Title: Your Boyfriend Hates Me

Rating: K/PG

AN: I'm just assuming that, like my public school, McKinely school administrators stick around during after school activities for liability issues, hence the references to the school nurse and Principal Figgins still being on campus.

In which Blaine and Rachel bond over their respective boyfriend's attitudes. - missing scene in 3.06 Mash-Off

The gymnasium had cleared out rather quickly after the dodgeball game turned bloody – Kurt had taken Rory to the nurse's office to get cleaned up, the Troubletones bolted while the New Directions cleaned up, and nobody seemed to want to stick around for too long in case Figgins came looking for an explanation as to why the new foreign exchange student was crying red from the nose.

"McKinely sure does things differently than Dalton," Blaine thought, rubbing his sore knee. The rivalry and in-fighting that occurred was comparable to culture-shock for him. The Warblers just weren't like that. They argued a few times over song selection and solos, but no one ever jumped ship and started their own group over it. And certainly, no one ever bled over it.

The girl's locker room door slammed and he jumped; he was surprised to see Rachel walking across the court. He thought he was the last one left, having to wait for Kurt to retrieve his own belongings before they could go home. She was still in her little black shorts and red gym shirt, he noticed, which seemed odd as he'd had plenty of time himself to shower and change into his regular clothes. She spotted him about halfway across the room and he invited her over with a little wave. As she neared, he could see her eyes were glassy with half-formed tears and he instantly knew why she had been the last one to leave the locker room without changing.

"Were you crying in the stalls again?" he asked kindly, knowing that she wouldn't take offense to his blunt question.

"Your boyfriend hates me," Rachel huffed as she sat down next to Blaine in the empty bleachers, tossing her school books and street clothes unceremoniously on the bench in front of them. He immediately leaned forward and carefully stacked her belonging into a neat pile, the way she liked them to be, the way they would have been if she weren't so upset.

"Well, that's something else we have in common then," Blaine replied, trying to keep the sour taste of bitterness out of his voice, and failing miserably.

"Kurt hates you too?" Rachel asked, eyebrows knitted together in worry and confusion.

Blaine gave her a pointed look. "I meant Finn," he said and Rachel looked down at her hands, muttering "oh" in a very small voice. Blaine immediately regretted saying anything at all. It wasn't like him to drag other people into his problems, especially ones like this when it was possible that half the problem had been made up in his head. But really, was it? Because he'd thought that he and Finn had been alright with each other until Blaine transferred to McKinely and now their entire relationship seemed to be made up of snide comments and underhanded arguments.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I know he's been very rude to you lately."

"It's fine," Blaine shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant, but he could tell Rachel wasn't convinced.

"No, it's not," Rachel insisted, "especially after what he did in the choir room. I saw your face, when he was suggesting Rory for the lead. I thought he was talking about you as well and I'm so sorry he wasn't."

"It's not even about that," Blaine sighed. "I don't really care about solos, though somehow he thinks I do, it was like he was waiting for a reaction from me, like he wanted me to argue with him and I don't even understand where he got this idea of me into his head."

"He feels threatened," Rachel explained. "He'll never admit it of course, but he knows how popular you were at Dalton. Kurt used to rave about you, how charismatic you were, how people listened to you, how brilliant your ideas for songs and routines were. You were kind of the Warbler's golden boy, the way Kurt told it and that was fine for Finn when you were there. But now you're here and again, he'll never admit it, but being the club's leader is important to him. It makes him feel valuable."

"I'm not trying to take that away from him," Blaine insisted.

"I know that," Rachel said, nodding her head. "And I think logically, he knows it too. But he's an emotional person and he doesn't always think before he does things. And neither do I, because if I had, I might have realized that by running for student council president, Kurt would end up hating me the way Finn hates you. Not that he actually hates you-"

"Kurt doesn't hate you," Blaine interrupted.

"He won't even talk to me Blaine," she argued, "except, of course, to call me a sociopathic social-climber."

Blaine sucked in a deep breath as Rachel fought back a fresh round of tears. As much as he loved his boyfriend, and he truly did, Kurt had the uncanny ability to pick out the one thing likely to cause the most damage. For Rachel, he knew, that was her ambition and the things she would do to get there. "I'm sorry Rach," he said, echoing her previous statement. "I know that hurt."

"I just miss him," she sniffed, leaning her head against his shoulder.

"I'll let you in on a secret," he said, brushing an escaped tear from her cheek. "He misses you too."

"Really?" Despite the doubt in her voice, she looked up at him with hopeful eyes.

"Really," he nodded, poking her gently in the side. "Are you going to smile now?"

She bit her bottom lip and shook her head, but he could see the corners of her mouth turning upwards. "Come on," he teased, catching her by the hips and she let out a girlish squeal. "Smile. You know you can't resist."

"Don't you dare touch me Anderson!" Rachel laughed, wriggling free of his grip and bounding down the metallic steps onto the slick basketball court. Blaine ran after her, his shoes skidding across the floor as he tried to catch up to her. She was fast and wild; her hair flew all around her and the sound of her laugh echoed through the rafters. It filled him up, carried away all his bitterness and he was laughing as well by the time he caught her around the waist. He lifted her up off the floor and over his shoulder, hands hooked securely around her knees as he spun them around.

"Okay, okay!" she cried happily as they both fell into the firm mats lining the gym walls. "I give up! I'm smiling!"

"Good," he rasped, slightly out of breath. "You're beautiful when you do."

"I'm going to hug you now, okay?" she grinned and threw her arms around him without waiting for his answer. Blaine returned her embrace wholeheartedly, holding her tight against his chest, rocking back and forth on the spot. She giggled and with a surprising pivot, twirled them around once more so that his back hit the wall.

"Oh, it's like that?" he said, trying to sound as challenging as he could. She planted her feet firmly in place as he tried to pull her towards him and he had almost succeeded when the sound of a door slamming and a throat clearing invaded their little world. Blaine looked over Rachel's shoulder and saw Kurt, arms crossed over his chest.

"This is cozy," he said in a clipped voice. "Are you ready to go, Blaine or should I just leave you alone with your soul sucking leech of a new best friend?"

"Kurt," Blaine sighed, untangling himself from Rachel.

"Whatever," Kurt snipped, rolling his eyes and started towards the door. "If you're riding home with me, I'm leaving now."

Blaine sighed and looked back at Rachel's fading smile. After a quick glance in which he was sure Kurt wasn't looking, he leaned over and placed a gentle, chaste kiss on her cheekbone and like magic, her smile was back.

"It'll be okay," he whispered.

"I would only believe that coming from you," she said, squeezing his hand before she let it go.

"And smile!" he commanded with a wink before he started jogging towards the door. He didn't get a chance to look back, but her laughter was echoing through the gym once more and he knew that she was. And because of that, aside from the clubs' animosity, the bloodshed, the inevitable spat he would soon have with Kurt, and Finn's weird vendetta against him, Blaine decided it had ended up being a pretty good day.

AN2: Yeah, the ending sucked. My bad. -shrug- I really had nothing in mind for this past "your boyfriend hates me" because I thought it would be a cute thing for Rachel and Blaine to bond over.

Please review. I'll love you eternally.

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