Author Note: Still don't own anything related to Glee. Thanks to Chrisch for giving me a nudge. I didn't realise how much time had passed and I've hit a bit of a wall with Christian but for now here's the next chapter. Any thoughts on a direction for the Christian storyline gratefully considered.

Next chapter will be the cheerleading/football revelation for those who are waiting for it. Happy reading.

Kurt slipped out the double doors at the far end of the cafeteria and headed through the corridors which were littered with parents and students, most chatting casually, others studying the various pieces of work which had been displayed on the walls. His mind slipping back to the many times he had been here as a student with his own father and not as a member of a visiting team. The times he had dragged his father to each school production no matter how small his part he knew that his father would never have missed any of them. Brushing his fingertips along the row of lockers as he passed, he immersed himself in the atmosphere of the locality, the rhythmic sound of his feet hitting the hard polished floor, the soft brush of his hands across the metal, the murmur of the crowd he was heading away from. Eventually the number of people thinned and Kurt placed his hand on the men's room door, making him jump as it swung open and an older man exited, nodding his thanks as he walked past and back in the direction of the main gathering.

Swallowing hard and shaking his head to banish old ghosts he pushed the door back open and headed inside.

"You see him?"

"Of course I see him Wes, he's right over there" David snapped, waving his hand in the direction Kurt had headed just seconds earlier. The pair had been hanging around outside the cafeteria area trying to get a beat on Christian and Karofsky, they hadn't had any luck in finding them but David had noticed Kurt the second he stepped through the doors on his own.

Scanning the crowd from the position he and David had taken by the wall Wes grumbled to himself "Where the bloody hell is Blaine?"

"Not sure, he definitely didn't come out with him" David answered as he continued to watch Kurt walk slowly down the corridor his hands brushing across the lockers as he went.

Wes turned to watch his friend walking away from them before poking David in the side to get his attention, "You keep an eye on him I'm gonna find out where the others are."

"Okay man"

Pushing off the wall and casting a glance back in Davids direction to satisfy himself that he was concentrating on the task Wes strode toward the cafeteria stopping abruptly as he was met at the door by a horde of guys stumbling through them and bumping into each other as they stopped suddenly in front of him.

"Did you lose him?" Blaine asked quickly, eyes darting around the entrance hall.

"No Blaine, WE did not lose him, where the hell have you been anyway, why is he out here on his own huh?"

Blaine snapped his attention to his friend, "Don't start with me Wes, is he out here of what?"

"Of course he's out here" pointing to David who in turn pointed in the direction Kurt had gone. Letting out a breath he didn't realise he'd been holding Blaine caught his friends pensive stare before running a hand through his hair, "look Wes he wanted the rest room what was I supposed to do huh?"

Examining his bothered friend Wes sighed "no I'm sorry okay, I know you wouldn't have left him"

"Listen ladies this is gonna look really awkward really fast when he comes back and finds us all out here" Puck voiced pointing out that the seven of them were now stood in a large group obviously waiting for Kurt to leave the men's room.

"You're right, act casual" Jeff said quickly as he leant against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest and his hair flopped across his eye.

"Babe that's really not gonna work" Nick laughed, "you might as well just run up to him and tell him we're watching him"

"Shut up Nick, it's the rest of you that look dodgy do something natural"

"Uh this is us being natural" Finn put in with a confused tone as Jeff rolled his eyes and Nick smirked at his irritation.

"So is Karofsky out here"

Snapping everyone's attention with the question Blaine waited expectantly for an answer.

"We haven't seen him" Wes answered, "or Christian for that matter, it's just parents out here, we assumed they were in there with you guys."

"No man we haven't seen them, we didn't even know Karofsky was here until Blondie told us a minute ago"

"His names Jeff" Nick sighed in irritation whilst glaring at Puck.

"I know dude" Puck grinned and Jeff pushed away from the wall to squeeze his boyfriends hand in understanding although he really didn't mind the nick name himself.

"Okay so what are we doing, he's gonna be back in a minute are we standing here or what?"

"Look you guys go back, I'll stay here and wait for him, I'll just say I needed some air or something" David suggested, his eyes never leaving the area Kurt would emerge from.

"David I appreciate that but I really think I should be the one..."

"Hey, he's my brother if anyone's gonna watch out for him it's me. Um, present company accepted Blaine" Finn nodded.

"Look guys why don't we just let Finn and Blaine hang out here and wait huh, we can try and track down Christian, Pucks right, it'll look weird if we're all out here together when he comes back out"

"HEADS UP GUYS"

Six heads twisted in David's direction and then in Kurt's as he travelled back up the corridor looking at them with an expression which flicked between amusement and confusion.

"The whole casual thing's not looking so bad now is it" Jeff whispered on a hiss as Kurt got nearer.

"Hey baby" Kurt smiled at his boyfriend before brushing his hand against Blaine's and retracting it quickly before Blaine had a chance to capture it in his own. A few hours in the halls of McKinley had been enough to relapse into his contained, protective behaviour; he couldn't act the same here as he did at Dalton, no matter how badly he wanted to, PDA just wasn't an option. Kurt looked into his boyfriends eyes expecting to see disappointment at his retraction but smiled lightly when he was met with nothing but understanding.

"So is there a reason you guys are all out here?" Kurt asked pulling his eyes away from the amber pools and casting his glance around the group in front of him, enjoying the way they all shifted uncomfortably at his question whilst internally knowing full well that they were all looking out for him.

"We were just..."

"David...David wanted some air" Jeff all but shouted pointing expressively in David's direction causing Kurt to almost burst out laughing at the blank expression on David's face and Wes to face palm.

"Uh, yeah, I needed some air" he agreed.

"Riiiggghht. Well if you've had enough 'air' we better get back, intervals almost over right? We'd better go find out who won this thing?"

Kurt shook his head as he led the group back toward the auditorium, they really were a whole bunch of crazy and he absolutely loved each and every one of them for it.

They won. A few seconds of stunned silence stretched on forever before all hell broke loose. Kurt grabbed Blaine and whirled him around before he even had a chance to think about grabbing him, Jeff and Nick threw caution to the wind and were kissing strongly in the back row of their formation whilst an emotional Wes was being patted on the back by an equally affected David both of them kind of dazed but incredibly happy. Pulling himself together and stepping forward to accept the trophy Wes managed to raise it aloft before being engulfed in an out of control bundle of navy and red blazers. Kurt felt himself leave the ground as he was swallowed up by his brother in a bear hug which only grew tighter when joined by an overly enthusiastic Puck who had decided to show his support.

On a gasp Kurt pushed at this brothers shoulders, "put me down" he managed to laugh loud enough over the cheering for Finn to hear and drop him unceremoniously to the ground steadying him with a hand to his arm as he landed.

"Yey man, you totally deserve this" Finn shouted in his ear earning himself a beaming smile from Kurt who was now waving at his father and Carole who were standing in the audience shouting their own congratulations, Burt waving his small Dalton flag wildly.

"Kurt, Kurt..."

Turning just in time to catch sight of a hyperactive blonde coming his way, Kurt braced himself for impact as his friend launched himself at him at full speed hugging him and cheering at the same time.

"Hey Jeff" Kurt staggered slightly on impact and laughed loudly as Jeff rocked him back and forth in a hug which would rival Finns.

"Okay give him back" Blaine shouted into Jeff's ear when he refused to release his hold on his boyfriend who wasn't protesting at his enthusiasm just grinning wildly and laughing at Jeff's antics. Somewhere amongst the noise he could hear Blaine moaning at Nick to disengage Jeff from him but Kurt was enjoying the moment with his mental friend and decided to just go with it.

"Nick, do something about that..."

Blaine was gesturing toward the hugging couple as Nick stood beaming and high fiving David and Wes who were making their way around the rest of the team giving congratulations. Some taking congratulations from members of the opposing teams whilst the rest continued their own celebrations together.

Nick smirked as he looked to where Blaine was pointing and laughed at the pout on his face before he took pity on his friend and approached the couple,

"Jeff, baby you need to let Kurt go now"

Jeff just smiled wickedly at him before glancing toward Blaine and hugging his friend even tighter much to Blaine's annoyance as he wanted to hug his own boyfriend before the moment passed.

Nick smiled at Blaine's frustration before placing his mouth against his own boyfriend's ear and whispering something which had Jeff quickly releasing Kurt and pushing him toward Blaine before locking eyes with Nick and tugging him toward the back of the stage.

"Hey baby" Blaine murmured into Kurt's ear as he finally managed to pull him into a congratulatory hug.

"Hey" Kurt smiled softly before catching Blaine's gaze and returning it with a wanton look of fiery blue which stole Blaine's breath and made him wish they were back at Dalton already. Swallowing hard and pulling his boyfriend into a tight embrace, "you were amazing out there baby" Kurt allowed the simple statement said with complete adoration sink in and hugged his boyfriend back tightly with a murmur of "I love you" as his only response.

Jeff and Nick slipped away from the stage. Jeff taking a sudden interest in being somewhere everyone else was not, despite his predisposition toward anything crazy, the things Nick had whispered to him had suitably changed his train of thought and now all that occupied his mind was finding a shady spot in which to celebrate their victory alone.

After trying a couple of doors in the deserted corridor Jeff beamed in delight when a door tugged open and he took one last glance up and down the corridor before dragging a grinning Nick into the space and shutting the door behind him.

"So tell me again why I had to sit through this..." smoke trailed up into the darkness.

"Come on Dave, it's not like weren't gonna come anyway, any chance at a shot of him on his own and you're all over it and you know it"

The only response being a gruff humph of acknowledgement at the statement.

"I'm interested. It's always closed rehearsals, they're so god damned precious about it and I wanted to see him perform"

"Jesus I don't know what you see in him, bloody fairy" a brusque voice mumbled into the darkness, "I mean if you're gonna like guys, actually like a guy, not some dainty little freak of a guy."

A cold laugh filled the gap "Can you honestly tell me you don't see the appeal? I mean you're just like me..."

"The hell I am..."

"Yes you are" was cut in before the other could interrupt.

"You wanna beat up some guy to prove yourself and you don't go for the beefy one able to defend himself do you? You go for as you say it 'the dainty little freak', how does that make us any different huh?"

"It's different" the voice huffed before the sound of a boot twisting on the concrete was heard, "I don't want him like you do, I just wanna get rid of him"

"Can't let you do that Davy, at least not until I've got what I want"

"Yeah well you better get a move on Chris coz I owe him and his bloody friends for last time."

"Not my problem Davy" the softer voice mocked, "I all but handed him to you and you couldn't pull it off. You were supposed to break him so that I could swoop in and play hero but no, you had to get cocky"

"That bloody blonde caught me off guard is all and fucking Puckerman" he growled.

"Well next time make sure he's on his own then" came the unsympathetic answer.

"Whatever man. You wanna ride or not?"

"Well seeing as you offered so nicely Davy."

The two figures disappeared into the darkness trailing the lingering smell of smoke behind them, heavy footfalls echoing on the concrete long after they could be seen through the blackness.

Jeff was thoroughly dishevelled, a mirror image of his flushed boyfriend who was trying and failing to arrange his hair into a suitably passable style. Straightening his tie Jeff leant in and kissed Nick firmly before pulling back and grinning like a fool, eyes for the first time taking in the surroundings of the small room they had stumbled inside.

"Nick do you see this shit?"

Nick looked up from where he was grabbing Jeff's blazer up from the floor and dusting it off, eyes widening when he saw what was stored in the room.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking" Jeff grinned wickedly.

"Oh I think so blondie" he agreed with an equally evil smirk.

Sorry to disappoint but I thought it was a little too easy for Kurt to be confronted by Karofsky at McKinley and so it continues.