Two Steps Back
Disclaimer: I'm not RIB, so I don't own Glee or any of the characters. If I did, I'd be rich and probably not writing fanfiction! This fic will dive into MPREG, so I'll be using my go-to MPREG explanation like I did in When We're Older aka the Reddin gene. The gene is based on the Reddin character from the 1994 movie Junior. You should really watch it if you like mpreg. It's a good movie, I promise (I also don't have any rights to it either!) I also don't really own anything mentioned in this except for the crazy storyline so... I OWN NOTHING. The title is inspired by a Paula Abdul song called Opposites Attract by the way.
"Blaine! Blaine, I know you can hear me!"
Rachel yanked her car door open and flopped into the driver's seat, immediately turning towards her brother as the younger boy angrily went about buckling his seatbelt.
"Blaine, come on! Why won't you talk to me?"
"Can we just go home please?" Blaine pleaded, his eyes watery and voice tight. He crossed his arms over his chest and sunk down in the passenger seat, his head shaking back and forth as he looked down at his feet. Rachel watched him for several seconds more before she buckled herself in and started up the car, carefully backing out of the parking space.
"What did that boy do to you?"
"I don't want to talk about it. I just want to go home. Please Rach..."
His voice sounded stressed and Rachel knew she wouldn't be able to press much more before her brother completely cracked, so instead of prying like she wanted, she turned the radio on instead and let the soothing sounds of Barbra Streisand's voice fill the car as she drove them home. When they finally reached their house and Rachel got the car parked in the driveway, Blaine hopped out and ran inside, right past a confused Leroy.
"Sweetie, what happened to Blaine?"
"I don't know," Rachel answered, dropping her backpack and purse on the floor next to the coat rack. She looked up at her dad with wet, dark eyes and Leroy pulled her into a hug, kissing the top of her brunette head. "I don't think it's going to work for us at McKinley, dad."
Leroy sucked in a deep breath and hugged his daughter a little tighter, heart aching at his child's words. Based on what she said, Blaine's first day at his new school only proved that things weren't going to change and that sending the kids back to public school was a terrible, terrible idea.
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Blaine didn't come down for dinner. He didn't come downstairs at all after he originally got home.
Both Hiram and Leroy sat in the living room just waiting, waiting for Blaine to get hungry and come searching for food or for him to get bored and wander around the house. But instead, their son hid himself in his room... and when they went up to talk to him about his day, they found him curled up in his blankets, dried tear tracks on his face as he slept. He looked so peaceful in his slumber that they didn't bother waking him, deciding to speak to him in the morning before he went off to school, but when the family got together for breakfast, Blaine didn't come downstairs either, instead taking a long shower until there was just enough time for him to get to school.
"I'd like to talk to you after school, Blaine!" Hiram called to his son as the boy ran out the door with Rachel on his tail, but Blaine didn't respond, just hopped into the car and slammed the door.
"Do you think he's mad at me?" Leroy asked, leaning against Hiram's shoulder as they watched Rachel back the car out of the driveway. Their daughter shot them a sympathetic look before she pulled away.
"I think he's mad at the world, to be honest. He loves you. He's just upset at the moment."
"But it's my fault that he's stuck going back to public school. It's my fault we had to move to Lima so I could get a new job. It's my fault-"
"It's not your fault that there were lay-offs, Leroy. It's not your fault that they let one of their best people go and it's not your fault that the only jobs hiring were here in Lima. Blaine knows that and he understands it. He's just having a hard time right now, but he loves you and he knows you love him and didn't want this. If anything's happening to him, he'll tell us."
"He never told us about the bullying before, not until..." He trailed off, feeling Hiram's arm tighten around him. "What if he does it again?"
"We'll just have to make sure he doesn't hide from us again. Plus Rachel will be on him like a hawk. She won't let him get hurt again, you know how she is."
Leroy sighed, looking back out of the window at the empty driveway where the kids' car once sat. He knew Rachel was so much more mature and observant now than she was back then, but he still feared that Blaine would once again be hurt by someone who didn't appreciate him for being the amazing young man he was.
::::::::::
"Are you sure you don't want me to stay with you?" Rachel asked, scooting into Blaine's side as her brother stalked into the school. He hadn't spoken a word since they got in the car together and even after Rachel did her best to start some small talk, the boy didn't even crack a smile. Then when they got to the school, she asked him if he wanted her to stick around at his locker just in case the dirty-looking rainbow headed kid was there, but Blaine still didn't respond. "Blaine? Please answer me."
"I'm not a child and I don't need a bodyguard," Blaine hissed, speeding up his pace as he pushed through the sea of teenagers and turned down the hall that housed his locker. Rachel paused in the hall, staring at her brother as he walked, but she decided not to follow, knowing that all it would do would piss Blaine off and she really didn't want him to blow up again like he did yesterday. Sighing, she turned and went down the opposite way towards her locker, praying that her brother wouldn't be bothered by that blasted emo kid today.
::::::::::
Once Rachel was off his back, Blaine felt a little bit better. He knew his entire family was only trying to look out for him, but when they were breathing down his neck, he felt stifled and suffocated, seconds away from exploding. So, he ignored them... for their best interests and his.
Sighing, he maneuvered his way through the hall and walked to his locker, stomach swirling sour when he thought about how he forgot to bring wipes to clean out the disgusting mess inside. Fuck, he thought to himself, debating on whether or not to even bother with the damn thing at all - on one hand, he could carry around all his books in his messenger bag like he did yesterday, but then he remembered how heavy everything felt by the end of the day. His history book had to be several pounds and his other books were also bulky, stretching the bag out to its limit. Deep down, he feared for the bag's seams, so instead of risking an embarrassing bookbag explosion and subsequent mess in the hall and/or classroom, he went to open his locker, books be damned.
Turning the lock, he landed on the last number and pulled, feeling the click of the latch unlock before he lifted the handle and opened up the locker door. Before it was all the way open, he sucked in a deep breath, bracing himself for the sour smell to overwhelm him, but it never came.
Instead of a sticky, smelly locker, he was met with a shining, clean interior, complete with a vanilla scented tree air freshener hanging on the back wall. Frowning, he stepped away from the locker, eyes wide in shock as he took in the scene before him. Who could have cleaned it? Why? Was this even his locker? This had to be a mistake. He looked around the hallway, eyes darting back and forth to see if he could catch anybody looking at him, but he saw nothing, just busy teens chatting in the hall before the first period bell rang. Shaking his head, Blaine slowly began pulling books from his bag to stuff into his locker, his gaze half on the items he was putting away and half on the school as a whole.
Someone got into his locker and cleaned it. It could have been a janitor, but Blaine never said anything about his locker being filthy so no one could have known. Another student could have done it, but that meant that someone had to be nice enough to care and Blaine didn't know anybody in the school yet except...
Except Rainbow guy.
A deep scowl painted across Blaine's face and he cocked his head towards the end of the hall, eyes locking onto the one person who wasn't there the last few times he glanced in that direction. Rainbow was there near the entrance, casually leaning against the doorway with his pink-haired friend (Blaine was sure her name was Quinn since he remembered Rainbow using it yesterday to address her.) Quinn was talking to him about something and occasionally Rainbow would nod, but other than that, his attention was mainly focused on Blaine. The two of them continued to stare at each other, a chill raising up Blaine's spine as the multicolor haired boy watched him closely, but before Blaine could even make a move to gesture to the kid, the warning bell rang and the hall burst into commotion, teens rushing from their posts at lockers towards their first period classrooms. Blaine himself went back to fixing up his locker, grabbing out only the books he needed for the first few lessons before he slammed the door shut.
When he turned back to look at Rainbow, the guy was gone.
For the rest of the day, all contact with Rainbow and his friends was very minimal. Blaine saw him in the halls, spotted him and the other grungy kids heading towards the football field during lunch, and near the end of the day, Blaine passed him on the way to the bathroom, but other than that, it was like the guy was ignoring Blaine or something... which was a very scary thought. Blaine didn't like being ignored, not when it came to someone who he was starting to fear was plotting against him. Yesterday he flat out told the guy his life story after a slip of the tongue (and brain, honestly) and now Rainbow knew Blaine was gay, had two gay dads, and was a victim of bullying. All those things were proper fodder to someone like him, someone who liked to pick on another person... and now that the guy knew a lot of Blaine's secrets, Blaine feared the worst.
Rainbow was probably lying in wait somewhere, ready to ambush Blaine with his dirty friends at his side.
Blaine was a goner.
Rolling his eyes at his unruly thoughts, he went back to scribbling down the geometry notes off of the blackboard. It was his last class of the day and one he was sure he didn't need to be in. Dalton already had him take geometry and he was in the midst of trigonometry when he transferred out, so he was lightyears ahead of his classmates. However, Figgins said the schedules stuck, so Blaine just dealt with it, barely taking notes while his math teacher rambled on about things he already knew how to do. Halfway through his class, however, the intercom crackled to life and the secretary's static-laced voice bled out, "Mrs. Taylor, can you send Blaine Anderson-Berry to the office please?"
For a second, the teacher looked completely confused until she saw Blaine going to put his stuff away; then she remembered her new student and dismissed him with a wave of her hand, giving him an eraser that had HALL PASS written on the front in white out for him to take with on his way to the office. Smirking at the ridiculous pass, Blaine went on his way down the hall, eraser in hand as he made his way to see the principal. He was halfway there when he rounded the corner and spotted a head full of blue hair sticking out from one of the open locker doors.
Shit.
Rainbow looked up at the sound of footsteps and when he caught Blaine's eye, he smiled, the grin only spreading halfway as if the act was uncomfortable to do. Oh god, what if his friends are hiding and this is a trap? What if that wasn't the secretary? What if it was that Quinn girl? Oh god, they're gonna kill me in the hallway and there won't be any witnesses. Mind racing, Blaine sped up and went to walk past Rainbow and his locker, eyes locked on the floor so there wouldn't be any other contact. Don't let him see you scared.
"Skipping class? Didn't think that was your thing."
Blaine remained silent, picking up the pace to zip past the boy. Beside him, he heard the sound of books being moved and then the strong smell of vanilla filled his nose, almost choking him with its strength.
It was like deja vu... just like when he first opened his locker that morning and... oh.
Blaine glanced up, eyes widening at Rainbow's locker where in the back, taped up on the wall was a yellow tree-shaped car air freshener just like the one Blaine found in his locker that morning.
"Oops. Looks like I'm caught," Rainbow teased when he saw Blaine gaping at the vanilla scented item.
Blaine eyes widened, but he didn't speak, his throat tightening as he let his gaze remain on that stupid taunting little yellow tree. Rainbow went to shut the locker, pausing for a moment to grab a packet of cigarettes off of the stack of books inside before he slammed it closed and stuffed the cigs into his back pocket.
"Cat got your tongue again? Shame. After yesterday, I thought you were gonna come in today and rip me a new one."
"I have nothing else to say to you," Blaine mumbled, tightening his grip on his bookbag. Rainbow leaned against the row of lockers and began studying his nails, occasionally looking up to smirk at Blaine before he looked back down again. The whole exchange was puzzling to Blaine, who just couldn't understand what it was about this boy that both irked and intrigued him. Sucking his lower lip between his teeth, Blaine shuffled on his feet for a moment and then turned on his heel, deciding that he wasn't going to waste his time on the delinquent teen any longer. As he walked, he heard Rainbow mutter something to himself, but he didn't turn, not about to get sucked into any more of that kid's mind games. Instead, he went straight to the office, offering a lie to the secretary about getting lost in the building - of which she took easily considering his brand new student status - and then he stepped into the principal's office where he not only found Figgins, but also a tiny ginger haired woman. The woman smiled when he entered.
"You must be Blaine? It's wonderful to meet you. I'm Miss Pillsbury, the school guidance counselor."
The look on Blaine's face must have been a confused one because the woman quickly waved her tiny hands at him, gesturing him to sit before she spoke again.
"My apologies for not being able to meet with you yesterday. The printing company had me on hold for hours yesterday, but all is well now so I can finally meet McKinley's newest student. I met your sister yesterday, but I had to wait to talk with you until today due to other issues." At that, the woman shot a look to Figgins, but then turned back to Blaine. "As it is, Blaine, I was looking at your class schedule and I noticed that a lot of your credits didn't roll over to McKinley."
"Yeah," Blaine said, his voice dejected. He really didn't want to get into this right now, but Miss Pillsbury's wide eyes were locked on him like a hawk, so he decided to humor her, not ready to make anymore enemies in this school - and especially not someone on the faculty. "I'm supposed to be a junior, but they have me listed as a sophomore."
"That I saw. I read your file and saw the reasons why you missed so much school back then and I'm very sorry you had to go through that. So, I was thinking I could try to help you catch up and maybe graduate with your actual class... and your sister."
"You'd really help me do that?" A shiver of excitement ran through him and he bounced a bit in his seat, quickly deflating when he heard Figgins clear his throat.
"Miss Pillsbury, I do believe the school's done all we could to make sure Mr. Anderson-Berry is in the right grade. His credits didn't transfer over so he is required to take the courses he missed."
"But according to his files, he's had plenty of the classes required to complete his sophomore year. He could drop those courses and replace them with ones he would need for his junior year and then he could complete the junior credits while he catches up with the missing sophomore ones."
Figgins immediately went to combat her on that and Blaine sat there in silence, watching the two faculty members bat back and forth over his class rank. Sighing, he linked his hands in his lap and waited for them to finish. By the time their argument had toned down, Blaine had been in the office for almost the whole last class period and he wondered if Mrs. Taylor was wondering where he (and her eraser hall pass) was.
"Should I go back to class?" He asked, effectively silencing both adults. Miss Pillsbury looked at him in sympathy.
"Which class were you called from?"
"Mrs. Taylor's geometry class. I mean, it's not like I missed anything. I already know everything for that chapter because I had a comprehensive math class at Dalton, but I still have her hall pass and she'd probably like that back so-" He trailed off, looking down at the eraser that he flipped back and forth between his fingers.
"Principal Figgins, why don't you let me have Blaine try to test out of a few of his courses so we can get him caught up with his classmates? If he already knows geometry, it would just be a waste of time to have him in that class." Figgins went to argue again, but the counselor continued, "If we can sort out Blaine's scheduling conflicts, we could possibly save the school some money. It would cost less for us to have a junior soon-to-be-senior than a sophomore soon-to-be-junior-senior."
Blaine was sure the tiny woman was pulling her whole argument out of her ass, but he admired her tenacity and couldn't help but smile when he caught Figgins' thoughtful look at the suggestion. The gears in the principal's head turned for several moments before he nodded and looked over at Blaine.
"Mr. Anderson-Berry, tomorrow morning you are to report to Miss Pillsbury's office. She will have you fill out the necessary paperwork for testing out of certain courses and if you pass, she can fix your schedule for you." Blaine nodded and Figgins continued, "I'm glad we could sort this out. You are dismissed."
With a smile at the counselor, Blaine bid the two a good day and went back to his math class, handing off the hall pass to Mrs. Taylor with just seconds to spare. As soon as the eraser was in her hand, the bell rang and the students began running out of the classroom, ready to head home after a long day at school.
"Have a good day, Mrs. Taylor," Blaine offered as he left, but the teacher didn't respond, immediately reaching to grab her cell phone from her bag. Typical.
Around him, the hall buzzed with life. Students were rushing to their lockers or out of the building to get to their cars or to the bus, so Blaine held back, leaning against the wall until the coast was clear. When the bulk of the student population was outside, he made his way to his locker, happy to see that the people around him had already been through so he had a clear shot to put his stuff away. As he sorted through his books and stuffed things in their proper place, he felt a presence slide up beside him and he smiled, ready to tell Rachel his good news about being able to test out of certain classes. However, when he shut his locker and went to speak, he froze, eyes locking on a pair of very interested blue eyes.
Rachel's eyes were brown.
"Are you stalking me?" He grumbled, nudging past Rainbow's shoulder to walk to the hallway that housed Rachel's locker. Beside him, the jingling footsteps of Rainbow's chained boots clanged and Blaine rolled his eyes, wishing that the strange kid would just leave him alone. "Really. What is your deal?" He asked, whirling around to glare up at the guy next to him.
"Can't a guy walk down the hall? Jeez. It's not all about you, Blaine." Rainbow teased, waggling his eyebrows before he stepped closer to the shorter boy. The closer he got, the more nervous Blaine became, staring up at the looming overly-pierced guy standing so tall, so much like a bright, magnificent statue.
"Why can't you just leave me alone?" His voice came out shaky, an immediate betrayal, and he knew the other guy heard it based on how wide his eyes grew.
"Fuck, Blaine, I'm not- I don't- Fuck." Rainbow began stuttering, shaking his head as he looked down at the shorter boy. "I never- god, Blaine. I'm not trying to hurt you."
"Then why are you d-doing this?" God. Stop freaking out. He's going to notice you're weak. You're giving him all the fuel in the world, Blaine. Stop!
Rainbow shook his head. "Jesus fucking Christ, I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry for messing with you yesterday and for bugging you today, I just- you are so different. Everyone else in this fucking place can go fuck themselves for all I care, but you... you seem so strange to me and I wanted to get to know you better. I know I came off wrong and I'm sorry. I just- people and I don't get along well. But I really am sorry, Blaine. I am."
Blaine stood there in shock, completely stunned over the words that just slipped from the other boy's mouth. "You think I'm strange? And you want to be my friend? What? I- How am I supposed to believe you? I don't even know you. I don't know your first name or-"
"It's Kurt," Rainbow said softly.
"Kurt? Kurt..." He paused for a moment, letting his thoughts travel to the day before when the mohawk guy said something to him in the hall about his friend. "Kurt... Hummel? That's your name?"
"Yep."
"I've been calling you Rainbow in my head."
"Hmm. Offensive."
Blaine's eyebrows raised at that. "Offensive? Why? Your hair is rainbow!"
Kurt smirked, rolling his eyes. Obviously he just sucked Blaine back in since they were all of a sudden having a conversation... and it was nice. "It's kind of offensive because I'm gay, you dolt. If you were anyone else, I'd probably have to kick your ass."
"But your hair..."
"Yeah. It's multicolored. I know, I see it in the mirror everyday. You could've called me something else though. Crayons? Bright? Something."
"I like Rainbow better, but if it offends you, then I'll just stick with your name, Kurt."
The way he said Kurt made a shiver run down the other boy's spine and he smiled, "Jesus, Blaine. You're way too serious. I really don't care what you call me. I was kidding."
"Fine. Rainbow Brite it is."
"Cute. You really do want your ass kicked, don't you?"
"Been there, done that," Blaine muttered as a passing comment, but he totally caught the look that flashed across Kurt's face when he said it. The look was dark and hateful and for a second, Blaine regretted that he said it. "I didn't-"
"So what you said yesterday was true? About you having to go to Dalton?"
"I didn't mean to flip out like that yesterday. No one's supposed to know about that. I... I don't want another shitstorm on my hands, I just- I- you were getting on my nerves yesterday and-"
"I am sorry about that."
"I know. You said so a little bit ago. I just- I never meant to blurt that all out, so you can just ignore it."
"But I can't. Because now I know what you've dealt with and while I don't know details, I do know that if anyone messes with you, I'm gonna have to kick their ass."
Blaine blushed a bit, rolling his eyes. "You barely know me."
"Fuck that. We're almost best friends. I mean, you already told me your life story so you might as well get used to having a weirdo as a friend."
I don't think you're weird, not really, Blaine thought to himself, but he just rolled his eyes again and directed his attention down the hall to where Rachel was storming towards him. Hot on her heels was the incredibly tall glee guy and he looked distressed as he ran behind Rachel.
"Step away from my brother!" Rachel shouted, dashing forward to link her arm in Blaine's and tug him backward. "How dare you corner him after what you did yesterday! Who do you think you are? Do you think it's fun to pick on new kids? Just because you are your friends are juvenile delinquents doesn't mean you can mess up everyone else's lives too! How dare you!" The longer she ranted, the louder her voice became, and its shrillness increased. Blaine cringed as his sister jabbed one of her fingers into Kurt's chest and kept poking him as she continued to yell.
"Rach- Rachel, please stop. It's okay!"
"No it's not! This guy made you cry yesterday!" Her voice was still loud and booming and Blaine shrunk away from her, eyes falling onto a few stragglers who were walking past them, curious eyes watching and staring at him funny when they heard Rachel mention that Kurt made him upset. One girl even grinned and leaned close to her friend to whisper behind her hand, all while staring at Blaine.
"Rachel, stop." Blaine pleaded, eyes locked on the girl whispering about him, "Please!"
"What? I'm defending your honor!"
"You're also embarrassing the hell out of me! Stop!" Blaine yanked his arm away and stepped back, almost running into the tall guy before he finally just gave up and turned around, darting down the hall and out of the school. He couldn't be in there any longer; it was stifling in that tiny hallway and the looks he was getting just sent him back to his freshman year when people watched him get thrown into lockers or when they laughed at him when a few members of the football team thought it would be funny to pour green tea on the front of his brand new white jeans. All the bad memories of years past reared their ugly heads and Blaine struggled to breathe, stumbling over to the side of the school to hide near the greenery. He fell to the ground, plopping down on his butt in the soil as he began to hyperventilate.
This couldn't be happening. It was only the second day. People were going to talk about him tomorrow. He would never be able to escape his past. He would never be able to escape the bullying or the torment.
God, he knew Rachel was only trying to help, but at that moment in time, he wished she just would have kept her mouth shut. He knew he was probably freaking out over something trivial since there weren't that many people in the hall when Rachel announced his breakdown to the whole world, but he was still scared that someone was going to start a rumor that the new kid was a wimp and then he'd be the next target for the popular kids. He saw what they did to the kids they considered weak (the nerds, the band geeks, etc.) He accidentally walked in on a boy with a large curly afro picking a pretty nasty looking wedgie from his behind when he went to the bathroom earlier and he knew it had to be the football team who did it. So what would they do to him once they found out he cried over something Kurt Hummel said? What would they do if they found out he was gay and that his parents were actually two out and proud gay men? What would they do?
What would Blaine do?
Sniffling, he pulled his knees to his chest and sucked in a shaky breath, wishing one of his dads would come get him and tell him that they were sending him to board at Dalton. He was safe there. He was happy there.
He wasn't happy here and he wasn't sure he'd ever be.
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Rachel felt terrible.
Once Blaine ran off, Finn (her new friend from glee who just somehow ended up being the brother of the guy she just flipped out on) got her to calm down and once she wasn't seeing red, she realized what she did. Around them, some random kids were still in the hall carefully watching the group and she just knew they heard her saying things about how upset Blaine was the day before.
Oh god, what had she done?
"Did you see where he went?" She asked, looking to both Finn and Kurt with wide, watery eyes. They both shrugged, but Kurt seemed a little angry as he glared at her. "What?"
"You're his sister, aren't you? You're supposed to look out for him, not embarrass him."
"Actually I thought that's what the point of having a sibling was," Finn added, but Kurt glared at him and the boy quickly shut up.
"I didn't mean to," Rachel whispered, standing up on her tippy-toes to see where Blaine could've gone. She broke away from the group, Finn following behind her, and somehow Kurt came too - since she could hear him growling out warnings to the kids who unfortunately overheard Rachel's rant as they walked past. The three of them stepped outside and looked into the parking lot, glancing out to see if they could find Blaine there. Rachel ran over to her car to see if he was there while Finn walked the other side. Kurt, on the other hand, broke away and began walking to the one place he used to hide out when he wanted to be alone.
And of course, great minds think alike, he told himself when he spotted Blaine sitting on the ground next to the shrubbery, his head tucked against his knees. "Blaine?"
"Leave me alone."
"Acting like a five year old isn't going to make me leave. Sorry."
Blaine lifted his head and glared, his teary eyes narrowing at Kurt. The tears in them leaked out and ran down his cheeks, making Kurt's throat lock up a bit over how upset the other guy looked.
"Rachel's looking for you," he said softly, flopping down beside Blaine. Before he completely sat, he pulled his pack of cigarettes out of his back pocket and lit one, slipping it between his lips. "Smoke?"
"No thanks. I'd rather not get wrinkles or yellow teeth or lung cancer."
"Suit yourself," Kurt mumbled with a roll of the eyes. "Smoking's the only thing that can calm me anymore. That and those stupid fucking pills my therapist put me on, but I don't like those things. Makes me sick."
Blaine looked over at him, blinking the tears out of his eyes. "Why are you telling me this? You don't have to be here."
"I thought I told you we were friends now. Plus you told me a lot of shit about your life. I guess I thought I'd return the favor, though I'm not about to reveal all of my secrets before I've fully gotten to know you." When Blaine chuckled, Kurt smiled and then took a long drag of his cigarette, blowing the smoke out in one long stream. "There we go. Feel better?"
"Not really. I'm going to get beat up soon. Those people in the hall heard what Rachel said and- and that's where it's going to start. I'm a dead man. They didn't kill me last time, so I guess this is it."
"God, you are morbid. Jesus fucking Christ," Kurt grumbled, pulling another cig out of the packet to light against his first one. "Why such a conspiracy theorist?"
"I've learned to not get my hopes up anymore. Nothing goes right for me so why shouldn't I immediately expect the bad? It's bound to happen anyway."
"Damn. You are one messed up guy."
Blaine looked Kurt up and down, eyes studying the torn skinny jeans and the long, complicated boots. He raised an eyebrow at the boy, nodding his head towards Kurt's cigarette and bright hair and piercings. "Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black?"
"Fuck no. I'm messed up but I'm owning my shit. Why do you think I am the way I am? I'm not about to let someone come after me and just take it. If they do, I'll be ready. I used to be like you but I decided I wasn't going to be a victim."
"I tried that once. Got my ass thrown in the hospital in a medically induced coma while I healed up."
"Shit, Blaine." Kurt whispered as he finished his second cigarette. He let his gaze fall on his new friend and noticed how slumped and broken the boy seemed. Blaine was busy picking at some of the dandelions that grew around the shrubbery, his dark eyes watering again as he stared at the ground. "I'm not going to let people mess with you here."
"You don't know me. Why would you even do that?"
"Didn't we just have a similar conversation like this earlier? I mean, c'mon. Your memory can't be that bad."
"Past brain injuries, excuse me."
"Okay, enough of that, Debbie Downer." Kurt stood up, dusting off the back of his pants before he held a hand out, raising his pierced eyebrow as he waited for Blaine to just take his hand. "Take it, damnit. Your sister's freaking the fuck out and I've got to save Finn before she kills his eardrums."
"Finn? Is that the tall guy?"
"Yep. Kinda built like Frankenstein but with more brain function and better grammar? That's him."
"I think my sister likes him."
"Oh god, I thought so. Finn likes her too. Wouldn't shut up about her in the car yesterday."
Blaine's eyes widened a bit. "What? You two carpool?"
"You and Rachel carpool. That's what siblings do, don't they?"
"You and Finn are brothers?! Like real, actual brothers?!"
Kurt scoffed, "Oh don't be so surprised. Yeah, we're brothers. Stepbrothers, but still brothers nonetheless. My dad married his mom a few years ago. Nothing more to tell."
"Oh, so your parents are divorced?"
"Nah. Mom's dead. Finn's dad is dead. Our parents had something in common - dead spouses, would you look at that? - and voilà, instant marriage!" He said it so nonchalantly that Blaine felt his heart throb in pain a little, but he finally took his friend's hand and allowed Kurt to pull him to his feet.
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"Yeah, yeah well, you get it though. You said you were adopted so you understand."
"Yeah, I guess, but-"
"There you are!" A voice interrupted. Rachel came running towards them, a hand dramatically clutching at her heart as she threw herself at Blaine and hugged him close. "God, Blaine, you scared the dickens out of me! I'm so glad you are okay!" She tossed a glare at Kurt and then pulled back to check her brother for any injuries. Hands squished the sides of his face as she tilted his head this way and that, looking for any sign of distress. "Are you alright? I'm so, so sorry for what I did back there. I should've been quieter. I-"
"Holy shit, are you made out of only hot air? Take a breath or something, damn!" Kurt said, shaking his head in amazement when Rachel finally silenced and scowled at him.
"This is none of your business, you jerk. You might be Finn's brother, but you really hurt Blaine yesterday and he never deserved anything you did. So just stay away from him."
"I didn't realize you were the relationship police, princess. Blaine can be friends with whoever he wants; you don't control him. Just because you're his sister doesn't mean you can tell him who he can and cannot talk to. If that was the case, I'd tell Finn to turn and run the other way every time he saw you, lest he get blown away by Rachel Berry, the Big Bad Wolf. She'll huff and puff and blow your house down!"
Rachel's mouth fell open at the insult (Blaine snickered, though she didn't catch it) and she shook her head, huffing as she grabbed onto Blaine's hands and pulled him away. "I really don't want to deal with you right now so we are leaving! Thank you for your help, Finn. I really appreciate it. As for you, Kurt, you can stuff it!" And with that, she stormed off, dragging Blaine with her. Before the completely rounded the corner to the parking lot, Blaine shot a glance over his shoulder and gave Kurt a little wave, smiling a bit when the bright haired boy waved back.
He wasn't sure exactly what happened back there, but it seemed like he might have made a new friend... something he definitely wasn't expecting to get at a place like William McKinley High School.
A/N: I've never written an AU like this before. It's crazy hard because you're trying to write characters you love but they're all over the place and you don't know if you like it or not. Badboy!skank!Kurt is a crazy character to deal with because you know canon!Kurt's mannerisms and such and like, he doesn't act like this lol! Hell, even Blaine in this is a stretch because he's a bit angrier than canon!Blaine, but anyway hopefully you guys are liking the story so far. The characters are all over the place but we're getting somewhere, I promise! Thanks for the reviews and alerts! Also, I'm not really sure if you can test out of classes anymore. At my old school, people tested out of things all the time and graduated early, but that was forever ago, so things might have changed. Oh well.