Author's Note: This is a short outtake from Chapter 4 :-) It didn't work in the chapter, but maybe you might like to read it anyway... A big thank you to JP, who sent me three lovely reviews in guest modus. Thank you for taking the time to review, I truly appreciate it!

Warning for mentions of gay bashing and the death of an OC (the name of which is a tribute to Gleeful Darren Criss Fan's fic Courage).

Blaine closed his diary and sighed. He'd been working on his speech for over a month now, and he'd been practising saying it out loud for over a week, but he didn't know if he'd have the guts to go through with it. The thought of coming out to his parents was terrifying. What would they say? More importantly, what would they do? Would they throw him out of the house? That did happen, he knew. He'd read about it on an online forum.

Maybe he'd wait until after the Sadie Hawkins dance. Yes, he would do that. He'd come out to his classmates first by taking his new friend Thomas to the dance. Then, if they reacted well at school, he'd come out to his brother, and then to his parents.

Blaine let out another shuddery sigh. Why did this have to be such a big deal? Why did he feel like he had to mention it at all? Wouldn't it be safer to keep this to himself and wait until he was in college to come out?

He went back and forth on the matter about a dozen more times, but when Friday rolled around and he ran into Thomas, he smiled at him and blurted out, "Wanna go to the dance with me?"

"Uhm, what?" Thomas said, looking bemused.

"There's this dance at my school," Blaine explained, "and I don't have anyone to take to it, so I thought maybe… 'Cause I like you. And it would be fun. Ugh, I'm so bad at this. Sorry. Forget about it. It's a stupid idea."

Thomas grinned at him. "You're cute when you ramble like that. And I've got no plans tonight, so yeah… Count me in!"

K&B

In hindsight, taking Thomas to the dance had been stupid. Blaine could feel everyone's eyes on them the moment they stepped into the decorated gym together. They were given a wide berth, and every time Blaine looked around, people were glaring at him.

Thomas didn't seem to mind, chatting happily and imitating a robot whenever a song came on that he liked.

Blaine saw a few of his bullies huddle together and whisper, throwing the occasional glance at him and Thomas.

"Let's get out of here," Blaine suggested.

Before they corner us.

But Blaine had already left it too late, because when he left with his friend, his bullies were right behind him, and they had murder in their eyes.

K&B

When Blaine woke up in hospital weeks later, he asked his mom how Thomas had fared. Blaine had tried to protect him, but had it paid off? Right when Blaine could see police officers and thought they were saved, he'd felt something hard hit his head and had spiralled off into unconsciousness.

Pam swallowed with difficulty when Blaine asked her. "Blaine, sweetie… Thomas didn't make it. His parents moved away after the funeral."

Blaine felt the hair on his arms prickle uncomfortably. "Oh no… Oh no! This is all my fault!"

A monitor next to him started beeping loudly, and a nurse swept into the room to check on him, shooing Pam away, and that was the end of that conversation.

Blaine didn't bring it up again, but he kept thinking about, torturing himself with what-ifs.

Four weeks later, he got the green light to go home, and though he looked at the house across from theirs with haunted eyes, still racked with guilt, he was happy to be home again.

Then Edward arrived, summoning Blaine to his study, and Blaine felt his stomach plummet at his father's cold tone.

Edward cut right to the chase. "The doctors at the hospital said you were beaten up for being gay."

Blaine swallowed.

"Well? Are you?"

Blaine nodded.

"Speak up, boy!"

"Yes, father. I'm gay."

Edward's eyes flashed. "Right. I'm glad I've had a few weeks to prepare for this. I will sort it out."

Edward pushed a button, and shackles sprung out of the chair Blaine was sitting in, pinning him to it without any wriggle room.

Blaine gasped.

"That's right, keep that mouth open, boy," Edward said, now coming towards him with a glass holding a purple drink.

Edward poured it down Blaine's throat until he choked on it. The drink burned going down and made Blaine feel floaty and dizzy.

The door opened, and Cooper came storming in, Pam right on his heels. The murderous look on his brother's face was the last thing Blaine saw. After that, everything seemed to just dissolve.