A/N: Sorry there was a bit of a wait for this chapter, but it's winter break and I have to spend time with family and all :)
I actually wanted to put this chapter later on in the nonexistant plot but I hate writing filler chapters and I ran out of ideas, so this is what you get!

Chapter 3: Born This Way

"Hey, sorry I'm late."

Kurt looked up from his grande nonfat mocha and into the hazel eyes he had grown accustomed to in the past month or so. He smiled contently and motioned for Blaine to sit down in the chair across from him at the Lima Bean before the frazzled Warbler could apologize again.

"It's fine, Blaine. I know you had Warbler practice and Wes can be a little…demanding. How did it go?"

"Really well!" Blaine grinned excitedly. "Trent got me really angry but I didn't even feel close to setting something on fire! And the Council is thinking about giving me another solo for Regionals since Sectionals went so well."

"You do have an amazing voice," Kurt agreed. "The Warblers are lucky to have you."

"Has Mr. Shuester given out solos for New Directions yet?"

"No. Regionals is still months away. We're working on whatever projects he gives us every week. This week it's duets."

"Who are you singing with?"

"So far… no one," he sighed, trying not to look too dejected.

"But there are twelve people…?"

"Puck is suspended for at least another week because he destroyed the slushie machine at school. We don't get slushie facials every morning for a while, but it means we only have eleven members and of course that makes me the odd one out."

"Don't think like that. You're perfect."

Kurt looked across the table, shocked but pleasantly surprised. The blush on his face made Blaine's smile come back in full force.

"And anyway," the older boy continued, "can't Mr. Shuester make an exception?"

"He doesn't seem to notice. I don't know how he missed the number when he assigned the project."

"Well, I would have jumped at the chance to duet with you."

"Thanks…"

"How is the rest of school?"

"Oh, classes are fine and all but this Neanderthal has made it his mission to make my life a living hell."

"I'm sorry, Kurt. I know how that can be…"

"You do?"

"I was bullied before I came to Dalton. The faculty was just like 'hey, if you're gay, life's just going to suck. Sorry.' I ran… But you… you don't have to, Kurt. Don't let them put you down or belittle who you are. You have the chance to do everything I'll always wish I did. You can make a difference. It just takes a little courage."

Kurt stood at his locker, staring longingly at the picture of himself and Blaine that he had taken with his phone at the Lima Bean on their tenth visit there. They both were coffee addicts, it seemed, and the little coffee shop quickly became theirs. The baristas knew them by name. In a normal circumstance, Kurt would have sworn off coffee for a while to avoid seeming so pathetic, but with Blaine he could think of nothing but spending more time with the boy. He was in the middle of shutting his locker door when a force knocked into his side and sent him face forward into the locker beside his and then onto the ground. He looked up to see David Karofsky, the brutish football player who seemed to enjoy making his life a living hell, walking into the locker room with a smug grin. Kurt followed angrily without knowing why he was even bothering.

"Trying to catch a peek of my junk, fairy?" Karofsky sneered.

"Hunks of meat aren't my type."

"Oh really-"

"What is your problem? Do you think shoving people into lockers can change who they are? Because it can't."

Karofsky backed him into the wall of lockers behind him with a fist raised.

"Go ahead! Hit me! You can't punch the gay out of me any more than I can punch the ignoramus out of you!"

The hit did come, and it caught his left eye hard enough to make him groan in pain. But then, before another could follow, he squinted at his bully in time to see his face drawing nearer before he… kissed him. The kiss was forceful and cold, and Kurt was honestly terrified. Karofsky pulled back when he didn't respond and shoved him to the ground. Kurt scrambled to get back up but the jock straddled his hips and sent blow after blow at his torso while simultaneously unbuttoning Kurt's shirt. The smaller boy tried to scream but his voice died in his throat as he felt the other's arousal on his stomach. Tears cascaded down Kurt's face; Karofsky didn't seem to mind. Kurt bit his lip so hard that it bled continuously but it wasn't enough to distract him from the meaty fingers that attempted to unzip his jeans. That was the last straw. The fear snapped inside his mind and body; the very next second Karofsky's skin was tinted a blueish-purple and frost gathered in his hair. He was a solid icicle and still Kurt could not move as he finally let himself sob.

Blaine stared intently at his Calculus book but it still didn't make sense five minutes after taking the first look at the problem he was assigned. He sighed and tapped his fingers on the desk impatiently. There was nothing he hated more than math. He looked up at the clock on his dorm room wall only to huff and turn his focus back to the ridiculous homework he had to finish before the next morning. Time went so…slowly…

'-I'm defying gravity! And you won't bring me down-'

Blaine shot up from his nap and dug around in his pockets for his phone until he located the small device. The caller ID read 'Kurt :)'. He smiled happily and pushed his chair away from his desk, leaving the Calculus to the back of his mind until further notice.

"Hey Kurt!"

The only response he got was muffled cries. Blaine was immediately worried and pulled his car keys off his bedside table. He was on the way out of the door before the other boy could manage to get a single word out.

"K-Karof-" harder sobs, "H-he tried to-" here it was approaching wailing, "and I couldn't- I didn't-"

"Kurt, I need you to calm down, okay? You need to calm down before you make yourself sick. I'm on my way to Lima right now. Where are you?"

"M-McKinley. Locker room."

"90 minutes tops, okay? Stay on the line so I know you're alright."

Blaine felt no regret in walking into the public school and ignoring the signs that told him to check in at the office. Normally he would have followed them like a good citizen who didn't want to seem suspicious, but he had bigger concerns. It took longer than he would have liked to find the locker rooms, but Kurt's directions were soaked in tears and he didn't have the heart to ask him to speak more clearly. When he got there he could hear the boy's soft crying from both the receiver at his ear and from the other end of the room he had entered. He didn't hang up, just in case.

"Kurt?" he called out.

A vague 'here' sounded from the far corner of the locker room so he weaved in and out of the rows until he came upon a sight he honestly wasn't expecting. It sent anger flaring up and he could have sworn that there was steam coming out of his nostrils. His phone was quickly discarded into his pocket as he knelt beside Kurt and brushed the hair out of the younger's eyes to try and soothe him. Blaine could tell that Kurt didn't want him to see what was going on, but there was no way around it. It was obvious that the jock on top of him was frozen solid, and Kurt had no way of getting out from under him or of unfreezing the teen. Blaine took in the sight of Kurt's bruised chest and hastily unbuttoned shirt along with the hand frozen in the act of unzipping his jeans and it took very little guesswork to figure out what would have happened had Kurt's powers not kicked in. Swelling was quickly hiding one of Kurt's beautiful eyes and Blaine found himself growing more furious every second that passed. He took a few deep breaths to stay calm for the terrified boy who had called him in his time of need and slowly, very slowly, extended a hand to first unfreeze the jock enough to get Kurt off the floor.

It was a tedious process that took ten minutes before the boy with porcelain skin could wriggle out from underneath the bully he labeled as 'Karofsky' and to throw himself into Blaine's arms. A new round of tears began from both boys and all Blaine could do was rub small circles into Kurt's back and hope that he would never have to face something like that again.

After Kurt had calmed down slightly, Blaine kissed his forehead tenderly (a move he hoped didn't seem to out of place for friends who were both gay) and handed the other his keys.

"Why don't you get in my car and wait for me while I finish this?"

Thawing out Karofsky took far longer than Blaine had wanted to spend on the Neanderthal. He couldn't go too fast or else the teen would have ended up burnt to a crisp, and if he went too slowly the freezing temperatures would have killed him as well. It had to be done evenly to start the blood flowing again, even if Blaine really just wanted the guy to die on the spot. By the time he was done and the idiot was knocked out on the floor, it had been at least an hour since Kurt had gone to his car.

Blaine half-sprinted out of the school and to the parking lot where he had parked his car, hoping that Kurt hadn't decided to go home some other way. When he pulled open the door and slid into his seat behind the wheel, he found the younger boy curled up in the passenger seat with his knees pulled to his chest and Blaine's spare Dalton blazer from the back seat wrapped around his shoulders. There were tear stains on his porcelain cheeks and his eye was definitely showing the bruising already, but he stared, with one puffy eye, calmly at Blaine for the first time that afternoon.

"Do you want to go home?" Blaine asked, unsure of how to deal with the situation.

A slight nod from Kurt and the engine was started quickly. The car ride to the Hummel-Hudson home was totally silent, and unlike the comfortable silences in the Lima Bean that they shared over countless grande nonfat mochas and medium drips, the tension made Blaine grip the steering wheel like a lifeline. He wanted to say something, anything, to erase the attack that he knew Kurt would struggle with for years to come, but the words couldn't make it past his vocal cords and Kurt seemed to be determined not to talk about it. Blaine pulled into the driveway behind a truck that he knew belonged to Kurt's step-brother.

"Come in with me," Kurt whispered. "I don't…I don't want to…" Whatever he meant to say couldn't be voiced. Blaine nodded and stepped out of the car, walking around to the other side to offer his friend a hand of comfort.

The two approached the door and, seeing as Kurt had left his keys in his bag that still sat uselessly under his locker at school, Blaine knocked on the door casually.

"What took you so- oh my God," Finn exclaimed. He moved out of the way for Kurt and Blaine to step inside, but then he was immediately by his step-brother's side and studying his black eye. "Who did this?"

"It's- it's nothing, Finn…I-"

"It's not nothing! Who the hell did this to you?"

Kurt winced and curled in on himself; Blaine wanted to glare at Finn but he knew that the boy was concerned and had no idea what was going on.

"When is Kurt's dad going to be home?" the Warbler asked to change the subject slightly.

"When am I going to be home to see what?" a voice called from the open doorway.

"Dad," Kurt let out a breath.

It seemed as though at that moment Mr. Hummel got a good look at his son: from the disheveled hair that was normally immaculate to his black eye to the missing buttons on his shirt, Kurt was a mess.

"What…happened?" It sounded like the man was trying seriously hard to control his temper before he began shouting.

"Kar- I- Bully- I don't- I'm sorry," Kurt choked out. He flung his arms around his father's waist and cried for the umpteenth time that afternoon.

Mr. Hummel looked up to Blaine with a questioning gaze laced in concern and anger.

"I don't know exactly what happened…but Kurt called me at about two thirty sobbing. When I got to the school he was in the locker room. I guess his powers went in some sort of defense mode because a…a jock was frozen on top of him in the act of- of unbuttoning Kurt's shirt and…" Blaine swallowed his disgust with difficulty, "and unzipping his pants."

The man's face flared red in fury and his grip around Kurt tightened protectively. Finn ran a hand through his hair, looking half confused and half planning revenge. Blaine's anger flared up again after the words had leaked out of his mouth – the reality of the situation hit harder once he had admitted what he had seen and that he hadn't been there to stop it.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Hummel. If I had known something like this was going to happen… I wouldn't have told Kurt to stand up against that guy…"

"You didn't know, son. It's not your…It's not your fault," Mr. Hummel responded in determination. "How long has this been going on?"

Kurt sniffed and wiped away some of his tears. "A while."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Your heart…I couldn't add more stress and I could handle it until…until today."

"Kurt. You're my son."

When new sobs broke through the thick air of tension and regret in the room, it was Kurt's turn to comfort his father.