A chill went down Blaine's spine. "What did he say?" He repeated, unable to look Mr Schue in the eye.

"He told me… the boys that ambushed you on the way home from school yesterday, the ones from your old school… He said they kept punching you, because you left or something like that." Blaine looked up, a frown on his face. "He's worried because you've refused to do anything about it. Kurt never gets worried about anything. I guess the only reason he came to me is because you mean a lot to him."

He let out a sigh of relief – Kurt hadn't told Mr Schue what had really happened. He remained silent, his eyes fixed on the piano.

"I didn't know you played," Mr Schue said. "You're brilliant – you should play in glee sometime." There was a moment of silence. "Who taught you?"

Blaine shook his head. "I haven't played in years. I… I taught myself most of it. My dad stopped paying for my lessons, so I taught myself how to read sheet music and how to play."

Mr Schue's eyes widened. "That's pretty impressive. What else do you play?"

"Guitar and violin – I only taught myself how to play the guitar though, I had violin lessons at Dalton."

"Wow Blaine that's… that's amazing." He looked at his watch and sighed. "You really are going to be late in a minute. What do you have last?"

"Maths," he replied. His heart lifted slightly – Kurt was in that lesson. He waved goodbye to Mr Schue, picked up his bag and left. He did end up being late to class, but his teacher didn't give him too much grief – it was still his first week. He sat in his seat beside Kurt.

"Thank you," he whispered. Kurt looked up, an eyebrow raised.

"What?"

"You didn't tell Mr Schue, and you managed to explain these bruises. Thank you."

He gave a soft smile. "Anytime Blaine; I needed advice on how to help you, so I… shall we say, altered the truth."

Blaine gave a quiet laugh, stopping when it hurt his ribs. "Well… thanks."

"Don't mention it. Now, help me with this, I have no idea what standard form is but you are such a fucking nerd, you did it all last lesson."

They both grinned, oblivious to the strange looks their classmates were throwing at them. It was strange for them to actually see Kurt Hummel talking to another human being, but it was even weirder that it was Blaine Anderson. Three days he'd been at that school, and already he was known as the genius. Most people didn't care about his intelligence, but the cheerleaders did.

"You go ahead to glee," Kurt said at the end of the lesson. "I need to call my dad."

"About tonight?" He nodded. "Okay. I'll see you there."

Kurt gave him a smile and walked off, dialling a number in his phone. Blaine packed his books in his bag and began to make his way through the halls of McKinley.

"Hey, new kid!"

He turned to see three unfamiliar faces walking towards him – they were huge and obviously on the school's football team.

"C-Can I help you?" Blaine said uncertainly. One of the boys shoved him as hard as he could. His body smashed into the lockers and he let out a gasp of pain.

"So, we heard you're a genius. That's fine; there are plenty of geeks at this school. But what's not fine is the fact you joined glee. Haven't you been told what it is?" Blaine remained silent. "It's social suicide. Listen new kid, I have a deal for you. If you do all of my homework for the rest of the year, I won't give you a hard time about being a member of that shitty glee club."

Blaine's hands curled into fists. He drew himself to full height, glaring at the boy. "I'd rather take my chances in glee, thanks. I don't particularly want to do your homework."

The boy let out a bitter laugh. "Wrong answer!"

Before Blaine knew what was happening, he felt hands on him, once again being shoved into the lockers. Then, the three boys threw ice-cold slushies at him. He let out a gasp as it covered his face and shoulders. The boys laughed, threw their empty cups at him and walked away.

"Blaine!"

He turned, but couldn't see who was calling his name. He flinched when he felt gentle hands on him, leading him… somewhere.

"Its okay dude, we've got you."

"Yeah, come on. I know it stings your eyes, but the first one's always the worst."

"Get him some tissue."

The voices belonged to Finn Hudson, Mike Chang and Artie Abrams. All three of them had probably had slushies thrown at them before. Blaine wiped his face gingerly – the slushie didn't help his black eye at all. Once most of it was gone, he let out a sigh.

"Who was that guy?"

"David Karofsky," Artie said bitterly. "He's seemed to take it upon himself to make all of our lives hell. When I say us, I mean the people in glee."

"Any reason why?"

They shrugged.

"He did make Kurt's life hell for about a year though."

"Seriously?" Blaine said, gaping at Finn.

"Yeah, just because Kurt's gay – he'd shove him into lockers, throw him in dumpsters… he was horrible to him. Kurt got picked on a lot for being gay, but Karofsky was the worst. Anyway, one day Kurt stood up for himself. He beat the shit out of Karofsky." Blaine felt a surge of pride towards Kurt. "He… well, he looked worse than you do now. After Kurt did that, no one picked on him again. He doesn't look it, but he's lethal."

"Thanks Finn, I'll take that as a compliment."

Kurt was stood in the doorway of the bathroom, a lazy smile on his lips. Finn's eyes widened slightly. Kurt looked at Blaine and sighed.

"You get slushied?" He nodded. "Son of a bitch – I'd love for him to do it to me, I really would."

"You just want another excuse to fight him, don't you?" Mike said uncertainly. Kurt flashed a grin.

"Of course I do. I want to make him pay for what the put me through. And now he's picking on Blaine… Well, not if I can help it."

"Kurt, don't go getting into trouble just for me-"

He rolled his eyes. "You don't think I'm stupid enough to get into trouble, do you?" He winked. "Come on, we gotta get to glee."

He held the door open for them. They walked through, Kurt and Blaine at the back.

"Seriously, you okay?" Kurt asked him. When Blaine nodded, he gave a genuine smile. "Good. Karofsky is awful. You… I mean, you heard what he did with me. If he starts with you, tell me right away." Blaine just nodded again. "I'm serious Blaine. I'll kick his fucking ass if he hurts you."

Kurt closed his mouth. Why did he care about Blaine so much? Kurt loathed people, yet here he was, vowing to protect a boy he'd only just met. He was even being sociable with people in glee, although that was because Blaine liked them. Once again, it all fell back to Blaine. It was like he was drawn to him – something that terrified Kurt. He didn't like to get close to people in case they were taken away from him.

"Guys, you're late! We were…" Mr Schuester said when they entered the choir, but he fell silent at the sight of Blaine's sticky hair and wet clothes. "Slushie?" He asked. When he nodded, he sighed. "Thought so – the first one's always the worst. Who was it?"

"David Karofsky," Kurt said, taking his seat. Mr Schue nodded once – even the teachers knew how much Kurt despised Karofsky.

"Okay… today, I thought we could work on set list for regionals. Last year we did original songs, but I don't think we can this year, not unless we can top what we did last year. Who here plays an instrument?"

Blaine's heart stopped. He knew Mr Schue wanted him to raise his hand, but he was terrified – what if the glee club thought he was showing off. Very slowly, Blaine put his hand in the air. Mr Schue gave him a warm smile.

"Blaine, now you said to me earlier you can play violin, piano and guitar, right?" He nodded.

"Wow, seriously? I took violin lessons and it sounded like nails on a chalkboard, so I gave up." He couldn't help but notice that Rachel sounded impressed.

"Can you write music?" There was a frown on Blaine's face. He nodded slowly.

"I think so. When I was playing in the auditorium today… I don't even know what that was. I just made it up. But I think I could write music. You… you want me to give it a shot?" Mr Schue nodded. "N-Now?"

"Well, you could sit at the piano and work on some things – I think we'll only have one or two original songs. So… if you do that, the rest of us can come up with ideas for the other songs."

"What kind of song do you want it to be, sir?"

Mr Schue looked slightly taken aback – he wasn't used to being addressed as 'sir'. He mentally shook himself and turned to the students in the room. "Any ideas?"

"Well, we should do an emotional one, obviously!" Rachel said loudly. Blaine couldn't help but feel she was trying to make up for what happened at lunch.

"Yeah, an emotional one is always good," a girl called Mercedes agreed. "But how about one that's for people who don't fit in?"

"But we did that last year, with loser like me."

"Yeah, but this could be more emotional than the one we did before. Last year was all about not caring, right? We showed them that we didn't care. Well what if this year, we write a song about how it's affected us?"

There was a murmur of agreement. Blaine moved to the piano on one side of the choir room, while Mr Schue gathered the rest of glee club on the other side. Blaine sat on the bench and closed his eyes. They wanted an emotional song about how much bullying could affect someone? He could do this, right? He'd been bullied all of his life.

After ten minutes experimenting with the piano, he picked up one of the guitars. He allowed his fingers to warm up before setting to work. After about an hour, he had a basic tune in mind. He stood up and turned around, surprised to see the others watching him.

"What?" He asked uncertainly. Had he really been that bad? In the end, it was Kurt that spoke.

"Is there anything you can't do?" He whispered. Blaine gave a nervous laugh. "I'm serious. When you were playing piano, we all thought that would be it. Then you decided you weren't happy and moved to the guitar and… I just…"

Blaine laughed again. "Well… I have a basic tune in my head. I just need to work on lyrics… but I may do that tonight, ready for tomorrow."

Mr Schue nodded and glanced at the clock. "Good thing too, we've been here over an hour. I'll see you all tomorrow okay. Rachel, keep working on the message we're trying to deliver; Blaine, I want at least a verse and a chorus in my tomorrow okay?" He nodded and picked up his bag. Kurt was at his side in an instant.

"If you don't want to tutor me tonight, it's fine – you've had a long day."

Blaine shook his head. "Shut up Kurt, I'm still going to do it."

Kurt smirked – no one had ever told him to shut up before. They said their goodbyes to the others and walked out of the doors of McKinley.

"Hey, it's the new kid!"

With a groan, Blaine turned. Karofsky was leaning against a wall, obviously waiting for him. He stopped in his tracks when he saw who he was with.

"Can we help you, Karofsky?" Kurt spat at him. Blaine was taken aback. He knew Kurt had a temper – after all, he'd shown it on Blaine's first day, but this was an entirely different thing. There was pure hatred in Kurt's eyes.

"You… you think you're so tough, don't you Hummel? With the leather jacket and shit – pretty soon, the nerd here is going to get sick of it."

"I'm sure he'll give you a call if he suddenly decides he wants a beefy, ugly as fuck guy to slam his face into a locker."

"Don't push me!" He yelled.

Kurt took a step forwards, his bag on the floor at his feet, totally forgotten. "Back the fuck off if you like having all your limbs Karofsky. I'm not going to let you put him through what you did to me. I could have told everyone what you actually did, but I didn't. Fuck knows why, but I didn't. I kept it to myself!"

"You want another fight, do you ladyboy?" Karofsky said viciously. Kurt gave a bitter laugh.

"Oh, don't tempt me you ugly piece of shit. If I remember correctly, I kicked your ass before. Do you really want me to do that again?"

"Kurt!" Blaine said, pulling on his arm. "Come on, let's just go. He's not worth it!"

For a second, he didn't think Kurt was going to move. Then, he saw his muscles relax and he turned to face him. He gave a nod, then picked up his bag and together they walked away from Karofsky, to Kurt's car. Blaine could see Kurt shaking with anger.

"Kurt…"

"What?" He snapped as they climbed in.

"Don't let it bother you. It doesn't bother me."

"Don't you see Blaine? It's just how it started with me. He slushied me, slammed me into lockers, waited for me after I finished school. I ignored him but… Oh Blaine, he cornered me in the locker room and it was horrible. He kissed me – that animal was my first kiss. But that's when I lost it. I didn't have anyone to talk to, and I just flipped. I beat the crap out of him, and he left me alone."

Blaine's jaw had dropped. "He… Karofsky kissed you?"

Kurt nodded. "He's a gay in denial. And honestly, I think he now has a crush on you. I am not going to let him put you through hell."

"I don't want him to be my first kiss." He'd spoken without thinking, immediately shutting his mouth again. It was too late though – Kurt had heard.

"You've never been kissed?" With a sigh, Blaine shook his head. "Don't worry – someone will come along for you… I didn't count Karofsky as my first kiss, and I've had plenty since then, so it's all good. But Blaine, I will not let him kiss you, I swear."

Blaine nodded, watching as Kurt started the engine. They were silent in the ten minute journey, but it was a relaxed silence – there was nothing awkward about it.

"Kurt… your house is lovely."

He laughed at Blaine and cut the engine off, getting out of the car. "Okay then, Blaine."

"No, I'm serious. I live in an apartment; just having a garden makes this place wonderful."

Kurt smiled and led him inside. As he'd expected, the house was empty. He took him into the living room and sat on the sofa, patting the seat beside him. Blaine sat down, feeling uncomfortable – he never felt like he belonged in someone else's house.

"So… Um… this French work…"

"What about it?"

"Well… that's why I'm here."

Kurt rolled his eyes. He dug around in his bag, pulling his books from the depths. Blaine took them from him, a smile on his face.

"Où voulez-vous commencer par cela, alors?" He said in a perfect accent.

"Erm… I have no idea what you just said."

He laughed. "I said where do you want to start with this then?"

"Oh…" Kurt flicked around in his book for a while. "Why don't we start here – sounding legit?"

Blaine nodded, even though he knew that wasn't the title of the chapter. Slowly, he taught Kurt how to pronounce words properly in French.

"We're basically just going to work on your pronunciation – in your oral exam, it's important that you sound fluent, even if you aren't."

"Je peux le faire par voie orale très bien, merci." He muttered. Blaine rolled his eyes.

"You do realise I'm fluent in French, don't you?"

"Enfoncer l'enfer!" Kurt said, making him laugh.

"Language, Kurt Hummel! Swearing isn't going to help. Although it was in French, so that's good."

They worked well together – Blaine was a patient teacher, repeating things three or four times if needed, and Kurt paid close attention to what Blaine had to say. They'd been sat there for nearly two hours when the front door opened.

"Kurt, I'm home!"

Kurt stood up to greet his dad. "Salut papa. C'est Blaine, il m'a aidé avec mon travail français, mais vous n'avez probablement aucune idée de ce que le baiser que je dis si ça n'a pas vraiment d'importance."

Blaine laughed – Kurt had deliberately remembered that phrase, just to confuse his father. Burt blinked at his son, obviously confused. "Kurt, I have absolutely no idea what you just said. English please?"

Kurt winked. "You're going to have to figure that out on your own dad. This is Blaine," he said, gesturing to the sofa. Blaine gave a nervous wave.

"Hello Mr Hummel. Don't worry; I won't be here much longer."

Burt rolled his eyes. "You can stay here as long as you like kid. You know I would like to talk to you anyway." He nodded. "But I'll do that later. You keep helping Kurt with his work; god knows he needs to catch up."

Kurt rolled his eyes as his dad went into the kitchen. He ran a hand through his hair, messing it up slightly. "Where were we?"

"Je n'ai aucune idée - vous distraire lorsque vous exécutez vos mains dans vos cheveux." Blaine said with a sigh. Kurt shook his head.

"I have no idea what you just said."

"C'est bon alors, I'm not going to tell you either." Blaine said, a smirk on his face. Even though he knew he'd have to talk to Burt about his father, he couldn't help but feel happy.