A/N: Here you go! I (finally) came up with a new chapter. There's a bit of a POV switch (in that the whole 3rd person limited thing focuses on Rachel instead of Kurt or Blaine) towards the middle. Hopefully it didn't turn out weirdly. I'm just trying to get back on 'plot' so there's a bit of inconsistancy with Kurt moving on surprisingly quickly from the attack but I promise it isn't all fine and dandy. I love angst; I can't just let it go like that.

Chasing Us All Underground

Chapter 4: Moving On

"How are you holding up?"

Kurt gave a small smile to his father and motioned slightly to the screen in front of him where The Sound of Music was playing.

"I'm getting better."

"That's a step up from Titanic, I suppose."

Kurt paused for a moment, trying to come up with a better wording for what he wanted to ask. Eventually he gave up and threw subtlety out the window.

"Has Blaine called?"

"Not since yesterday night. You didn't get off the phone until three in the morning, Kurt. Give the boy a break."

The teen blushed darkly and looked anywhere but at his grinning dad.

"I know you like him, Kurt. I'm not that dense."

"I do not!"

"Yes you do."

"Fine, I do. But it doesn't matter. He already saw himself as my mentor before Karofsky decided to… well, you know." He frowned and picked at a loose thread on the pillow beside him. "Anyway, now he'll never like me back because I've been strictly friend-zoned."

"It was never this complicated when I was your age."

"I'm sure it was for everyone but the oblivious jocks on the football team," he teased.

Burt gave his son a firm pat on the shoulder. "I have to go down to the garage. You'll call me if anything happens?"

"Of course. Hey dad… I, um, I still have to go to Glee today because we're working with the Warblers… do you think you could drive me? My car's still at McKinley…"

"Sure, kiddo. I'll come back for a late lunch around 2 and then I'll take you over."

"Thanks, dad."

"Are you sure you'll be alright? I can walk you to the choir room-"

"It's fine. Mercedes texted me this morning and he's wasn't there today."

"Maybe you gave him frostbite and he had to lose his toes," the older Hummel mumbled (he seemed far too pleased with the prospect, but Kurt let it go).

"I'll see you after."

"Be careful."

"I will."

Kurt stepped out of his father's truck and smiled back at him before going to shut the door.

"And Kurt?"

"Yes?"

"Kick some ass."

The teen chuckled lightly and closed the passenger door.

"Kurt!" Mercedes squealed, enveloping him in a hug. "You're here!"

"Couldn't miss it." Kurt hugged back tightly, happy for the comfort that he got from his best friend.

"You didn't have to come, boo," Mercedes insisted. "We would've understood."

New Directions (except for Rachel, and she was sworn into secrecy) didn't know the extent of what had happened in the locker room, but they did know that Kurt had been attacked by Karofsky and that he had frozen him until Blaine Warbler could come and help him out. All of Kurt's teammates were upset that they hadn't been able to stop it, but he assured them through a series of texts that there was nothing they could have done. Mercedes was, of course, adamant that she should've seen it in advance; he promised her that even Karofsky probably hadn't known it was going to happen. He was masking his fear and pain well, as anyone could tell, but they didn't point it out because they knew he deserved just that little bit of dignity.

"The Warbler council just contacted me," Mr. Shue announced, "and they're on their way. So let's get started!"

New Directions, Kurt realized, didn't really do anything when they weren't being carefully led. For the most part the high schoolers were just lounging around the choir room (or in Mike and Tina's case, making out in Mr. Shue's office). So when the mass of boys in blazers showed up, the other show choir groaned at the prospect of actually having to work. Kurt stood immediately and pulled a certain Warbler off to the side.

"Blaine," Kurt breathed out before wrapping his arms around the shorter boy's neck.

"I'm sorry I didn't call today. We have exams coming up and-"

"It's okay." Kurt pulled back so that his eyes could meet Blaine's and he grinned genuinely. "I'm just glad you're here."

"Shouldn't you be resting?"

"I got tired of watching depressing movies and feeling sorry for myself."

Blaine laughed and embraced the other boy again quickly. Kurt gave a valiant attempt towards not sighing in contentment and melting into his arms, but it didn't really work. In hindsight, he noted that the whole "melting" expression was oddly fitting for the two of them.

"What do you want to work on today?" Blaine inquired after they had claimed the corner of the room that Kurt usually practiced in.

"I don't know… I just… um… I was kind of wondering if maybe I could use my powers to unfreeze things because it's kind of… you know… inconvenient."

"We can try, Kurt. Let's talk through it, shall we? What does it feel like when you freeze something?"

Kurt thought about it for a moment. "It's kind of like… almost an instantaneous thing. Sometimes it kind of feels like the ice races from my heart to my fingertips and then it just happens, but sometimes I just blink and it's over."

"Let's work on the first case, then!"

"…How?"

"Well, you can freeze something and then try to take it back. Like, suck the ice back through your fingers and such."

"Blaine… do you know how to put out your own fires?"

"Only if they're the ones that actually start at my hands. If I'm really angry and something bursts into flame, say, ten feet away and I had no contact with it, then it's time to get a fire extinguisher because there's nothing I can do. Maybe your powers work like that. If you touch something to freeze it, maybe you can reverse the effect."

After borrowing a water bottle from one of Blaine's Warbler friends, the two pulled chairs over to the corner and Kurt held the bottle gingerly in his hands as though he was deathly afraid of what it might do to him.

"What if it doesn't work?"

"Then we'll try something else. And if it turns out that you can't unfreeze," Blaine guessed at Kurt's next question, "then I guess you'll just be stuck with me forever so that we can be a tag team!"

His smile was infectious, and Kurt found himself somewhat more positive about the experiment. Even if it failed miserably, he had the promise of being with Blaine forever to look forward to, after all.

Kurt placed a delicate hand to the bottle and exhaled deeply.

"Concentrate on how it feels."

Slowly, even though he knew it was probably less than a second all together, he felt a distinct coldness in his chest that spread throughout his bloodstream like his heart was pumping ice through his veins. It continued to his fingertips where he felt the bottle become a large icicle and then his body snapped back to regular temperatures. When he looked back up at Blaine, the Warbler smiled at him hopefully.

"Did you notice anything?"

Kurt nodded, but didn't elaborate because he assumed that Blaine probably understood what he felt.

"Now try to take it back."

He focused again on the temperature of the plastic beneath his hand and almost undetectably it seemed to slink back into his skin where it finally collected back in his chest. Behind his closed eyelids he imagined the ice forming a solid layer around his heart.

"That was amazing, Kurt! I hate to say it, but I didn't actually expect that to work."

Kurt glared at his friend and placed the water bottle (now at room temperature again) on the floor.

"You made me try something that might not have even worked?"

"Well, I hoped, but powers can be a little unpredictable." Blaine smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. "You're not really mad, are you?"

"I suppose not."

Rachel sighed happily. "Ah, young love…"

"Blaine and Kurt, right?" Her Warbler mentor guessed. "They've been giving off tons of gooey, fluffy emotions this whole time. That's why I tuned out for the moment. Which is what you're supposed to be working on."

"I'm sorry! It's really hard when I keep catching bits of everyone's thoughts. Especially Kurt right now because he deserves this happiness. And then of course I have to check Blaine's mind to make sure he's not going to hurt my teammate and then I feel obliged to double check Kurt's intentions and it's a never-ending circle. And don't even get me started on all of the horrible things that come at me from Puck and Santana," she shuddered.

"You have to try, Rachel. How are you going to make it on Broadway if you can't stay focused on your songs because the audience is projecting?"

"You're absolutely correct."

"Exactly. So try harder."

"Who am I supposed to be ignoring, again?"

"Who's the loudest in your head right now?"

"Um… Finn."

"Really?" Nick looked over at the tall boy and then back at Rachel. "What's he thinking?"

"That his Warbler looks funny when he tries to be as tall as him."

"And that's loud to you?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's because I'm used to looking for Finn to see if he's thinking about me."

"Okay, we can work with this. Who's next?"

"Kurt."

"Why do you think that is?"

"I guess out of everyone here, he's the closest friend I have? I check up on him. Especially after yesterday."

"Then?"

"Mercedes."

"I think I've got an idea. It seems like you hear people who you're close to most often and at the highest volume. Are you insecure?"

"What?"

"Do you always make sure they're thinking good things about you and see you like a friend?"

"Sometimes…"

"Then obviously you just have to push those insecurities back before you can successfully work on basically turning off your power. It's pretty simple. I had this trouble with feeling some of the Warblers' feelings too much because I wanted to make sure I wasn't annoying them. All I had to do was reassure myself of their attitudes towards me and then it was exponentially easier for me to tune them out. Try it with someone you know likes you."

"I guess I know Finn kind of does since we're dating…"

"Kind of?"

"Okay, he's always really happy to see me."

"So you know he enjoys being around you."

"Yeah. I guess so."

"Keep that in mind and stop looking for him."

The absence of his voice (his sweet, kind voice) in her head shocked her for a moment. There was an empty space that was only partially filled with an incomprehensible murmur and nothing else where she was so used to hearing his commentary on the day.

"Is he gone?"

She nodded slowly. "There's just a low mumble-y sound."

"Perfect!"

Finn's thoughts suddenly snapped back into her head louder than ever before and she cringed.

"You do have to concentrate a bit at first before it stays away without thinking…"

"You couldn't have mentioned that before?"

"I don't really like thinking about how I found that out."

Rachel, feeling angry, viciously sought out Nick Duval's voice in her endless collection and she was happy to discover that he was reliving the event himself. She couldn't help the giggles as she witnessed, first hand, his two-day long obsession with Warbler Councilmember Thad when the senior's minute attraction for Nick had been multiplied tenfold after abruptly returning from being suppressed. It was made funnier by Nick's boyfriend's jealousy, and Rachel only stopped laughing when all of the New Directions and the Warblers (minus Nick, who was glaring) looked at her curiously.

"Get out of my head, Berry!"

"Now you know how we feel, dude," Finn said with a hint of sympathy and a whole lot of amusement.