"Get off me!" Kurt shrieked through his laughter, kicking his legs as he squirmed around but continuing to miss his boyfriend. Blaine didn't give up tickling him, even as Kurt emphasised that all his clothes wouldn't cope with grass stains.

The LARP had begun to bounce between Luke and Erica's house and the park as the weather slowly but surely improved with spring's arrival. It was a fortunate day where the weather was on an upswing, and so Kurt was rolling around on the grass at the mercy of his boyfriend, on one of those days where their in character relationship and out of character relationship blurred.

"Okay, okay, okay!" Kurt cried, "I give up! You are the sexiest man in all of Dreamweaver, not me. I said it, you can get off me now."

"Damn right I am," Blaine said, "though you are a close second. And you know, I don't think I want get off you, Darcy." Blaine leaned forward enough to kiss Kurt gently before moving off him properly, allowing Kurt to sit up beside him. He dusted down his clothes and Blaine smiled at him sweetly. "May I escort you on a walk around the park?" Blaine offered, extending a hand to Kurt to help him to his feet. Kurt took it, and only switched which hand he was holding as they started walking. "So, Darcy, I heard about your big promotion."

"You did?" Kurt said grinning, "I didn't know I was so famous."

"Yeah, it turns out you are. You're throwing the whole power balance in this relationship off, you know. You're going to have to…" Kurt stopped walking as he saw an all too familiar flash of red in the distance. "Darcy?" Blaine asked worriedly.

"Um, I'm fine. You uh, you don't happen to think that Dreamweaver could come under attack, do you?" Kurt asked. He nodded towards where the pair of McKinley letterman jackets were, and Blaine managed to tell. He would be lying if he said that he wasn't freaking out at the sight of the jocks when the roleplay was meant to be his safe space. From the look on Blaine's face, he was freaking out a little bit too. It was times like this that Kurt was most thankful for him, when he actually felt like he wasn't completely isolated. He trusted that Blaine would know what to do.

"Oh. Well, I don't know. I hope not. But this is why we have the defenders. Speaking of whom, I'm going to go and chat with White Wings, okay? Hey look, it's Unique! Why don't you hang with her for a bit?" Blaine darted off before Kurt could even process that they weren't holding hands anymore. He took a deep breath, only shaking a little bit, and put on his bravest face.

"Are you okay, sugar?" Unique asked, "You look like you just saw a ghost. Where's the hero boy off to?" Kurt cleared his throat. Clearly his brave face wasn't as brave as he remembered.

"Please don't panic, Unique, but we think the town might be under attack very soon," Kurt said. He looked towards the McKinley boys, and the worst possible outcome occurred- one of the two was no other than David Karofsky. He shouldn't have looked back over at them, it had only made him feel worse.

"Oh."

"Yeah. Just stick with me, please? When Nightbird gets back then we'll be safe," Kurt said. If he said it enough then he might believe it himself. Unique nodded. Blaine came running back over to them not too long later, looking like he had a plan of action. He took a moment before he started to look at Kurt adoringly but cautiously.

"White Wings and JetCat are calling a village council. Come with me." Blaine took Kurt's hand, not even giving Kurt time to process what was happening. He got so good at concentrating on not being thrown around in the hallways that he tuned out everything happening around him, and Karofsky was an obvious trigger in this action. He had never been more thankful that the others knew that, that they had picked up on the scenario and were running with it, without even dropping character.

"Why are White and Jet working together now?" Unique asked. Blaine had an answer without even batting an eyelid.

"Because Jet would prefer that the town was under her wrath, not some outsiders. They've had this flirtation thing for ages, so working together isn't that much of a stretch." The group formed a tight circle, and Luke was the one to take charge. Kurt had gotten so used to relying on Erica's leadership that he sometimes forgot that Luke was the hero of the equation.

"Hello, citizens of Dreamweaver, thank you all for attending this council promptly. It has been brought to our attention that there is an outside threat to Dreamweaver, so we ask you all to bear with us as we try and sort this out. It's only fair that you all know what is going on, and why it is that JetCat and I are working together in this. As the leader of the Defenders of Dreamweaver, I decided that I needed to call in some back up, and-" Blaine cleared his throat, which silenced Luke is his tracks with a glare to the shorter boy.

"Can you speed this up a bit? Can we get to the practical stuff and worry about why it is that JetCat has assembled the villains to work with us later?" he asked.

"Fine. Basically, we want to keep the citizens safe and we also don't want to cut anything short. We want to deal with this as peacefully as possible. JetCat and I will deal with communicating with the potential intruders, but only if they approach the town. We don't want to be the ones to start any fights and we're willing to hear them out." There were nods around the circle, until Luke was satisfied that everyone knew the drill. "You can leave now. Nightbird, a moment?" the circle disbanded and Kurt wanted to stay close to Blaine, to be in his arms where he felt safest, but Erica and Unique quickly shooed him away. Kurt couldn't help but wonder if they were breaking character and didn't want to let Kurt know that. To be fair, he didn't want anyone's experiences to be lessened because of him.

Unique and Kurt sat down on the grass not too far away from the bench that they used, chatting politely but not with much substance as they attempted to maintain some normality in the roleplaying despite the looming presence of Kurt's bullies. He watched as Karofsky walked straight into the centre of the groups that were spaced out before approaching Jeff and Nick's little group. Kurt watched as Jeff signalled to Luke and Erica and they jogged over, leaving Blaine alone. Kurt tried to make eye contact with his boyfriend, but he headed over to Marley instead.

Luke and Erica walked over to the bench with Karofsky and sat down, Kurt's heart pounding at the close proximity. He hadn't received a single glare or nasty comment from the boy, even as he walked past with the two older roleplayers. They each tapped the bench as they sat, though they had informally gone out of character the moment they left Blaine mid-conversation.

"I think we should sunbathe in this good weather," Unique said, although they both knew it wasn't nearly sunny enough for that yet, "because then we can listen to our surroundings and still hang out with one another without needing to talk." That made the idea sound a whole lot better, and Kurt lay down carefully to protect his hair and his clothes. He thanked her quietly and tried his best to listen to what Luke and Erica were saying to Karofsky.

"Over there is Nightbird and Glameow, a hero and a villain respectively," Erica explained, continuing to point out all of the groups. It was similar to the talk she had given him the day he had first watched.

"The plot is just standard hero and villain, if you've read comics and things," Luke said. Kurt hadn't heard Karofsky say anything in the whole conversation.

"There's a lot of emphasis on the relationships," Erica said.

"What does Kurt do?" Karofsky asked. Kurt thought that might have been the first time he had ever heard the boy call him by his name and not a slur. He hated the way it sounded falling from the boy's lips- not because he said it with a sneer, but because it almost sounded caring. Almost as though there had been more than pent up frustration behind the time Karofsky had kissed him.

It was worse than when he thought Karofsky hated him.

"His character Darcy is dating Nightbird. It just sort of comes naturally to them, even if the physicality of their relationship has picked up since Kurt and Blaine started dating," Erica said, "they really spend most of their time together. Right now he's with Unique, but that's almost weird."

"You just let them be gay?"

"Why wouldn't we?" Luke asked, "We actually have a lot of LGBT roleplayers in the group. There's nothing wrong with it." There was an awkward pause in the conversation, probably as Luke and Erica anticipated some slurs or something. They obviously hadn't anticipated him being so docile, but neither had Kurt.

"So do you really want to join in? It's quite a big commitment, so if you do a lot of sport it might not necessarily be the best fit for you. There are more casual LARPs though, if you're still interested. But it's really important that this space stays the homophobia free zone that it is. Any infiltration of that policy, in character or not, would have you automatically kicked out. All of our players are sceptical considering the last time you came to visit us ended in physical attack," Erica said. Karofsky sighed.

"Not really, no," he said, "heroes aren't my thing. It seems to be Kurt's thing, though." He sounded almost shy in the observation. Kurt hated that, too. There was no way the boy who had been shoving him into lockers for so long could have any romantic feelings for him. No matter what he had heard his female classmates being told as a child, he knew that boys shouldn't pick on you if they like you, and quite frankly Kurt was more than happy that Blaine wouldn't ever lay a hand on him. Hell, Blaine was hesitant to touch him in positive ways when they had just started dating.

"No need to glare at Blaine, Dave," Luke said, probably trying to be in good humour, which Kurt was pretty sure that Karofsky wouldn't be appreciative of. The fact that a glare towards his boyfriend had been contextualised with a sentence about heroes being Kurt's thing made his stomach flip.

"I just want to apologise to him and it's not like he'll listen at school."

"Have you considered starting by not pushing him into lockers? That might stop him from flinching every time you get near to him," Erica suggested, "look, we need to wrap up the session, okay? We'll be around if you want to talk some more in five minutes or so." Kurt and Unique, having heard the prompt, made their way to the bench and tapped it.

"Thanks for sunbathing with me," Kurt said to Unique, "that was a good idea."

"You're welcome, sugar. Now run along to your boyfriend." She walked away from him then, which did mean that he gravitated towards Blaine. Blaine smiled at him sweetly and reassuringly, but Kurt moved away when he tried to put an arm around him. Blaine didn't put more space between them, but he pouted all the way through Erica and Luke's notices with his arms folded across his chest.

"Will you let me kiss you now?" Blaine asked.

"I thought I told you to stop asking," Kurt teased. Blaine leaned in and kissed him, but pulled away quickly when Kurt wasn't very responsive. "I'm sorry," he said, hoping he looked as apologetic as he was, "it's not that I don't want to kiss you, Blaine, it's that I just can't in front of him."

"I understand." The words Blaine used didn't make his upset any less evident.

"I have to talk to Marley quickly," Kurt told him, "but I'll be back over, okay? Then maybe you can come over to my place for a bit before you drive back to Westerville and we can do this couple stuff then." Blaine nodded, no less pouty. Kurt rolled his eyes and walked over to Marley, waiting for a moment for her to finish speaking with Leo before he cut in.

"Hey Kurt!" she said brightly, "Is everything alright with you?"

"I just wanted to ask you the same thing," Kurt said, "This really isn't any worse than I get at school, anyway. There are more jocks for him to impress there." He shrugged, but he knew that Marley knew him and the situation well enough that she would be able to see right through the front.

"Is this because of the time at school when he talked to us together?"

"Mostly, yeah. You've had it worse than they have from him."

"Kurt, you have had the worst of any of us. I understand the Karofsky thing, but Blaine understands all of the bullying better. Luke and Erica know how to handle teenagers much better than any of the rest of us do. I'm not the only person here who understands."

"I think he's just fighting to keep up a het-" Marley cleared her throat loudly and Kurt stopped without finishing his sentence.

"Kurt," the all too familiar voice said behind him. He turned around, clenching and unclenching his hands at his sides as the boy loomed over him intimidatingly.

"Go away," Kurt said firmly.

"What, no hello?" Karofsky said, sounding far too cocky and friendly for Kurt's liking. He saw Blaine slowly approaching from behind the bully, standing to the side for easier access to the scenario without invading Karofsky's view and encouraging him to attack anyone. Kurt appreciated the subtle nod that Blaine sent his way, a small gesture that he was there.

"Leave me alone."

"I just want to apologise, Kurt. You know how hard it is to be… gay…" he started. Something about how he said it made something deep within Kurt snap. The last time he had stood up to Karofsky he had ended up feeling violated, above all else, but he couldn't be submissive any more.

"You aren't the victim here. While I've spent my entire high school life being bullied for being gay, long before I'd ever said anything to anyone about it, you've been lashing out on me, because you can't stand that I'm proud of who I am when you're such a coward. So you know what, Karofsky? I don't want to hear it. Because I don't know what you're going through. And I know just as well as you do that I'll have a handful of new bruises tomorrow, and no apology now is ever going to fix that." Kurt turned and walked towards Blaine, who was smiling with proudness in his eyes. Marley was trying to hide her own grin.

"That was pretty kick-" Blaine said, but was cut off when Kurt grabbed his face and kissed him passionately. Blaine didn't seem to mind that he was fuelled by the anger towards Karofsky when it meant he was getting the kisses that he was so clearly missing from him. "Ass," Blaine completed.

"Take me home," Kurt said, "I'm really angry, but I'm also not doing okay and I'd prefer not to cry in front of him." Blaine's proud smile returned once again.

"Yes, sir," he said all too flirtatiously, letting Kurt drag him towards his car.

"Guys, can you not?" Finn said uncomfortably as he walked into the living room. Kurt hadn't even known that he was home, and when they had started their making out on the couch half an hour prior no one had seemed to notice. Kurt sighed and climbed off Blaine, pulling his boyfriend into a sitting position so that he could drape his arm around him.

"Please, like I haven't seen you with your tongue down several girls' throats like this."

"That's different!" Kurt rolled his eyes. On some level he actually enjoyed it when they had these arguments. It made them feel like they were actually family.

"Because Blaine is a guy? Our whole dating thing isn't actually that different from yours." Uneducated, Kurt reminded himself, he's a teenage boy in Ohio, he's just not used to gay people being talked about.

"No, I uh, I get that, I think. Maybe. But like, I have to compete against this guy at Regionals. I don't want to have to do that, he's my brother's boyfriend," Kurt smiled at Finn's word choice as Finn turned his attention towards Blaine, "It will make me feel bad when we beat him and the sparrows."

"Warblers," Blaine corrected, "I didn't realise you were so competitive, Finn."

"Someone has to keep up with Rachel," Finn rationalised, shrugging it off.

"Do you want to stay and hang out with us?" Blaine offered. Kurt wished he wouldn't always be so friendly and inclusive, but it was one of the qualities he loved most in his boyfriend.

"Uh, no. Thanks anyway, man." Finn backed out of the room, before hurrying back in and grabbing the bowl off the coffee table, taking it with him, "you didn't mention you had chips," he explained, leaving hurriedly before Kurt could get mad at him for it.

Blaine's phone buzzed in his pocket, which was right up against Kurt's leg, making them both jump. After fishing it out of his pocket he held the phone between them so Kurt could read the message too, seeing it was from Nick.

Nick D. Me and Jeff talked to Karofsky. Doesn't seem like he really wants to join after all.

"You know the worst part of all of this?" Kurt asked.

"You didn't get to throw a slushie in his face at the end of your rant?"

"Yes! But no. The worst part is that he actually sounded like he cared about me. And I hate that."

"Do I not sound like a genuinely like you?" Blaine asked, "Is that why you like me?" Kurt shuffled closer to his boyfriend.

"That's different and you know it. I swear, if your idiotic thoughts were less endearing I'd be so annoyed with you about now."

"Is this about when he kissed you?"

"Absolutely. I thought he was doing it because he was trying to figure it all out for himself, like he didn't know if he was really gay- and I was the closest gay boy for him to work with. But after today, when he was actually using my name and not a homophobic slur? It makes me think that there was more to it than me being convenient," Kurt explained.

"So? You're desirable. You should be flattered."

"I don't want to be desirable to guys who want to show you how much you matter to them by making sure your shoulders are permanently black and blue."

"I'm not ever going to hurt you, Kurt," Blaine said, kissing the top of his head lightly.

"Oh, I know. You couldn't even move the spider for me the other day."

"It's just trying to live its life! It was only tiny, too. Poor little Pippin wouldn't have even known about his corner of the sky if I hadn't let him run free."

"In my house!" Kurt exclaimed, "he's probably still in here somewhere!"

"Maybe your house is his corner of the sky!" Blaine said, holding his hands up defensively, "I can't judge his tiny spider life any more than you can."

"You're ridiculous," Kurt said fondly, kissing him gently.

"Oh, I know. But it doesn't seem to bother you a whole lot, so I'm not going to change." Blaine pulled Kurt forward again, kissing him deeper.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Kurt said, the moment he could catch his breath.

"I changed my mind," Finn said from the doorway, this time earning himself eye rolls from both of the boys, "if you two want to, you know, not kiss each other, than I want to hang out with you for a bit. I brought your chips back and everything." Finn placed the mostly consumed bowl of chips back on the coffee table and sat in the armchair, leaving Kurt and Blaine to get comfortable on the couch again. Finn turned on the TV, flicking through until he found a football game to watch.

"No. No no no no no, I am not third-wheeling you two with your little football thing," Kurt said, "I refuse to do it. Be friends on your own time."

"Fine," Finn said, throwing the remote to Kurt, "you pick something." Kurt tapped in the right numbers straight away and turned to MTV. "Really? I don't want to watch about teenage pregnancy. Once was enough for that scare."

"You got a girl pregnant?" Blaine asked.

"No," Finn and Kurt said together, leaving Blaine looking puzzled.

"Quinn told me that you two never even had sex, Finn. Why you were involved in the first place I'll never know," Kurt said.

"I still don't know what you're talking about," Blaine said, "was this your plan? To make me third-wheel your whole brothers thing?"

"I don't think we're ever going to be able to actually all hang out together," Kurt said, "you two will be all manly or whatever, Finn and I will be arguing, Blaine and I will be a couple. One of us is always going to be a third wheel. Finn, you're invited to join us as soon as you have a girlfriend for more than two seconds."

"I'm sorry I interrupted your kissing thing, or whatever," Finn said, clearly wounded by Kurt's girlfriend comment.

"Yes! It was kissing! That's exactly what it was! Why does that surprise you so much?"

"I don't know! You two just don't seem like the kissing type!"

"I should probably get going, anyway," Blaine said, "you can keep arguing without me here…" he stood up and slowly walked towards the door as Kurt jumped up. Kurt pointed a finger accusingly at Finn.

"We'll finish this later," Kurt said. He turned to Blaine and continued, "I'll walk you out."

"I still get goodbye kisses," Blaine said in a sing-song voice. Kurt nodded and pushed him towards the front door, incredibly satisfied by Finn's face that just screamed of his relief that they weren't going to be kissing in front of him anymore.

A/N: sorry this wasn't up yesterday, I've been super busy this week! Thanks for sticking by me xx