A/N: Just a short chapter today! I don't know when I'll be able to get the next chapter done, so hopefully this will tide everyone over until then!

A/N2: This chapter was betaed by the wonderful Emberwillow14!

Chapter Five

"So how was your date with Kurt?"

Blaine glanced over at Wes, briefly wondering why he was the passenger in his own car before answering. "It was good."

"Just good?" Wes spared a quick glance at his friend before dragging his eyes back to the road. "What happened?"

"Whatever makes you think something happened?"

"Come on, Blaine," Wes chuckled. "I know you. If nothing happened, you would have been talking my ear off about how amazing the date was, and how amazing Kurt is. Instead, you let me ramble on for forty-five minutes about how I got stuck playing board games with Kelly's younger siblings. Then when I ask you how it went, all you can say is good? What happened?"

Blaine sighed and stared out the window. "We went to go see that new action movie."

"And?" Wes prompted when it seemed like that was all the other boy was going to say. "You didn't enjoy it?"

"We didn't see all of it. Ended up leaving partway through."

"That bad, huh?" Wes glanced at Blaine again. "Well, I never thought Kurt would be too into action flicks."

"I pushed him." Blaine's voice was quiet, almost whispered.

"What?" Wes stared at his friend in shock, before violently jerking the steering wheel when he noticed that he had drifted into the other lane. "Blaine, you didn't-"

"Not physically," Blaine cut in, and Wes breathed a sigh of relief.

"What do you mean then?"

"I . . . It started out innocently enough. We were playing around, and I put my arm around him. Then he kissed me. And things . . . kind of got a little heated." Blaine shivered at the memory of Kurt's mouth on his own, the younger boy's tongue hesitantly exploring his mouth, his hand inching closer to the prize that was wrapped up in those sinfully tight jeans . . . Blaine had to shake his head to clear his mind before he could continue. "Kurt got freaked, and ran out."

Wes nodded slowly, keeping his eyes on the road. "So then what happened? Because you were with him when I picked you up, and he didn't look upset then."

"I apologized." Blaine sighed deeply. "Actually, he apologized first. Can you believe that? He honestly thought that he had done something wrong."

"I can." Wes smiled when Blaine shot his a surprised look. "Oh, come on. The kid adores you. He was probably terrified that you were angry with him for running away. I mean, have you met the guys he hangs out with on a daily basis? They certainly seem less . . . refined than you. Especially that Puck character."

"Even so, he shouldn't feel he has to apologize for pushing me away," Blaine mumbled as they pulled up in front of Dalton. "I told him so, too."

"You are so damn chivalrous, Blaine." Wes laughed as he stopped the car. "Not that that's a bad thing, of course. It's just . . . adorable. Now get out and I'll go park the car."

"Tell me again why you're ordering me out of my own car?" Blaine asked as he climbed out of the vehicle. "For that matter, why were you the one driving home?"

"Because you climbed into the passenger seat. Now shut the door, and I'll meet you back in the dorm."

Blaine laughed as he slammed the door shut and made his way up the steps. It was still pretty early, only about five in the afternoon, but the grounds were deserted. A lot of the students opted to go home for the weekends if they lived close enough. In fact, the only reason the kids who stayed did so was because there were usually club meetings on the weekends. That's why Blaine stayed; the Warblers rehearsed every Saturday at five.

He wasn't paying attention to his surroundings, preferring instead to think about his wonderful (and hot) boyfriend. That was probably why he didn't notice the shadow looming over him until he was shoved roughly to the ground.

"What the hell?" Blaine yelled, looking up at whoever was behind him. His heart stopped as he recognized the muscular figure.

Karofsky.

He was obviously angry, glowering down at Blaine with his large fists clenched tightly at his sides. Blaine could practically feel the hatred radiating off of Karofsky.

Slowly, and without breaking eye contact, Blaine pushed himself up to his feet. Karofsky remained as he was, simply watching Blaine as though he was prey.

He really hated the feeling of being hunted.

"What are you doing here?" Blaine asked calmly, proud that he could keep the scared waver out of his voice. The other teen was an awful lot bigger than him.

Karofsky smirked and slowly stepped closer towards the smaller teen. Blaine hurriedly backed up, wincing when his back hit the brick wall of the school.

"I just came for a little chat," Karofsky said pleasantly enough, stopping his movement only when he was less than a foot away from the other boy.

Blaine swallowed discretely. "About what?"

"Kurt." Suddenly Karofsky's hands were twisted in Blaine's shirt, almost lifting him off the ground. "Stay away from him."

"What?" Blaine's eyes widened in shock. "No! You have no right-"

He was cut off by a large fist striking the side of his head, pain exploding everywhere. Karofsky slammed Blaine against the wall and he could feel the rough surface scraping across his back. Another punch hit him, this one landing on his eye, before he was thrown to the ground.

"Are you going to stay away from Kurt?" The question was growled, low and dangerous.

"No." Blaine realized that was the wrong answer when he was kicked hard in the stomach. Repeatedly. As the kicks rained down against him, he tried to curl up in a little ball.

Finally it stopped and Karofsky reached down to pull the other boy back up to throw him against the wall. When Blaine started to slide down, Karofksy wound his fingers through those black curls and held him up by his hair.

Blaine winced in pain, bringing his hands up to tug futilely at the hand securing him to the wall. He was wheezing, and his chest hurt pretty badly. He silently prayed that none of his ribs were broken.

"Stay the fuck away from Kurt. He belongs to me." Karofsky leaned forward uncomfortably close to whisper the next part in Blaine's ear. "If I ever see you near him again, I will kill him. And I'll make sure it hurts. You don't want that, do you?"

N-no," Blaine whispered softly, trying to squirm free.

Karofsky frowned at the other teen's attempts to escape; he tightened his grip on Blaine's hair and slammed the back of his head against the wall.

Blaine cried out in pain.

"Do we have an understanding?" Karofsky growled. When Blaine didn't answer, he slammed the other's whole body against the wall. "I said, 'do we have an understanding.'"

"Yes," Blaine whimpered quietly. He was pretty sure the back of his head was bleeding.

Karofsky smirked again and released his victim, watching him collapse onto the ground. "Good. And don't forget, I'm always watching."

Blaine watched as the bully climbed back in his car and drove away. He heard frantic footsteps running towards him and Wes appeared in his line of sight.

"What the hell happened to you?" Wes skidded to a stop and fell to his knees beside his friend. "Who was that guy?"

"That was Karofsky, the guy who was bullying Kurt." Blaine winced as he slowly stood with Wes's help. "He told me to stay away from Kurt."

Wes frowned as he led the smaller boy inside. "You have to call the police. This is assault."

Blaine laughed softly. "I think I should go to the nurse first and see how bad it is."

"At least tell Kurt, so he knows what happened."

"No. I don't want to worry him."

"Blaine-"

"Wes, I'm hurt and I'm freaked out and I just need . . . I just need to go to the nurse, okay?"

The frown never left Wes's face, but he nodded as he helped Blaine get to the nurse's office. Once they finally made it there, he deftly slid his hand into the other boy's pocket and retrieved the cell phone there. Blaine was in too much pain to even notice.

Once he was sure that the nurse would take good care of his friend, Wes walked out of the office. He knew Blaine was just trying to protect Kurt, but if this bully was going to start coming after Blaine, then Wes needed to make sure that his friend was safe.

He scrolled through the contacts until he found the one he wanted and pressed send.