By the time practice was over that night, all Blaine wanted to do was shower and go to bed. He was practically asleep already as he piled his stuff on the bench, stashed his uniform, and dug around at the bottom of his locker for his shampoo. He heard his phone buzz with a missed text, but he was too focused on where that damn bottle had gotten to to turn and check it.
"Dude, why is someone named Kurt texting you a heart?" Puck asked, loudly enough that everyone around them could hear.
"Kurt Hummel, that dirty little fairy kid?" Karaofsky chimed in.
Blaine froze. His heart rate instantly shot into overdrive and he felt his body telling him to run, run as far away as possible, but he knew he had to play it cool. Blaine forced a smile onto his face and turned to Puck and the now overly interested other members of the team.
"Oh, I got stuck with him as a French partner so he's been texting me, like, every day," Blaine said quickly, hoping his face wasn't giving him away.
"A frigging heart, man?" Puck said, not backing down.
"I don't know, he's weird, I mean, you've seen him," Blaine said. He couldn't meet anyone's eyes, he felt so guilty.
"Oh my God, he probably has a crush on you," Karofsky blurted out, "a gay crush, that's so damn wrong."
"I don't think-" Blaine started, but he was cut off by Azimio, who had suddenly appeared behind Blaine.
"Don't worry man, we'll keep him from getting the wrong idea. He's not going to touch you with his gayness, not if he likes his face the way it is."
"Right. Uh, thanks," Blaine muttered, reaching to take his phone back. He slid in into the pocket of his jeans, picked up his pile of clothes, and made a beeline for the showers, shampoo or no shampoo.
He didn't notice Puck following him, and with the water on, he didn't hear Puck stop outside his stall and snag Blaine's phone to take back to the other guys. Blaine had no idea, as he quickly scrubbed down, that his team members were huddled around the phone, laughing. When he stepped out of the shower, it was right where he left it, and he dressed quickly and got home as fast as he could.

***

Kurt couldn't believe it, although he had read the message at least a dozen times in the five minutes since he'd received it.
He'd decided he had to talk to X; there was no way he could keep everything that happened with Blaine a secret. It just felt wrong. So Kurt confided in his anonymous admirer who felt much more like friend now, trying to be gentle but knowing that he had to tell the truth.
"Listen, something happened, and I want to tell you, but I'm afraid it's going to hurt your feelings," Kurt had written after much deliberation.
"You can tell me, I can handle it," X replied.
"Well, I think someone likes me, like, romantically. It's not someone I ever expected, it was all a huge surprise, actually."
There was a brief pause, and Kurt worried that he had lost his mysterious friend for good. Then his phone buzzed again.
"How do you feel about him?"
Kurt hesitated, but he knew he had to be honest.
"I think I really like him too. I'm so sorry, this must be awful for you."
The reply came swiftly this time.
"No! I'm happy for you. This couldn't last the way it is- you don't even know who I am."
Kurt tried not to be too hopeful as he responded, "You could always tell me."
"It's not the right time. You should move ahead with your real life."
Kurt had expected that.
"I'm always here, if you change your mind. We could meet up."
"I can't right now," X replied.
"That's alright, I understand," Kurt wrote, feeling a little sad.
"I have to go, but this is a good thing. You can do this."
"You're a good friend," Kurt wrote, and then after a moment, he added a heart.
There was no response, but Kurt wasn't surprised by that. He figured that X had to be involved in some sort of after school activities, because he usually wasn't available to really talk until later on in the evening. He moved on to his English homework, trying to force himself to focus on the themes of "Pride and Prejudice" without much success. About an hour and a half later, Kurt's phone lit up again.
"You know what, I am totally in love with you and I don't want to hide it any more. Meet me tomorrow after school, at the bottom of the hill behind the field."
Kurt could hardly believe it. The Mysterious Mister X, finally revealed.
Mercedes is going to flip! he thought, that is, if I go. Oh God, of course I'm going to go. I have to go.
Before he could over-think it, Kurt texted back a confirmation and then threw himself onto his bed and squealed into a pillow because he simply couldn't contain it.

***

Blaine felt much calmer Thursday morning as he got ready for school. On his way home last night, he had realized it was too dangerous to keep all his conversations with Kurt on his phone where anyone could see him, so before he could think too hard, he pulled up his messages and deleted the entire thread with Kurt without even looking at it. He would just have to clear all their texts before school each day, and that way no one would ever be able to read them. He also put a passcode on his phone, even though he always ended up forgetting them and getting locked out. The situation was under control.
Classes dragged by that day, and Blaine felt restless and agitated. He barely got to speak to Kurt in French, their only shared class, because Kurt was already sitting with Mercedes when Blaine got to the classroom and there was nowhere nearby for him to sit. He spent the class trying not to stare at the back of Kurt's head and mostly failing.
By the time the last bell of the day rang, Blaine felt like he was ready to crawl out of his skin, so he rushed to the locker room before anyone else could get there, quickly changed into some gym shorts and a tshirt, and made a dash for the track. There was no practice today, but Blaine felt like if he didn't run right now, he was going to explode. He pushed himself hard on the first two laps, and he was already feeling better by the third lap, his legs burning and his blood pumping in his ears.
As he neared the back edge of the field, Blaine thought he heard someone cry out. He slowed down to a walk and backtracked, listening hard. Suddenly, he heard it again, and he realized in a heart-dropping second that he knew that voice. It was Kurt, and he was scared. Blaine rushed over to the chain link fence that bordered the back of the field, slamming up against it in his rush to see down the hill beyond. It was worse than he feared. Puck, Karaofsky, Azimio, and two of the other guys from the team were standing all around Kurt, who was on his knees reaching out for...something. With a jolt, Blaine realized Puck was standing on Kurt's hand, pinning him there.
Every reasonable thought, all sense of caution flew out of Blaine's head, and without consciously deciding to, he found himself scrambling up and over the fence and running as fast as he could down the hill towards Kurt and his tormentors. He slammed into Azimio's back, but of course, Blaine was so much smaller that he just ended up on the ground, looking right into Kurt's shocked blue eyes. Azimio turned around with a scowl, but changed his tune when he looked down and realized it was Blaine.
"Oh, hey Anderson, we were just about to teach your little fag admirer a lesson," he said with a grin, "We were gonna do it for you, but you should definitely join in."
Blaine pulled himself up slowly, feeling the sting of the scrapes on his hands.
Shit. What do I do? I don't have a plan, oh my God, what do I do? Blaine panicked, desperately trying to think of a way to get Kurt away from his jeering team mates.
He didn't get very far with his planning, because at that moment, Puck ground his heel into Kurt's hand, Kurt cried out, and then Karaofsky laughed and kicked Kurt in the ribs, laying his flat on his stomach in the dirt. Blaine saw red.
"STOP IT, get the HELL away from him!" Blaine screamed, shoving past Azimio into the middle of the circle and throwing himself between Kurt and Karaofsky's feet.
"Christ, Anderson, what's wrong with you? You're acting like you're a fucking faggot yourself," Puck spat.
"That's because I am, you disgusting, bigoted, backwater pig!"
The words spilled out before Blaine could stop them, and the silence that rung out afterward was deafening. Eventually Karofsky spoke.
"What did you just say?" he asked softly. Dangerously.
Something inside Blaine released, looking at their faces filled with hate and disgust, and he just didn't care anymore. He turned away from them, turned to Kurt, still lying on the ground behind him, shaking. Blaine reached out to help him up or do...something for him. Kurt flinched away from him and Blaine winced.
"Hey, hey, it's ok, I've got you," he said quietly, just for Kurt to hear.
He reached out again, and this time Kurt let Blaine put an arm around his shoulders and help him sit up. Blaine was so focus on Kurt, he never even saw Karofsky's foot until it connected with the side of his body.
"Don't just stand there, they're fucking fags, both of them! Anderson's probably been spying on us in the locker room since tryouts!" Karofsky bellowed.
"Run," Blaine said, right in Kurt's ear. Blaine jumped up, pulling Kurt with him, and shoved him away from the circle, away from the flying fists and feet. And Kurt ran.