It wasn't unusual if a dorm which belonged to two Warblers all of a sudden got flooded by the entire glee club. It normally happened on slow nights when they had little or no homework left and food and snacks were often included.

It was nothing Kurt had ever expected before. He and Trent were just hanging out in their room, finishing up their French homework when Frank and Robert just walked into the room and sat down on Trent's bed and began talking to each other. Later on, the council and Chris walked into the room and sat down on Kurt's bed. At this moment, the distraction in the room was too much so Kurt and Trent put their homework aside.

Pair by pair the Warblers started flooding the room. After a half an hour, they were blasting music and had ordered a pizza.

"So, Flint, a little bird whispered in my ear that you had a date this weekend. How did it go?" Thad asked. Flint blushed slightly and took another bite of his pizza. Before he could answer, Wes piped up.

"Did that bird happen to be a mockingbird?"

"Don't mock me, Gavelson." Thad replied.

"Alright Thadders mockmockmock Sanders." Wes said, earning him a punch in the arm from Thad.

"I dunno. The guy's great and everything but I didn't really feel it, you know?" Flint said. "But whatever, I got a free dinner."

The conversation faded and the guys began focusing more on eating. Chris looked like he was deep in thought. He was slowly munching on his pizza and he readjusted his glasses before turning to face Kurt.

"Hey, Kurt? What was it like at McKinley?"

Kurt froze. He wasn't sure if he was completely ready to talk about what happened. He thought it couldn't hurt to answer just a few questions about it.

"It was alright, I suppose." Kurt answered. He saw Blaine raise his eyebrows slightly at him.

"If it was alright, why did you leave?" Thad asked. Kurt noticed David elbowing Thad in his arm. Wes and David knew why he transferred, but they didn't know all the details. Seeing the confused look Thad's face as he turned to David and nudged him right back made Kurt smile for a second.

"I was bullied." Kurt blurted out. "For being gay."

"Seriously?" Randy said, a disappointing look on his face. Kurt got a small knot in his stomach. This was exactly what he feared. He was opening up and they were shutting him down, minimizing what had happened to him. Randy seemed to pick up on how Kurt was feeling because he added, "it's just so weird how people can just hate other people for being something. It's ridiculous, it's not like you're doing something wrong."

"Kurt, are you alright?" Chris asked softly. Kurt looked up from his lap to see fifteen concerned faces looking at him. He never expected this. He had only exchanged a few words with some of these guys, but they still gave him all their attention. He wondered for a moment if it was time to open up to them. They all seemed to care and he had wanted to get this off his chest for several days now. He had tried to sit down and tell Finn what had properly happened, besides the kiss, but Finn told him they'd talk about it later because he was too busy. That was two weeks ago.

Kurt straightened up and looked Chris in the eyes before strongly telling him no. Some Warblers looked taken aback while some didn't look very surprised.

"We're here for you if you want to talk about it." Nick said.

Kurt turned his head slightly to look at Blaine. He had a soft and comforting smile on his face which gave Kurt the courage to begin talking about it.

"I was the only gay kid in my school. Out of the closet, at least and there was this bully…" Kurt started, rather shaky. He noticed Jeff turning to face Nick with fear in his eyes. Nick shook his head and Jeff seemed to relax slightly.

"He just… pushed me to the edge. I couldn't handle it anymore. He scared me so much and I didn't feel safe anymore. So I left."

"I don't understand." Flint said. "You were in the glee club, weren't you? I mean, you don't see popular kids getting bullied often…"

"The glee club is at the bottom of the social ladder at McKinley." Kurt said. The Warblers looked shocked at his words.

"Seriously?" David said

"You're kidding!" Robert cried.

"We get a slushie facial at least once a week." Kurt said.

"Wait, what's a slushie facial?" Frank asked.

"Am I the only one who thinks this sounds dirty?" Terry asked.

"It's not. It's possible to buy slushies in my school and it's very popular amongst the jocks to throw them into the losers' faces."

"They did that to you?" Trent asked. When Kurt nodded and told him it had happened often, he shook his head in disgust.

"There were also dumpster tosses, but those have gotten a lot fewer after Puck joined glee. Then there were locker-slams and the occasional verbal abuse. It's not too bad."

The Warblers were starting to get upset. Some were frowning, others were holding back their anger while the rest looked sympathetic.

"They can't just do that!" Thad cried.

"Yeah, they can." Nick added.

"How the fuck do you know?" Flint barked at Nick in anger.

"I just do, Flint, I've been there." Nick hissed, his anger rising as well. Kurt began feeling guilty for making the two Warblers argue like this and started to get scared they might began fighting physically. Thankfully, Blaine picked up on how Kurt was feeling and tried to stop the two boys.

"Guys, calm down. You can settle this later."

Nick reluctantly broke the eye contact with a now guilty looking Flint and turned to face Kurt again.

"Kurt, what do you mean with 'it's not too bad'? That's horrible what you went through." Wes said.

"It really isn't. You get used to it quickly."

"But you shouldn't. No one deserves that, Kurt." Jeff said, his eyes wide. His hand was resting on top of Nick's and Kurt wasn't sure if he was even aware of it. Kurt opened his mouth to protest but Jeff beat him to it. "Kurt, you're a wonderful person. Something like that shouldn't happen to someone like you."

As Kurt took in Jeff's words, he began thinking back to every slushie facial, every locker slam and every dumpster toss. Jeff's words were playing over and over again in his head as he thought about it. He was ripped from his thoughts when he heard Wes's timid voice.

"Why didn't anyone stand up for you?"

Kurt opened his mouth to answer, but nothing came out. He wondered why he couldn't say anything but then it hit him. His friends did stand up for him several times, like during the Gaga week when Finn stood up to Karofsky. The more he thought about it, the more he realized how he didn't really belong at New Directions. He had to fight and scream in order to get a solo, the guys treated him more like a girl then a guy sometimes and he was constantly shot down.

In the Warblers, he was immediately accepted by them. Yes, he struggled in the beginning but look at how far he had come. It had only been several months since he started going to Dalton and already were they all sitting on the floor with him, giving him all their focus and listening to him. They didn't judge him for being gay and they tried their best to make him feel belonged. He was invited to every get together they held and they weren't afraid of touching him, which was something he sometimes felt as if the guys at New Directions tried to avoid.

"They didn't really notice." Kurt finally settled on saying.

"Wait, wait, wait. Let me get this right." David said. "Your close friends didn't notice you were bullied to the extent that you had to transfer?"

"T-They did, but…"

"But they just didn't do anything about it?" Thad finished, his eyes wide. When Kurt didn't reply, he spoke again. "Are you sure they're really your friends?"

"Of course they are! They do care about me, they just didn't…" Kurt couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence. Why didn't they notice how hurt he was? Why didn't they try to stop Karofsky? He still kept in touch with them, especially Mercedes, but he hadn't really heard from Artie and Quinn since he transferred.

"You really didn't deserve any of this, Kurt." Nathan said. "I just want you to know if this guy ever tries to bully you again, just let us know. I don't know why your friends back at your old school didn't stand up for you but you can bet we all will."

There were a few murmurs agreeing and nods and Kurt's eyes began to water. He didn't understand how much they all cared for him so soon. Thad wasn't joking when he said the Warblers were a family few days earlier.

"Thank you. Just… thank you. For being here and listening and accepting me." Kurt said.

"What exactly did this bully do? You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, by the way." Frank asked. Kurt felt Blaine grab his hand and giving it a squeeze. Kurt thought that since he had gotten this far, why shouldn't he just tell them about Karofsky too? After telling the Warblers about the other stuff, he felt as if a weight had been lifted off his chest.

"He's this Neanderthal who has been bullying me due to my sexual preference. Turns out he's actually struggling with his own sexuality." Kurt said. He noticed Jeff looking downwards and biting his lip. "Blaine gave me the courage to stand up to him, which resulted in him kissing me." Several of the Warblers turned to give Blaine a look. "He threatened to kill me if I told anyone about it. From that point on it just became too much. He was actually suspended but he came back. Carole and my dad noticed how scared I was so they spent the money they had saved for their honeymoon on the tuition here at Dalton so I could feel safe."

"That was very generous of them." Thad said.

"You're very strong, Kurt." Nick said, hesitantly. Kurt smiled gently at him.

"I never thought this would ever happen to me. This… you guys." Kurt said. Some of the guys looked confused at his words. "You're all so nice to me, you don't judge me and even though it pains me to say this, I feel more accepted here than in New Directions."

"You're one of us, Kurt." Blaine said, kissing Kurt's cheek and squeezing his hand.

I hope I didn't screw this up… I tried my best and I'm rather satisfied with it.