kurt's buttons and I hoped he would just maybe back off a little so you could get to know me. And the friendlier you were with me the more I thought I might actually have a chance. So… when I saw you two were actually fighting… I… started to really push." Scott looked at Kurt and sighed. "You were completely right. I was 'after Blaine' but… what did you expect me to say? The truth? But I will tell you that… I did tell you the truth when I said you were the first person I ever told, about being gay. When you asked me I was so taken aback, and for the first time in my life, I… I just did it! I guess I was finally brave enough." Then Scott glanced at Karofsky. "And this one. It was obvious from day one that he had a thing for Kurt. I thought that it was perfect. I would get Blaine and Karofsky would get Kurt." Scott looked around at all of them, "Obviously it did not work out like I had planned." Scott clasped his hands together. "So there you have it. My true confessions. I'm the bad guy of the story… from the very beginning. Kurt was right to be suspicious of me. He did nothing wrong." Scott looked at Blaine. "Blaine… I know this is a lot to take in… and I'm… really really am sorry for everything I've done to you and Kurt since meeting you guys but… I just… really want to say… about… about what happened…. At the dance… I… I…." Scott started to shake again. "Blaine I know… it's been awhile but… I…." Scott's eyes started to tear up again.

"I forgive you."

Scott froze.

"And honestly… you don't even need to apologize. You didn't do anything wrong back then. I get it. You were afraid. Who wouldn't be? I know I was for sure. I eventually ran. We both, well all of us here had to deal with being gay in high school, we still are and we all found different ways of dealing with it. Not all the ways were great…" He glanced over a Karofsky. "But… it's not easy being different. Sometimes we have to learn that the hard way." Blaine said looking down.

Kurt again grabbed his shoulder and when Blaine looked up at him, Kurt smiled.

"But. For everything you did since we met again… well that's not only me. You also hurt Kurt with all of this."

"Yeah you did." Kurt said folding his arms again.

Scott nodded. "Kurt. I… I know I've been terrible. But hey all is fair in love and war right?" There was a pause. "Ok. I'm joking. Kurt I really am sorry for everything. I really went too far. I almost ruined what you have with Blaine and I'm sorry… I just…" Scott looked at Blaine... he still had feelings for Blaine. Those feelings weren't going anywhere. But… he did now know… nothing could ever come of them. He smiled as his heart ached for Blaine. He loved Blaine but… Blaine was Kurt's and honestly… maybe it was better that way. "Kurt I'm sorry. I hope you could forgive."

Kurt glared at Scott. "No. Defiantly not today. Try again tomorrow."

Scott smiled. "I'll apologize every single day if you want."

"Well that's a start." Kurt looked at him and sighed. He didn't hate Scott as much as he did an hour ago but… he didn't like him either. Scott still almost broke him and Blaine up but… Kurt couldn't really blame him. He was right: all is fair in love and war. And if the kids in New Directions hated each other for stealing each others boyfriends and girlfriends they would have all killed each other by now, and of course… Kurt couldn't blame him for loving Blaine. It was just so easy to do.

To be continue…