The next couple weeks passed by in similar fashion. Kurt was constantly tense in Mr. Anderson's class, but it was less so than compared to that first day thanks to their conversation.
The two danced around each other, never speaking and barely ever making eye contact. On Kurt's part, he did so so as to not feel any more scared of the vampire than he already was, and on Blaine's part he was trying to keep his distance so that Kurt didn't have to feel that way.
This was the way they functioned and neither was opposed.
But it unfortunately didn't last for long.
Kurt was cornered by Mrs. Pillsbury one Tuesday morning in late September. She informed Kurt that his free period during third block was a mix-up in the scheduling department, and that it somehow needed to be filled with something so he would receive enough senior credits to graduate. This was more or less fine with Kurt, however all the classes he could've taken were either filled or the teacher didn't want to take him in since school had already been in session for a few weeks. While they were trying to figure something out for him, Mrs. Pillsbury had an idea.
"Oh!" she exclaimed suddenly, startling the boy. "How silly of me, I completely forgot! You could become an assistant for one of the teachers here. We have a few other students doing that! It technically isn't worth credit, but I'm sure we could pull some strings to make it that way. Would you be okay doing that?"
"Um, yeah, I guess so," Kurt answered with a shrug. He didn't really have much else of a choice, he figured.
"Great!" Ms. Pillsbury clapped her hands together once excitedly. "Just let me check to see if we have any free teachers third period and we'll be on our way!"
She turned away from Kurt and towards the desktop computer resting to her right. As her perfectly manicured fingers flew over the keyboard, Kurt leaned back in his uncomfortable plastic chair and sighed.
Great. His only free period of his entire high school career is being taken from him.
Emma let out a small triumphant squeal a moment later and turned to face Kurt once more.
"It's just your luck! We have one teacher free without a TA already. I'll just need to check with him and we can get this all settled, how does that sound?"
Kurt grunted and rolled his eyes in response. This woman was way too excited to make him suffer for the rest of the year.
She hummed as she picked up the grey phone and dialed the extension for the teacher she was planning on setting Kurt up with.
"Hi! Mr. Anderson? I have a question for you, if you don't mind."
Kurt thought he was suffering before. This was some sort of torture.
Of course the only possible way to graduate was to spend an extra hour every day with him.
The gods must be playing some cruel trick on Kurt by allowing this to happen.
He was content to spend the rest of senior year never speaking to the Anderson man again. But no.
Being Blaine's TA meant speaking to him and being around him every damn day for the rest of the year. It meant making eye contact. It meant being scared shitless every. Single. Day.
His days were bad enough, what with the bullies that still liked to make his life hell. He didn't need the added stress that even more fear would give him. But it's not like he had much of a choice in the matter.
Once Ms. Pillsbury made up her mind that he would be Mr. Anderson's assistant for the year, there was no changing her decision.
But it's not like there was another option. He needed to graduate from this hell hole. His dream was in New York. Without graduating, he had no chance of meeting that dream.
Kurt accepted his terrible fate, but that didn't mean that he liked it.
After their brief meeting and being informed that his first day of assisting Mr. Anderson would be tomorrow, he left the guidance office and headed for the school's exit.
Kurt was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he didn't register the sound of several pairs of heavy footfalls fall into step behind him.
Once he had, it'd been too late.
"Hey, fairy!" Karofsky.
Kurt's steps faltered, but he quickly regained his composure and walked faster. The jocks behind him compensated by walking faster themselves.
"Don't be scared, fag. We just want to chat!" The teasing tone in their voices scared Kurt even more. He knew what that tone meant. And it was nothing good.
He broke into a full on run after turning a corner. As if anticipating this, the jocks did the same.
In his haste to get away, Kurt swerved into another hallway, leaving his tormentors cackling. Once he looked down the short corridor, he knew why.
There was no way out. It was a dead end.
Kurt ran to the end and pushed himself back into the corner trying to make himself as small as possible. The group of boys slowed their pace in the middle of the short hallway and slowly walked towards him with nasty smirks on their faces.
"Karofsky, please. Don't-"
"Aw, look boys. We got the fairy beggin'! How sweet," he teased.
As the group stalked nearer Kurt shrunk in on himself even more. When they were only a few feet away, he tucked his head into his shoulder and clenched his eyes shut, preparing for what was sure to come.
Kurt knew the drill by now. The group of jocks, always led by Dave Karofsky, would catch him off guard and tease him of the oncoming beating before actually following up on their promises. His entire high school career he'd had to face it.
The odd thing was that they never seemed to torture him when others were around. It was always after school, in between class once everyone had gone into their classrooms, even in the bathroom and locker rooms. But only when they were alone.
It was both a gift and a curse, Kurt decided.
Having to face their torment when no one was around meant that no one would see them and either help out the jocks or taunt him as they walked by. But facing it alone also meant that there was no one to help him, no one to tell the boys to stop. No one to keep him safe.
That day, it was after school. Football practice must have gotten out early, as school had only ended an hour and a half ago. (Kurt had been held back by the guidance counselor after glee had ended.)
The jocks by that point had reached Kurt and had formed a semicircle around him, effectively trapping him in the corner. There were five total, Dave in the middle of them; Kurt recognized the rest of the boys from either the football or hockey teams. They glanced around at each other as their smirks grew, silently communicating their plans.
Without another word, two of the boys roughly grabbed hold of Kurt's arms and shoved him against the lockers adjacent to the corner he was cowering in before. They held up so that his feet couldn't reach the ground; a lock dug harshly in between his shoulder blades. Kurt started squirming in their hold, kicking around to hit anything he could. Without even realizing it, he had begun to cry hysterically. Normally, he would avoid doing that, knowing that his tormentors get off on seeing him struggle and cry, but today felt different. The disgusting smirks on the boy's faces weren't the same as they'd always been. Today, they were more sinister and malicious than they'd ever been. They were planning something. And it scared Kurt.
"Please! No, stop! Please!" More bitter laughs met his cries.
"You think begging is going to get you anywhere, fag?" Karofsky got closer to Kurt as he spoke, his spit hitting Kurt right in the face. He lifted a fist and drew it back, preparing to swing. Kurt's pleas got louder and his fighting to escape intensified.
Dave's first hit landed on Kurt's stomach with a loud thwack. As he was gearing up for another strike, Kurt broke one of his arms free from a boy's hold. He swung and kicked wildly, even using his free hand to swing his bag around, attempting to break free the rest of the way. Karofsky grew angry and shoved the boy back into the locker.
"NO! Get off! STOP!" With his last word, a warm bubbling feeling grew deep within Kurt. He barely registered it, too focused on escaping the jocks. The two others joined in, holding him to the cold metal of the lockers. All of their hands were on him at once. Kurt felt both disgusted and scared at their touch. With one final attempt he screamed for them to let go and thrashed wildly in their hold.
"GET OFF!"
As soon as he said the final word, the bubbling he'd felt earlier intensified tenfold. Without warning, a bright light seemingly erupted from him and sent his bullies flying to the floor. He was dropped on the ground as well, but quickly stood and used the diversion to get away. As he ran, he could hear the angry screams and moans of the jocks where he had left them. He continued racing to his car on autopilot, his mind filled with questioning as to what the hell he just did.
Without realizing it, Kurt had already driven himself home. It was a miracle he didn't kill himself.
He grabbed his bag off the passenger seat and exited the car, walking towards the front door. After unlocking it, he dropped his bag by the coat rack and walked downstairs to his room. He laid down on the bed and curled in on himself, silently weeping and shaking. He eventually settled down and drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
The next morning, Kurt woke up and realized he must have slept the rest of the day and into the night. With a quick glance at his bedside clock, he saw he had a little over an hour to get ready for school.
He quickly jumped out of bed and began a brief version of his morning routine, trying to make up for missing his nightly one. Once finished, he still had about forty five minutes until school started. For a moment, he contemplated not even going to school, since Karofsky was sure to tell people what happened the previous day (the whole weird bright light debacle), but knowing that he wouldn't tell anyone about beating up the gay kid, Kurt decided against it. Besides, the school year was beginning to get into full swing, he couldn't miss a day of class and glee practice.
With that in mind, he bounded up the stairs. He avoided his dad like the plague, knowing that the older man would somehow sense that something was troubling him. As quietly as he could, Kurt slipped on a pair of boots and slipped out the door.
Once he'd reached school, Kurt remembered what torture was in store for him that day.
It was the first day that he'd be alone with Mr. Anderson.
By the time third period rolled around, Kurt was scared out of his wits.
Being in a classroom full of other students with a vampire was one thing, but being alone in a classroom with one? They were two completely different things. Not that could do anything to him without someone finding out, but he would probably make Kurt go insane with the added fear and stress that came with being around the man.
As he rounded the corner to Mr. Anderson's room, those thoughts of fear escalated and nearly drove Kurt into a full on panic. He stood in front of the door that would surely lead to his inevitable demise, trying to calm down and not show the vampire his weakness.
The last time a Hummel faerie showed another supernatural being fear and weakness, she ended up dead.
Kurt continuously paced back and forth in front of the door, gathering as much courage as he could. His nerves seemed to calm some as his heart rate decreased. He cautiously raised a hand and rapped his knuckles on the door frame. Within seconds, Blaine's smiling face opened the door and met Kurt as if he was waiting on the other side.
"Kurt, hi. Come on in. I was just about to get started with things." Kurt walked through the door, and his nerves instantly returned. Blaine walked to his desk and picked something up before returning to Kurt.
"Here," he held out a stack of papers for Kurt to take. "I was just going to have you organize these by class and then in alphabetical order. All the info you need to do so should be on the papers, but if you have any questions, go ahead and ask. If you get that done by the end of the period feel free to just do anything. Or you could leave, if you'd like." Kurt nodded in understanding. Blaine smiled once more and went back to his desk in the front of the room.
"Thank you, Mr. Anderson," Kurt said quietly before turning to take a seat.
"What for?" the teacher asked.
"Um, just for not giving me anything hard to do I guess. I was expecting this to be more difficult, honestly," he muttered. smiled and nodded.
"Of course. There really isn't too much else that I'll have you do when you're here. I know you had to give up a free period to do this, so I want you to still be able to do what you want when you're done with the work I give you."
"Thank you, Mr. Anderson." Kurt practically whispered.
"You can call me Blaine when we're not in class, you know," Blaine smiled. Kurt flashed a semblance of a smile back and nodded in understanding.
Kurt hesitantly walked to the nearest student desk to the door and took a seat. He quickly began separating the papers he had into stacks according to what period they were in. By the looks of it, they were tests that had already been graded and it seemed like Blaine needed them sorted to hand them back. The two worked in silence for a while before Mr. Anderson stood up and prepared to leave the room.
"I'm gonna go to the teacher's lounge and grab some coffee really quick. Would you like some, Kurt?" Blaine asked suddenly while standing.
Kurt's head nodded quietly without looking up or leaving his work. The quicker he finished, the quicker he could leave.
"Okay. I'll be right back then." He left the room swiftly and quietly. As soon as the door clicked shut, Kurt slumped in his seat in relief, his fear and anxiety leaving him the farther away Blaine got. After basking in the isolation for a moment, he set back to work on the organization. Not two minutes later, there was a knock at the door. He stood from his seat and walked to the door before opening it. In the doorway stood Blaine, his hands occupied with mugs. Without thinking, Kurt took one of them from the vampire's grip.
"Thanks." Blaine set his mug on his desk and returned to Kurt who was closing the door, mug still in hand. "I didn't know if you liked cream of sugar so I got a bunch of both," he said pulling a handful of creamer cups and sugar packets out of his cardigan pocket.
"Just sugar's fine, thanks," Kurt answered while reaching to take some from Blaine's hand with his free one. As soon as their hands touched, a spark ran through both of them, leaving their hands tingling. Kurt jumped back from the sudden spark, dropping his mug in the process and sending it shattering on the floor.
The two stared at each other, thrown into confusion. Kurt was tossed back into reality when his phone buzzed in his back pocket. He ripped his gaze from Blaine's and blinked a few times before noticing that he'd dropped his cup.
"Shit, sorry. I didn't mean to drop that," he murmured crouching down to pick up the shattered pieces.
"Kurt, you don't have to do that. I can call a janitor or clean it myself." He continued to clean up the mess, ignoring the teacher's protests.
"I made the mess, I'll clean it up. Would you get me a towel or someth-ouch!" Kurt dropped the piece of ceramic that cut his finger and held his hand in front of him. Blood was dripping down from the deep cut on his finger and onto the puddle of coffee. Above him, he heard a sharp intake of breath. When he looked up, he saw Blaine's gaze fixated upon the bleeding gash on his finger. Kurt's eyes went wide with fear as he drew his hand close to his body, turning the blood away from the vampire's intense watch. He shot up and began walking backwards towards the door, his eyes still on the man in front of him, waiting for him to pounce. Other than the movement to get away, Kurt was practically paralyzed with fear. He'd basically just waved a steak in front of a starving tiger.
"Kurt," Blaine began, his eyes still on the boy's hand. Kurt's fear seemed to sky rocket with the sound of his voice, as his eyes became wider and his pulse raced faster before he turned around, grabbed his bag, and bolted out the door. "Kurt! Wait!"
He ignored the call and sprinted to the bathroom to clean his hand off. As much as he just wanted to leave school in his panic, he knew that that wouldn't be the best idea. Once he'd cleaned and dressed his cut with the travel first aid kit he kept in his bag, he let the panic truly set in.
A vampire had smelled his blood. The death of his mother had started with just a whiff of hers.
Ohgodohgodohgod. He was in deep shit.
Blaine was in deep shit.
He realized so after school had ended and he hadn't seen Kurt since third period.
Any progress he'd thought he'd made with Kurt had just been ripped apart piece by fucking piece.
Ever since that first day, he'd vowed to make Kurt feel as comfortable as possible around him. Just through not interacting at all, he could sense that Kurt was beginning to lose the fear he held for Blaine the slightest bit, but that small bit was better than none. It's not like it mattered anymore, though. That small sliver of gained comfort had been lost in the split second it took for Kurt to realize Blaine had been looking at his cut.
He hadn't meant to stare, but it had been almost three weeks since he'd eaten anything substantial.
Blaine could only hope to gain that trust back as soon as possible.