AN: For some reason this chapter was a bitch to write and not even listening to Being Alive on repeat helped. Unfortunately, I don't think it will get any better, even if I try to rewrite it yet again, so yeah – I hope it doesn't suck too much.

Chapter 20: Fallout

Blaine

Blaine took one step forward to pull Kurt out of Karofsky's grasp but before he could, Kurt's right hand connected with the bully's jaw. Unfortunately, the big linebacker barely stumbled while Kurt was shaking out his hand and winced.

"You little bitch," Karofsky yelled at Kurt. "I should have beaten the shit out of you when I had the chance." The jock advanced once more, and Blaine saw Kurt flinch from the corner of his eye so he quickly put himself between his boyfriend and Karofsky. Pain exploded in his stomach as Karofsky's fist connected with it and his breath was knocked out of him. He sank to the floor with a groan, clutching his aching stomach.

Kurt's yell made him look up to see his boyfriend attempting to push the jock away, but Blaine knew before Karofsky even reacted that his boyfriend didn't stand a chance.

A loud noise echoed through the hallway as Kurt crashed into a locker and hit the floor as well. Blaine watched in shock as a few drops of blood trickled out of his split lip.

He was desperate to get to his boyfriend, but just as he was about to push himself off the floor, a kick to his ribs sent him back down and Blaine cried out in pain.

But it wasn't his cry that finally attracted an audience – it was Karofsky's. A trembling Kurt was standing over Karofsky who was kneeling on the floor and clutching his groin. For a second the only thing his brain could come up with was that Kurt would probably make a great kicker as well before footsteps coming toward them distracted him.

"Are you okay Blaine?" coach Beiste asked as she slowly helped him up. Blaine groaned but nodded. His ribs didn't feel any worse than they had when Karofsky had tackled him on the field, and the pain in his stomach was manageable.

Shouting made him look over to where he had last seen Karofsky, and to his surprise the cheerleading coach was pulling the limping jock away from them.

"Let's get you two checked out by the nurse before we head to the principle's office," coach Beiste ordered and Blaine knew there was no arguing with her.

Thankfully, no students were out in the hallway, so Blaine took Kurt's swollen hand gently into his own and the two of them slowly followed the coach to the school nurse, who immediately starting fussing over Kurt when she saw the blood on his face

Once his boyfriend was cleaned up and got an icepack for his lip and the bruise already forming on his face, it was his turn and he winced when the nursed checked out his ribs to make sure nothing was broken.

"Stupid boys and their fighting," he could hear her muttering under her breath but he didn't have the energy to correct her. As much as he had wanted to physically punish Karofsky he would have never thrown the first punch unless it was to defend himself.

Luckily it was him and Kurt who had visible injuries so he hoped Karofsky wouldn't be able to talk himself out of this one, or that they would at least all get punished for fighting.

"Are they ready to leave?" his coached asked the nurse once Blaine had pulled his shirt down again and Kurt had turned around to face him again. The nurse nodded and coach Beiste told them to follow her to principle Finggins office.

The office was already crowded from what Blaine could see. Mr. Schuester was standing next to the principle while coach Sylvester seemed to be involved in a shouting match with Karofsky.

He squeezed Kurt's uninjured hand lightly, before he leaned in to whisper:" Courage." They both needed to have some right now.

Kurt

Kurt tried to stay calm as he and Blaine followed the football coach to the principle's office, but he knew that with his track record at this school he shouldn't be surprised if he ended up the one being punished.

Karofsky lunged for him and Blaine as soon as they entered the office and it took both coaches to restrain him.

"That little fag kicked me," he yelled but upon receiving one of coach Sylvester's patented glares he immediately shut up.

"Language," she sneered at him and Karofsky actually cowered. Kurt allowed himself a brief moment to appreciate the turn of events until Mr. Schuester opened his mouth.

"Principle Figgins, we can't really blame Kurt for acting out - after all, violence is all he knows. I'm sure Emma has some pamphlets on breaking the vicious cycle that could help him deal with problems in a non-violent way. I'm sure he is sorry and it won't happen again."

Kurt gaped at him, because was he serious? He had expected to be blamed for the incident but to drag his past into this was just low. He abhorred violence but in that moment he hadn't seen another way out of the situation. If he hadn't defended himself, who knows what Karofsky would have done to him and Blaine.

"Karofsky threatened him and we only tried to defend ourselves," Blaine exploded next to him before sinking down into a chair and clutching his stomach. Kurt was at his side in an instant, ignoring the yelling that was going on around him.

"Are you okay?" he asked and Blaine nodded. "I just hate them so much," Blaine whispered close to tears. "Why can't they ever be on our side?"

Before Kurt could respond, the door was flung open and Puck charged in, followed by that big girl who was on the boys' wrestling team and was also the president of the AV club. Lauren something.

"You wanted proof, I got you proof," Puck yelled before he slammed a laptop on the principle's table.

"What is going on?" the principle asked, who clearly had no idea how to handle the situation.

"I asked Lauren to put cameras up in the hallway, so I could get you proof that that dick over there was hurting my boys."

Mr. Schuester jumped to his feet and glared at Puck. "Noah, this is illegal. You can't just put cameras up and film the students without their knowledge or permission."

Kurt didn't care about the other students in that moment, because when had they ever cared about him? If Puck had caught Karofsky threating them on tape, maybe then someone was finally going to believe him. Fortunately, coach Sylvester seemed to agree with him as she turned the laptop around so everyone could see and told Lauren to push play.

The picture quality was amazing and even the sound was clear. Kurt flinched when he saw on-screen Karofsky try to yank him away from Blaine, but he now also understood why Karofsky had barely flinched when he had hit him. He was surprised his hand was even bruised with how slowly his hand had connected with Karofsky's face.

Karofsky himself had gone pale the moment they had entered the screen and was now sitting with his head between his hands but Kurt didn't have any pity left for him. He would have never outed Karofsky himself, but he had to admit the jock had brought this on himself.

"Take him outside," coach Beiste order and coach Sylvester grabbed Karofsky's arm and pulled him out of the office. The football coach then kneeled down in front of Kurt and gently asked a question Kurt didn't really want to answer.

"Kurt, what did you mean when you said he forced you?"

Kurt paled and pushed Blaine's hand away when he was reaching out for him.

"I, I. Can I go to the bathroom real quick?" he whispered and coach Beiste nodded, while Mr. Schuester tried to tell them that wasn't a good idea, because they still had things to talk about.

Luckily, the coach ignored him.

"Sure. Take Blaine with you. We'll be here when you are ready to talk."

The last thing Kurt heard before walking out of the principle's office, Blaine trailing behind him, was coach Beiste pretty much ordering principle Figgins to call the police and Kurt shrunk even further into himself, because this was the last thing he wanted to deal with.

People were already talking in the hallway, most of them watching something on their phones and Kurt whirled around to face Lauren who had left the office after them.

"Did you show the video to anyone else?" he hissed and Lauren's shoulder's slumped as well.

"I had to give Jacob access to my feed in exchange for providing me with the equipment," she explained and Kurt shuddered because he knew that meant nearly everyone in school knew by now what was going on.

He kept his head down as he and Blaine were walking close to each other – but not holding hands – on their way to the slushie bathroom, but Kurt knew it didn't matter anymore if he and Blaine held hands or not. By tomorrow everyone would know they were dating anyway.

To his surprise no one was pointing at him though as he passed his classmates, though he could hear Karofsky's name mentioned a lot. Finally, he and Blaine reached their destination and Kurt collapsed as soon as the door closed behind them.

"You okay?" Blaine asked and sat down beside him on the floor, wincing slightly when the movement upset his ribs.

Kurt shrugged. He wasn't sure what he was feeling. Yes, there was a sense of relief that the truth was finally out, but he also dreaded the repercussions. Would Karofsky's jock friends blame him for turning their teammate gay? Or would Karofsky get away with his behavior yet again, because Kurt had thrown the first punch?

He was confused, scared, angry and relieved all at once and if he could he would hide out in the bathroom with Blaine forever. Unfortunately, he would have to return to reality sooner or later and face whatever had been discussed in the principle's office in his absence.

He was pulled out of his internal freak out by Blaine's soft lips on his cheek and Kurt turned his head to capture his mouth, hissing however when his split lip protested.

"You ready to go back?" Blaine asked after a beat and Kurt shook his head. "No, but when have I ever gotten what I wanted?" he remarked sarcastically causing his boyfriend to pout.

"You got me though," he reminded him and Kurt squeezed his hand. "That I do. Come on, let's face the music."

Kurt offered Blaine his uninjured hand and pulled his boyfriend off the floor, ignoring the pain in his shoulder, courtesy of the locker shove. The hallway was empty again, fortunately, as classes had resumed and Kurt and Blaine slowly walked back to principle Figgin's office, holding hands as there was no one around who could object.

Blaine's dad was inside with a woman in a police uniform who looked vaguely familiar. Kurt wondered how much time he and Blaine had spent in the bathroom, for Burt to get to the school so fast.

He let himself be pulled into a tight embrace before he was released so Blaine could receive the same treatment.

"Go lie down in the nurse's office," Burt instructed his son. "Office Hanson needs to talk to Kurt and needs me here because he is a minor."

Blaine looked like he was going to argue but Kurt shook his head. He had never told his boyfriend the extent of Karofsky's harassment and didn't want him to find out before Kurt was ready to tell him himself.

So he followed Burt and officer Hanson, who he now remembered from his Sectionals stay in the hospital, into an empty classroom, where she put Lauren's laptop on the teacher's desk.

"Am I in trouble?" Kurt asked warily but the officer shook her head. "I think you can claim self defense on that one." Kurt exhaled slowly, a weight lifted off his shoulders for a moment until the cop continued.

"I'm not here to talk about the physical altercation. Can I ask you to elaborate on what you accused Mr. Karofsky of in this video?"

Kurt gulped, his eyes flickering from Burt to officer Hanson. "Do you really need me here for this?" Burt asked, apparently realizing how uncomfortable Kurt was. The police officer nodded.

"We didn't question Kurt in the presence of a parent the last time I talked to him, because we suspected both parents were involved in his abuse, but this is different," she explained before she turned to Kurt.

"From what I remember you said the last time we spoke that some of your bruises came from your father but not all of them. Who gave you the other bruises, Kurt?"

Kurt played with the hem of his shirt before he answered. "I don't know all of their names, but mostly from members of the hockey and football team, but not the whole team," he added quickly. "The football guys in our Glee club actually protect me from Dave Karofsky. He is the worst of them," he admitted and Burt squeezed his shoulder, causing Kurt to flinch.

He quickly waved him off when Burt asked if he was okay and let the police officer continue her questioning.

"And he is the one in the video?" she asked and Kurt nodded, still avoiding to look at her.

"Why did you need protection from Mr. Karofsky?" Kurt finally looked up at her and took a deep breath.

"Dave and I have been going to school together forever, and as long as I can remember he had it out for me. The older we got, the worse his behavior got. It's like it's his mission to make my life a living hell. Ever since we started high school, he's been throwing me into the dumpsters in front of the school, pouring slushies all over me, shoving me into lockers or tripping me up. And then there is of course the name-calling. I never really understood what I had done to make him so angry until one day last year," he explained.

The officer nodded. "What happened that day, Kurt?"

"He cornered me in the boy's locker room and started taunting me. I tried to get away because I thought he was going to beat me up, but he pinned me against a locker and wouldn't let me leave. And then he kissed me and told me he liked that I was struggling to get away. And he, he," another deep breath, "he pressed himself against me and he was enjoying it," Kurt whispered.

Burt looked shocked while the officer kept writing things down in her notepad. "Did anything else happen that day, Kurt?" she asked in a soothing voice.

Kurt shook his head. "Someone was coming inside, so he pushed me away and told his friends I was creeping on them and needed to be taught a lesson. I managed to get away before he could hurt me."

He hadn't realized he was shaking until Burt took his hand and held it tight while the officer asked her next question.

"And was this the incident Mr. Karofsky referred to in the video?"

Kurt shrugged. "I don't know which time he meant. He told me I should be happy at least someone was actually interested in me and that he would come back for me. It was at the end of sophomore year, and it didn't happen again until school was out, so I thought it had been an empty threat but it actually got worse this year. He cornered me a few more times, touching me against my will, and kept leering at me in the hallway when he thought no one was watching him. Before Christmas, he told me I would come crawling to him soon, playing with my insecurities but I told him yet again, that I didn't want him, but he wouldn't listen. And when he found out Blaine and I were dating, he threatened to beat us up when he ran into us while we were on a date, so Mr. Hummel had to come and get us. Ever since he had been threating Blaine as well until he found us today," Kurt finished his story, thoroughly exhausted.

He hoped to god that he would never have to recount this part of his past again, because he just wanted to be done with it once and for all. He was so sick of constantly being a victim but he had no idea how to change things. Yes, he had managed to defend himself against Karofsky, but for what price? Now the whole school would know that he had been sexually harassed by the school bully and he would be once again, poor defenseless Kurt Anderson – if people were nice about it.

"Can I take my boys home now?" Burt broke the silence they had fallen into after Kurt ended his confession. Officer Hanson stopped scribbling in her notepad and looked at Kurt.

"Is there anything else I should know for now?" she asked and Kurt shook his head. "Okay then. I'll keep in touch," she told them before snapping her notepad shut and leaving the room.

"Kiddo, why did you never tell anyone about this?" Burt asked and Kurt could see he was trying hard not to show his anger. Kurt sank deeper down into his chair. "I'm just not used to people caring about me," he mumbled "and who would have believed me if I'd said that a popular football player was coming onto the school fag."

"Don't call yourself that," Burt growled and Kurt fliched. "Sorry," Burt apologized, "but I don't want you calling yourself that. I might not be able to force other people to stop using it, but I don't want you to demean yourself. There's nothing wrong with you or Blaine no matter what society or the people in this poor excuse for a school might try to tell you."

Kurt looked at Burt with tears in his eyes. He never really wanted to hide who he was, but there had still been days when he had wished he were straight, because everyone was constantly telling him how wrong his 'choices' were and how he would go straight to hell. Not that he believed in hell, but it still hurt.

He nodded quickly and they left the classroom after Burt had hugged the shit out of him. He didn't know what tomorrow would bring, but what he knew was that with Burt he finally had an adult in his corner, and it made him so happy he nearly started to cry again.

Blaine

His dad had taken them out of school for the rest of the week, though in Kurt's case he wasn't allowed to go to school anyway, because the school board had pressured the principle to suspend Kurt for starting a fight. They hadn't heard about Karofsky's fate yet, but Blaine was hoping he would receive proper punishment for what he had done to Kurt over the years.

His ribs still ached and so he and Kurt spent most of their time on the living room couch watching Disney movies, to distract them from what had happened at school. He wanted to make sure Kurt was okay, though his boyfriend had assured him multiple times already that he was okay now that he had finally stood up to his tormentor, though he wished he didn't have to resort to violence, which he abhorred.

Friday, morning found them in front of the TV again, watching Tangled, when Blaine asked a question he had wanted to ask for the past few days.

"So, how mad are you about Jacob releasing this video?" he asked, but to his surprise Kurt just shrugged.

"I'd be mad if he had outed Karofsky just for the fun of it, but in this case he did bring it on himself. I just wish I had realized earlier that Karofsky gave up his right to privacy the moment he tried to force his tongue down my throat," Kurt replied and Blaine could feel him shudder in his arms.

He quickly leaned over and pressed a chaste kiss to Kurt's lips to replace the awful memory with a hopefully nice one.

"I'm glad you see it this way as well now, but that's not what I meant," he explained after a second, less chaste kiss. Kurt looked at him questioningly.

"Are you worried about people knowing that we are dating? I know you wanted to keep it a secret at school," he rephrased his question.

To his relief Kurt shook his head. "To be honest, I'm kind of relieved we don't have to hide anymore, and to be fair people have always talked shit about me, and I think it's time to tell them fuck you."

Blaine raised an eyebrow because he was sure he had never heard Kurt swear this much before, but he fully agreed with the sentiment. As long as talking was all people did, he could deal with it. Hopefully, Karofsky had at least been suspended as well, and it had sent a message to the rest of the bullies. Maybe it was stupid and naïve to get his hopes up, but he really wanted this to be okay.

When Kurt picked at his food later tonight, neither he nor his dad said anything, but it told him that Kurt was more anxious than he let on. He really hoped, things would turn out all right once they went back on Monday, because he had realized by now that Kurt was even more prone to not eating when he was worried about something.

Like the nights before, his dad tried to corner him before he went upstairs and this time he wasn't fast enough. Resigned he sat down on the living room couch and waited for the lecture or what ever his dad wanted to talk about to start.

"How long have you known about this?" his dad asked, still visibly upset from what he had heard at school. Blaine assumed he meant the forced kisses, as his dad had already been aware of the bullying to some extent.

"Since New Year's Eve," Blaine admitted "or probably before Christmas but then I still thought it was consensual," he added. "And why the hell didn't you tell me about that?" his dad nearly yelled and Blaine's shoulders slumped. He hated making his dad angry but he had only done what Kurt had asked of him.

"Kurt asked me not to tell and I was protecting him after all," he explained, but even to his own ears it sounded stupid now.

His dad sighed. "I know you want to think of yourselves as grownups who can handle whatever live throws at you yourselves, but you are not and sometimes you have to let a grown up handle it. Would you have kept your mouth shut as well, if Kurt had told you something even worse had happened but begged you not to tell anyone?"

Blaine shuddered at his dad's implications and frantically shook his head. "No, of course not. I wouldn't be protecting him if I helped him keep something like this a secret."

His dad raised an eyebrow at him and now it was Blaine's turn to sigh because of course his dad was right again. By not saying anything, he had basically helped Karofsky to continue unpunished and who knew if the situation might have escalated if the confrontation in the hallway hadn't happened.

"You are right," he admitted. "I should have told someone or talked Kurt into telling someone."

His dad lightly squeezed his shoulder. "Listen, I understand that you don't want to go around telling Kurt's secrets put please in the future tell me if there is something bad going on. I'd rather Kurt was angry with us than really got hurt."

"I promise. No more secrets," Blaine vowed because he wanted nothing more than keep Kurt safe. So far he hadn't really succeeded in doing that, but he was resolved that he would do better in the future.

Like his dad said, they were still young and had a lot to learn.

Kurt

Kurt wiped his sweaty palms a few times on his jeans before he climbed out of his car and helped Blaine out of the passenger seat, a clear reversal of their roles a few months back, before slipping his hand into Blaine's.

"Ready?" he asked and Blaine nodded. Together they walked over to the front entrance were they were welcomed by half of the football team and Karofsky's best friend Azizmo. Kurt tensed, when Azizmo stepped forward.

"I heard what my buddy Dave did to you and I wanted to say that that was not cool. If he'd done something like that to my sister I would have made sure he can never have kids," he added as Kurt gawked at him.

"So, um, yeah sorry dude for not realizing why he was so crazy about going after you," the big football player shrugged, before he turned abruptly and went inside, followed by the rest of the football team.

"Did Azizmo just apologize to me?" Kurt asked a stunned looking Blaine. "Maybe we are still asleep and this is some weird dream," Blaine offered and Kurt snorted

"And just how often do you dream about the football team, Blaine?" he asked, causing Blaine to blush and then turn pale. "Not like that, I swear," he stumbled over his words and Kurt patted his shoulder. "I was joking Blaine. Relax."

Maybe he should reconsider the Cheerios thing now that he knew that Blaine apparently had a thing for boys in uniforms, though he knew he wasn't ready to wear a tight fighting outfit like that. He was working hard on getting 'better' but 'better' meant he would never fit in one of those outfits. Blaine had promised not to leave him if he got fat, but he'd rather not test this theory when he was trying to be sexy in a cheerleading uniform.

The whole day went better than he had expected. Sure, people were talking about them, pointing at them, and some said some not so nice things, but they actually got a few thumbs up from some giggling freshmen girls.

Puck grabbed his arm before he and Blaine could walk off to the library for lunch, and Kurt reluctantly let himself and Blaine get dragged inside the choir room.

"What's up?" he asked, trying to hide his irritation over being manhandled like this, but Puck just smirked.

"My mole in juvie," don't ask Kurt told himself, "told me that Karofsky spent two days there, but then his mom got him a good lawyer who tried to convince a judge that you were a liar who couldn't proof shit."

"So they let him go?" Kurt asked dejectedly but Puck grinned even wider. "Nope," he said pooping the p. "They sent him to reform school instead to finish his junior year and senior year there. And from what I heard about those school, juvie is the much nicer option. I should know, I'm familiar with one of those institutions," he added and Kurt rolled his eyes before Blaine grabbed his face and kissed him deeply, right in front of Puck.

Puck didn't look disgusted however and just offered Blaine his fist for a fist bump, which Kurt allowed with another roll of his eyes.

"This is good news, right?" Blaine asked after Puck had left the room and Kurt nodded. "Hopefully it will do him some good. I'm just glad I don't have to constantly look over my shoulder anymore."

Just than the speakers creaked over their heads and coach Sylvester's voice rang out. "Listen up. Your fellow student Dave Karofsky just got expelled for bullying other students – if you don't want to join him, keep your paws to yourselves. I'll be watching you," she threatened and Kurt's face lit up with a smile, because with a little luck, the rest of the bullies would leave him alone now too out of fear of getting kicked out of school.

"Do you think it will be better now?" he asked Blaine. His boyfriend shrugged. "I don't know, but I really hope so. We both deserve a little break."

AN: Any tumblr specialists here? How do I make a masterlist of my stories on the site?