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.

Whore.

Slut.

Skank.

The words licked at Kurt's skin as he walked down the halls of McKinley High. People he didn't even know were whispering behind his back as he walked past and as he made his way to class, he could hear the snickers of various students that thought it would be cute to catcall and tease him. Redness flushed his cheeks as the taunts got louder and more disgusting and by the time the school day was over, all he wanted to do was crawl into a hole and die.

...none of this would have happened if he hadn't of gotten drunk at that party and slept with that kid from East Lima.

He couldn't even remember that night too clearly. It was all a bunch of jumbled images in his brain - messily making out with the guy, hands slipping down pants, cupping the dude's ass as the other guy worked on giving him a sloppy handjob. By the time Kurt woke up the next morning, he had one hell of a hangover and he had a random guy screaming in his face over the fact that they had sex and this guy was supposedly not gay at all.

And then word got out at the school, which wasn't unexpected.

There were tons of McKinley kids at the party, so they all heard the aftermath. After that, the rumors weren't too surprising - it happened to the best of them, except... not. When other students had rumors spread about them, things died down after a few weeks, but with Kurt, things only increased.

The bullies got meaner, the words got harsher, and Kurt just taught himself to let things roll off of his back. If people didn't like that, they could kiss his ass or he'd fuck them up, simple as that.

And that's how he became the Kurt Hummel today, the one that nobody messed with unless they wanted to get hurt.

::::::::::

"What the hell was that?"

"I don't remember allowing you to come in-"

"Well, you just rudely stormed off during a beautiful dinner that your parents are graciously hosting for us and I'm trying to figure out why," Blaine stated, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched his friend pace back and forth through his bedroom. Kurt had been walking around the room since Blaine arrived and he hadn't stopped at all, his body tense and rigid as he wore a path down in his plush white carpet. "C'mon, Kurt."

"You can leave, you know? You don't have to be here."

"I just want to know what got you so upset. I don't think your parents or Finn care that you're in your comfy clothes and I know Rachel doesn't care nor do I, so why are you so mad? They're just pjs."

"Did you even see the way your sister looked at us when we came downstairs? She took one look at me in these fucking sweatpants and it was like her mind clicked onto the fact that we were probably screwing around up here."

"I doubt that's what she saw-"

"That's all people see when they look at me, Blaine."

"Those people don't know the real you; they're assholes, Kurt."

"And your sister just shared the same thought process that they all have."

Blaine rolled his eyes, stepping forward to dart in front of his friend, thus causing the taller boy to pause in his pacing. "Rachel doesn't care, Kurt. She really doesn't. She was probably just shocked to see you out of your normal clothes. I was too when I first got here, but it's nice seeing you so laid back. Really, it is."

"You're a terrible fucking liar."

"And you're sort of a drama queen."

Kurt glared, "Why don't you just leave?" He pointed towards the door and narrowed his eyes further, scowling when Blaine just smiled at him. "Blaine," he growled out in warning, but his friend just smiled brighter.

"If it'll make you feel better, change your clothes and then come downstairs. Your stepmom made a really delicious looking pot roast and your dad seemed excited to have a family dinner with his kids' new friends - you wouldn't want to ruin this, would you?"

"You're a dick."

"Change or something and then meet me in the hall. I'll be waiting," Blaine teased, grinning as he dashed out of the room and closed the door behind him. Several minutes went by and then Kurt stepped out, dressed in a pair of black tattered jeans and a red t-shirt. His rainbow hair was now styled, not as tousled as before, and he looked more relaxed now that he had a moment to himself. When he caught Blaine's eye in the hall, he gave his friend a slight smile and then stomped down the stairs, Blaine following close behind.

"You're welcome, by the way," Blaine called out as they descended the steps. He was met with a middle finger answer and he barked out a laugh, still chuckling when he and Kurt stepped into the dining room. The occupants of the table looked up at their entrance and Burt took one look at his son and then Blaine before he spoke.

"Everything okay now?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm hungry. Let's eat," Kurt grumbled quietly, taking the bowl of mashed potatoes to scoop out a helping for himself. He held the bowl in his hands a little while before he dipped a spoonful out for Blaine as well; he then handed off the platter to his dad, ignoring the curiously watchful eyes on him. They would remain on him for the duration of dinner when, strangely enough, Kurt served Blaine every single bit of food Carole cooked. It was a weird sight indeed, but it was also something that both intrigued and excited Burt a little bit because he hadn't seen his son so caring towards someone in quite some time.

Something was definitely up and he was going to get to the bottom of it.

::::::::::

"So what's going on with you and that Anderberry kid?"

"It's Anderson-Berry, dad... and there's nothing going on with us," Kurt said quietly, leaning back against the kitchen counter as he sipped on a glass of chocolate milk. It was late in the evening, several hours after Blaine and Rachel went home, and while everyone else in the house was asleep, Kurt and Burt were wide awake. Kurt couldn't sleep; bad memories of the first few weeks of school after he drunkenly lost his virginity plagued his mind, so all he did was toss and turn, wishing for the sandman to just come and knock him the fuck out. Burt, on the other hand, stayed up watching some late night tv and was just about to turn in when he heard his son come sneaking by, which was obviously his chance to talk.

"So then what got you so upset tonight? You've never cared that you're wearing jammies at dinner. You and Finn never dress up, so why'd you get so mad?"

Kurt sighed, setting his half-empty glass on the counter. Burt went and pulled out the jug of milk as well as the chocolate syrup, and passed it over to his son, watching quietly as the teenager went to make another glass. Once the milk was made, Kurt slid the ingredients back towards his dad and went to take another sip, swallowing before he said, "Do you remember the weeks after I lost my virginity?"

As if I could forget, Burt thought, remembering the days of Kurt angrily screaming at him that nothing was wrong until he finally cracked one night and confessed everything over dinner. As a father, Burt felt like he failed his little boy, especially when Kurt was bawling so hard at the table, telling him that he'd had sex and didn't remember it, but that everyone else knew and that they were picking on him. After that, it was a flurry of having tests done, picking up safe sex pamphlets, and trying to piece Kurt back together. It took them a while, but when Kurt finally began feeling better, things went back to normal.

Or as normal as they could be.

"Of course I remember that. Why?"

"When I- when Blaine and I came downstairs tonight, Rachel looked at me like those kids did that week. She was just staring at me like she knew something I didn't and it just... it pissed me off."

"And that's why you blew up?"

"Yeah, I guess? I just couldn't stand her looking at me like that."

"Does she know-"

"I dunno. Blaine does; I told him a while back."

"And does he-"

"He doesn't care. He doesn't judge, thank god."

Burt nodded thoughtfully, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned against the counter. He remembered watching his son's friend throughout the dinner, observing the way Blaine stared at Kurt and hung onto his every word whenever the older boy spoke. Occasionally, Blaine would toss his own opinion in and usually what he said gauged a smile or laugh from Kurt, but other than that, the two barely interacted with each other. Played off of each other, sure, but they barely spoke, just listened.

It was strange.

"You like this kid?"

A weird, strained noise sounded from Kurt's throat as the boy yanked his glass of milk away from his lips and shot his dad a scandalized look. His dark brows were furrowed and in the dim lighting of the kitchen, his many piercings glinted in the light. "Blaine and I are just friends-"

"You sure about that?"

"I fail to see how our friendship is any of your business."

At that, Burt laughed, "If that kid's gonna be around my house a lot, I think it's definitely my business, especially if I've gotta make sure you two aren't doing anything against the rules under my roof."

"Dad!"

"But if you're just friends, then I guess we've got nothing to worry about, right?" The older man's voice was slightly teasing as he pushed away from the counter and gave his son a slight shove in the shoulder. Kurt glared at the man, lips pursed tight, and only sneered harder when his dad laughed some more and left the kitchen, bidding his son a good night as he disappeared around the corner. Once he was gone, Kurt put his empty glass in the sink and climbed up to sit on the counter, staring out of the kitchen window at the dark backyard. The wind outside was howling; a spring storm was about to roll in, and deep down, Kurt felt soothed by the whole drama that was occurring outside the window - it was a lot like the strange, swirling feelings he felt in his heart.

The feelings that he denied having in front of his father even though he knew damn well that his dad could read him like a fucking book.

::::::::::

The next few days following the dinner at the Hudson-Hummel home were busy, busy, busy for the members of the New Directions.

Kurt and Finn were swamped with preparations for Nationals, which was coming up soon. The glee club wasn't ready per se, not having come up with any ideas for songs or anything of the like, but they were having dance classes with Mike Chang and getting together every day after school to come up with ideas for their song lists. Some days, Blaine and Rachel sat in on the practices, adding their own suggestions towards what to do and after three consecutive days of sitting in with the choir, Mr. Schue finally asked the two if they'd like to audition. Granted, it was way too late to join at that moment and they wouldn't be able to go to New York with the group for Nationals, but they could still sit in with everyone if they wanted - and wanted they did.

So they auditioned with a number from West Side Story that rocked the socks off of New Directions and with a unanimous vote, the (Anderson) Berry siblings were officially members of the next years group of New Directions.

And if Kurt's heart was doing backflips in his chest thanks to Blaine's silky smooth voice, he didn't mention it.

::::::::::

"People keep looking at you," Rachel whispered, sneaking in closer to Finn and Kurt as the brothers walked down the hall to their lockers. Kurt rolled his eyes at her words and let his tongue drag across his lip ring, slyly biting the shiny metal with his teeth as he smirked at various people who he just so happened to make eye contact with.

"Let them look. Maybe they'll realize that you can't fuck with me or what's mine now that Azimio's got a busted nose."

"What's yours?" Blaine piped up, his voice soft and slightly jittery. The meaning behind Kurt's words weren't exactly lost on him, but it was still strange to hear someone claim that Blaine was theirs. He knew Kurt didn't mean it romantically - there wasn't anything between them, no matter how much Blaine's stomach fluttered whenever his friend spoke to him or accidentally brushed up against him - but still, knowing that Kurt punched a dude in the face because of him was kind of awesome... and sexy.

Oh god.

Kurt just smirked again, not answering Blaine's question, and branched off to his locker, Blaine following close behind. Once they were gone, Finn and Rachel shared a knowing look, smiling when they caught each other's eye.

"You can't tell me you aren't thinking what I'm thinking," Rachel mused as she bumped Finn's elbow with her own. Next to her, the tall boy smiled wide and lazily draped an arm around his friend's shoulders, not noticing the way the girl turned beet red at his touch.

"I'm pretty sure we're on the same page."

"That's what I thought."

::::::::::

Two weeks before the end of the school year, the New Directions flew to New York for Nationals. That, of course, meant that for the first time in weeks, both Rachel and Blaine were left without their friends to fend for themselves at McKinley. With Kurt gone, Blaine was on edge the whole time. The jocks were constantly watching him, like they were waiting to catch him unaware and strike while his guard was down, and even though Blaine knew that they probably wouldn't try anything and were probably just trying to get a reaction out of him, he was still a little scared.

"Ignore them," Rachel told him on the first day the glee club was gone after they ran into a group of jocks near his locker. One of the guys had the nerve to step out in front of them as they walked, but Rachel stomped on his foot and made it seem like an accident, even though Blaine knew damn well that she did it on purpose... it was still funny as hell though. After that, the jocks backed off, only because their friend's yelp alerted Coach Beiste; still the act made the siblings very nervous.

"What if they get worse?"

"They won't. Just make sure you keep an eye on them."

And watch them he did. He made sure he kept one eye on them when he was busy texting Kurt in class; he made double sure he kept watch as he walked to his locker after school when the halls were emptier too. Luckily, no one messed with him the whole time (despite the constant glares and sneers), but after the three-day period of the New Directions being gone, things went back to normal when the group came back to Ohio.

They didn't place at Nationals; they just weren't ready, but the whole club talked about how they learned from their mistakes and how they'd be ready to win it all next year (especially since the whole group would be coming back since none of them were graduating this year.) When Kurt saw Blaine in the hall the first morning back, he walked right up to him and wrapped an arm around the smaller boy's shoulders, glaring at whomever caught his eye in the hall.

"Anybody mess with you while we were gone?"

"No... well, one of the hockey guys tried to scare me and Rach the other day, but she jumped on his foot and he screamed, so people came to investigate and they backed off."

"And then?"

"Other than that... nothing." Blaine pulled out of Kurt's one-armed embrace and went to lean back against his locker, quietly listening as Kurt began rambling about their New York trip. He nodded at the appropriate times, expressed his jealousy over not being able to go at others, and by the time Kurt breathlessly ended the conversation, Blaine couldn't deny the way his heart pounded so strongly in his chest; it was so loud that he could hear it in his ears. Creepy.

"Are you even listening?" Kurt grumbled, narrowing his eyes at Blaine when he noticed the other boy's silence.

"Yeah, yeah. I-I'm listening. I'm just... trying to take it all in. It... it sounds like you had a lot of fun up there."

"I did. I can't wait to go back," Kurt gushed, slamming his locker shut. He ran a hand through his thick hair, fluffing the multicolored strands in front before he turned back and faced Blaine. For a moment, the two of them locked eyes and Blaine watched in shock as Kurt's gaze darted from his eyes down to his breath parted lips. Curiously, Blaine's eyesight followed the movement and he found himself lost in thought as Kurt's tongue peeked out between his own full lips, wetting them with a quick-second lick before it slipped back inside and he rubbed them together. Holy shit. "Blaine?"

"Yeah?"

"You're staring at my mouth."

"So? You're staring at mine too."

And like that, the moment was broken. Like a too-stretched rubberband, Kurt's eyes snapped up and Blaine looked up too, his eyes widening in shock as he caught stunned blue ones staring back at him. Both boys gaped at each other, too shocked for their own good, and while Blaine was slowly edging towards being jolted into silence, Kurt's mouth had other plans.

"I wasn't- fuck, I wasn't looking at your mouth. I just- damnit, why the fuck were you looking at me like that?"

Blaine blinked, the haze of the moment fading away when he finally heard (and understood) Kurt's words. "What? You looked at my mouth first!"

"Bullshit. You were looking at mine first!"

"Kurt, I... are we really going to do this here?" The shorter boy asked, his voice coming out in a low, careful whisper. Kurt looked up to find a few people watching them eagerly, like they were dying to know what was happening between the skank and the new kid. Sneering, Kurt flipped the nosy busybodies the bird and then turned back to Blaine, rolling his eyes when he caught the angry look on his friend's face.

"We wouldn't be doing this at all if you could just keep your eyes to yourself, Anderson."

"It's Anderson-Berry and you know that, Hummel. Why are you acting like this?" Blaine threw his hands in the hair, still confused by Kurt's sudden about-face. "You were fine just a minute ago."

"Yeah, I was fine until I realized that you were oogling me. What the fuck, Blaine?"

"You aren't that innocent either! You were staring at me like you wanted to eat my face! How else am I supposed to react?"

Kurt scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Oh, so because I'm some sort of skank, I'm supposed to want to bang anything gay within a five mile radius?"

"I never said that and you know it! Why are you flip-flopping on me?"

A few lockers down, one of the Cheerios paused in her motions of emptying her locker, all of a sudden finding the drama between the two unlikely friends to be very interesting. She put her weight on one foot and pushed back against the locker, placing her hands on her hips as her green eyes fell onto Kurt. Horrifyingly enough, the look she shot the two of them was one of the ones Kurt remembered seeing the very first day back at school following his fucked-up first time. She was looking at him like a piece of meat, like she somehow knew who he was fucking and when/where/why and how, and when her eyes fell onto Blaine with the same look, Kurt could only imagine the rumors that would come spreading through the school like wildfire.

You don't care. You don't care. You don't care.

You do care.

Glaring, he turned back to Blaine and shook his head, pushing away the fight he had in him to not do this. Instead he decided to take matters into his own hands. It wasn't going to happen again. People may have seen him as a skank now, but they weren't going to start this shit all over again. Not now.

"Newflash, Abs. Just because I hang with the skanks doesn't make me one. It doesn't mean I want to sleep with the first gay person who shows interest in me and it definitely doesn't mean I lower my standards. I don't fuck guys who wear bowties, you got me? And... oh, would you look at that? What are you wearing? A bowtie!"

"Kurt-"

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but if you really wanna lose your v-card, you should probably go to Scandals. They'd eat your prep school ass up over there."

Blaine blinked, his lashes batting rapidly as he looked around the hall and watched the group of random bystanders decide that the once-juicy love affair wasn't as interesting as it had been moments before. People were leaving; the Cheerios that had been watching them talk were back to packing up their things and within seconds, it was like the last few minutes had never happened to the gossip pool.

Except, despite everyone's now lack of interest, nothing could take back what Kurt just did to him. Anger and shame bit at Blaine like a rabid animal and he shook his head, stepping back from his friend as he watched the taller boy's eyes drop down and focus on the floor. Remorse was written all over Kurt's face, but he wouldn't even look Blaine in the eye after what he said, so it was obvious he wasn't as sorry as he seemed. Frowning, Blaine shouldered his bag and sucked his lip between his teeth, ignoring the metallic-y taste of blood from when he accidentally chomped down too hard on one side of his mouth and bit through the skin.

His thoughts were rushing like waves through his mind and his ears roared with static; Kurt was still standing there, not looking at him, and the crowd of people around them were leaving, but all Blaine could see/feel/hear were Kurt's words about lowering his standards and how Blaine should go to Scandals. It hurt; it hurt like hell to know that Kurt didn't feel the same way he did - or if he did feel that way, how he could be so crass about it all just because of some stupidly nosy people. Just knowing that the feelings he built up for the grungy boy meant nothing to Kurt ached something fierce in Blaine's belly.

Sniffling (oh god, when did he start getting emotional?), Blaine tightened his grip on his bag and moved forward until he was standing just inches away from Kurt's face. Upon getting closer, he could see the way his friend's facial expression had tensed - like he was nervous or something - but Blaine was too blinded by his disgust to even bother caring. With a growl, he rose to his tip toes and hissed out words that shattered Kurt's heart the second they hit the air.

"You know what? Thanks for letting me know how you feel. Thanks for reaffirming what I've known from the beginning: that I'm too damn good for you anyway, Kurt. I really freaking appreciate it," and then he was gone, leaving Kurt standing there by his locker wishing he had handled the whole fucking situation so much differently.

A/N: Blah. I feel like this is dragging and I apologize for that. Since it's an AU, I wanted to introduce the characters a little more before I jumped into the whole MPREG of it all (which is coming up very soon, I promise) but because I've been writing them moving into their crushes and what not, it just feels slow. But it will pick up soon. I hope you are all still reading and thank you for the reviews last chapter. Coming up in future chapters, there will be some smut (my first dive into it, not counting a slight scene in WWO) so I hope you like it. Lemme know what you thought!