There is a split second, a fraction of a moment just after Blaine walks into the school where he looks happy. His smile is broad and he glows as he soaks up the newness of the day. It reminds Kurt of the way Blaine smiles at him when they're naked and pressed together on a bed, when they're out of breath and perfectly, wonderfully content to look at each other without trying to hide their emotions or pretend like their promise of ‘one more night' should actually be upheld.

And then it's gone.

As if someone had slapped any semblance of peace or joy from his small body, his smile drops. His golden eyes dart around rapidly, taking in the glares from their peers as he stops just inside the door. They aren't even whispering anymore. Instead, they stare at him, dead on, and no one offers any explanation. Blaine swallows and Kurt notes the way he shifts on the spot, just barely, from leg to leg, like he's afraid to move but he's more afraid to stand still.

He looks so fragile and nervous, like a baby animal caught in a trap, caged and put on display before slaughter, and Kurt is stuck. He has no idea if he should walk over to Blaine and tell him what's going on or if he should remain at his locker and try not to perpetuate the rumors any more than necessary.

But Blaine's just standing there, hands clutching at the strap of his bag so tightly that Kurt can tell his fingernails are cutting into his skin. His shoulders hunch slightly, as if maybe he can disappear and no one will take notice of him anymore.

Kurt wants to cry.

            "This isn't a zoo, you assholes!"

Quite suddenly, Santana appears, throwing her arms up as she strides down the hallway with purpose. She sneers at students as she passes, half willing them to start an argument because she's clearly ready to beat someone into ground.

            "Pick your jaws off the floor and keep walking!" she shouts.

People begin to scatter like a nest of disturbed roaches. Just as she's about to pass Kurt, she grabs him by the collar of his shirt and tugs him after her. Kurt offers up a squeak in protest, but then she drags him towards Blaine and grabs him by the arm and forces them both through the doors and out of the school.

            "This is not how I wanted to spend my morning," she states when they're finally outside and beyond the eyes of their classmates. "But there's nothing for it now."

            "What's going on?" Blaine asks nervously, eyes darting to Kurt for a second. "Why - why was everyone staring?"

            "Remember how you were worried about the truth getting out?" Santana asks, sure to put air quotes around the word truth. "Well guess what? It's out."

            "What - but - th-that truth?" Blaine stutters in a panic. "About - about-"

            "About you and Hummel sneaking off to screw in some sleazy motel this weekend?" Santana drawls impatiently. "Yeah, that truth."

Blaine's face takes on a sickly pale hue, and he looks like he's about to faint.

            "How do you know about-"

            "The whole school knows," Santana states, snatching the newspaper from Kurt that he had taken from Mercedes and shoving it into Blaine's hands. "You made the front page, boys. Congrats."

With shaky fingers, Blaine unfolds the paper to peer down in horror at the Muckraker. His eyes grow large as his lips part in a strangled, futile moan of despair. He scans the page, taking in the photographic evidence that had clearly fallen into the worst possible hands.

            "But who - who would do this?"

            "Jacob Ben Isreal's been parading around all morning," Santana reveals. "He's showing everyone the other pictures that are still on his digital camera that never made it into the paper, just in case anyone decided to doubt the truth of the whole thing."

            "Why, though?" Blaine asks softly, and Kurt can see the thin, glistening sheen of tears welling up in his big owl-eyes. "Why would he do something like this?"

            "Because he's a stalking little rodent without a life of his own," Santana says. "He doesn't really need much of a motive to be a prick."

A single tear slips down Blaine's cheek and Kurt has to curl his hand around his bag in order to physically stop himself from reaching up to wipe it away. Blaine attempts to take a deep breath, but it comes out as a shudder, and he tries again.

            "I don't - I don't know what to do," Blaine admits in a soft, pained voice. "I don't know what to do."

Santana's face softens. She places a hand on Blaine's arm.

            "I'm sorry," she says. "I really am."

Blaine lowers his head and Kurt can only tell that he's sobbing by the tell tale shaking of his shoulders. Santana turns her gaze to Kurt. She says nothing, but she eyes him with purpose. It isn't a hard, vengeful look, but she is clearly telling him to fix this.

Because they both know that Blaine won't be able to.

And then she turns around and walks back into the school, leaving them alone.

Kurt looks back to Blaine, and that's when he knows he's at a loss. He doesn't know how to be the strong one, not with all of this. He still doesn't know if he should reach for Blaine and attempt to comfort him, or if that would just make things worse. Blaine won't want anything to do with him now. Because Kurt has ruined him. He ruined every good thing that Blaine had. He's ruined Blaine's relationship with Rachel, he's ruined Blaine's popularity and social standing, and he's ruined them. He never should have let himself fall into this. It should have been one more night. It should have been one last night. They shouldn't have kissed again or talked again or anything again.

Because if it had only been the once, they wouldn't be here right now. The entire school wouldn't know about them and things would be just fine.

Well, things would be just fine for Blaine. Kurt would probably be torturing himself everyday because, even now, he knows that he would have wanted Blaine even more after that first night at Scandal's.

But he has to make this right because Blaine doesn't deserve any of this.

            "I'll - I'll tell them that it was me," Kurt says, his voice not nearly as strong as he wants it to be. "I'll tell them that I - that I made you come out with me. And I'll tell them that I got you drunk and that I made you come to the motel with me and that you were too drunk to even tell where you were or who you were with."

Blaine's reddened eyes find his.

            "What?" he asks.

            "They already treat me like I'm some kind of predatory gay," Kurt explains, making himself sick as he even considers this. "To them, I'm the one with the disease. Not you."

            "Kurt-"

            "It's - it'll be fine," Kurt says, still attempting to convince himself. "It's only a few more months and then we'll graduate and I'll be out of here. None of this will matter after graduation, you know? It - it'll be hard to tell my dad, because I know Finn will get to him first, and he'll think I was acting out because I was - I was lonely or something and he might start looking at me like I'm not his son but I - I'll do whatever it takes to make sure that no one knows the truth about-"

            "Kurt," Blaine says again, and at some point he'd placed his hands on Kurt's shoulders, and now he's giving them a firm shake. "Stop it."

            "But you-"

            "I would never let you do something like that," Blaine states, even though he's still crying. "Never. Do you understand?"

            "But what are we supposed to do?" Kurt asks, feeling completely helpless. "They know, Blaine. Everyone knows. Rachel knows."

            "I know, I know," Blaine says, wiping at his splotchy, tear-stained face. "I can't - maybe I should just go home. Maybe we both should."

            "I don't...think it's going to be any easier tomorrow," Kurt tells him. "We'd just be postponing the inevitable."

            "The way they were - they were looking at me," Blaine whimpers. "It was like I was - like I was going to infect them."

            "I know," Kurt whispers.

            "Is that how it is?" Blaine asks. "Is that how it is for you every day?"

Blaine is looking at him, silently begging him to ease the pain. But Kurt can't do that. This isn't the lie they've been living for the past few months anymore. Blaine has practically been shoved out of the closet and things might actually get really bad now. Kurt can't lie about this because there's no way he can protect Blaine from a world littered with judgmental bigots.

            "You learn to ignore it," Kurt says flatly, dropping his eyes to the ground.

            "Kurt," Blaine breathes in response, and he sounds heartbroken.

He throws himself at Kurt, clinging desperately as he continues to cry and shiver in fear. Kurt can feel his own sob threaten to escape, but this isn't about him. Everything is about to change for Blaine, whether he likes it or not, and Kurt had promised to be here for him when he came out. It's not exactly how Kurt had envisioned their relationship coming to light, but the secret has been told and there's nothing left to do but try and wade through it and do their level best to keep their heads above water in the process.

The only flaw in all of this, though, is that Kurt has no idea if Blaine will even want his help, not after he's already ruined everything else in Blaine's life. It hurts to consider, but he feels like he has to tread carefully now in order to make sure that he doesn't screw anything else up.

            "Maybe I should go," Kurt says. "If I'm not here, they might not be so harsh."

            "Please don't go," Blaine whispers against his shoulder.

            "I just - I've already messed up so much for you," Kurt tries to explain. "I think it'll do more damage if we do anything together."

Blaine sucks in a sharp gasp of air, and he pulls away to stare at Kurt in disbelief.

            "You don't - you don't want to be with me?" he asks.

            "Of course I do," Kurt assures, cupping Blaine's face with a strong hand. "God, don't even think that I don't want that. But things are going to get really difficult. And I feel like I just make everything worse by being here. I figured you'd want to - you know, part ways for a while so you can figure everything out."

            "That is the opposite of what I want," Blaine states firmly, curling his fingers around Kurt's arms.

            "But it's been so hard for you to deal with all of this when no one knew," Kurt says. "I don't want to mess anything else up for you."

            "I can't do any this without you," Blaine says.

            "But-"

            "I almost broke up with you over the phone the other night," Blaine reveals. "When I was telling you about the talk I had with Finn in the locker room? I almost ended it."

            "Then why didn't you?"

            "Everything sucked," Blaine attempts to explain. "It felt like my entire world was crumbling down all around me and I thought I - I thought I was losing everything. I didn't know how to handle it. I didn't know why I was holding onto you so tightly and I didn't understand why I didn't let you go so you could find someone else who could do better, someone who could give you everything without having to hide." He pauses, a self-deprecating laugh escaping from his lips. "I figured I'd give myself one more night with you at Scandal's, you know? One last hurrah before I finally had to let you go so you could be happy. But then I woke up in that stupid motel and I felt like shit because I drank so much and that room was gross, but I woke up next to you."

Kurt's breath hitches.

            "And I started thinking about how we used to say it was just one more night, that we'd only do it one more time because I was cheating at it was wrong, but I think I always knew I couldn't ever have just one more night with you. And one more night got lost somewhere along the way and I think this weekend turned it into something like forever and if you leave me, I will break."

            "I won't," Kurt says as soon as Blaine stops talking in order to breathe.

            "You have to promise."

            "I promise," Kurt says, leaning in to press a kiss against Blaine's forehead. "I swear it. God, I swear it."

            "You really thought-"

            "I had this really awful feeling that you were going to push me away so you could have time to figure yourself out."

            "I already did that, remember?" Blaine asks, a ghost of a smile returning to his face. "And then Karofsky punched me in the face."

At that, Kurt bursts into laughter because he most definitely needs something to laugh at right now. He loops his arms around Blaine's shoulders and presses their foreheads together. Blaine laughs lightly as he sniffles, but Kurt can feel just how rigid his body is. Despite the challenges that face them, he's relieved to know that Blaine still wants him there. Kurt's not sure if he could stand on the sidelines and distance himself from Blaine while simultaneously watching him struggle.

            "So no breaking things off," Kurt says.

            "No."

            "And we're - we're going to do this together."

            "Together," Blaine agrees, though his voice is weak and his eyes cut to the doors of the school, clearly scared of what lies beyond them.

            "It'll be okay," Kurt attempts to assure.

            "You can't know that," Blaine says.

            "No, I can't. But I do know that I'm right here with you and you won't have to do this alone."

            "What am I supposed to say to Rachel?" Blaine blurts, staring into Kurt's eyes with barely disguised terror. "What am - where will I sit at lunch? What if no one talks to me at all?"

            "The issue with Rachel will just have to be borne," Kurt says. "And you'll sit with me and Mercedes at lunch and I will definitely talk to you. And we'll sit next to each other in Glee. But maybe we shouldn't - um-"

            "What?" Blaine prompts nervously. "Shouldn't what? What shouldn't we do?"

            "It's just...you haven't really broken up with Rachel, not properly. So maybe we shouldn't, you know, hold hands or act like a couple or anything. Not yet, anyway. After this whole thing blows over, I think it'll be easier, but we shouldn't go out of our way to give anyone a reason to be mean to you."

The words feel strange in Kurt's mouth, even as he says them; usually, he's the kind of person that goes against the grain for the sole purpose of making a statement. But this is about Blaine and his safety and he refuses to rile up the mob when there's a chance that Blaine could get hurt or ostracized completely. They can come after Kurt all they want, but he won't let them destroy someone who's only just figuring out who he is.

            "Yeah," Blaine says softly, though his eyes drop when he speaks. "You're probably right."

            "But I'll be with you the whole time," Kurt rushes to say. He places his hand over Blaine's heart and wraps his free hand around Blaine's wrist before mimicking the action with Blaine's hand on his own chest. "We're in here, remember? Your favorite place."

With a quick, shaky nod, Blaine presses a swift kiss to Kurt's lips.

They can do this.

-

As it turns out, the majority of their classmates ignore them for the better part of the morning. Kurt and Blaine do their best to not linger in the hallways during passing periods, not willing to incur the wrath of anyone who feels particularly cruel today. They'd been jostled slightly on their way to French class, but Kurt had taken the brunt of it and Blaine barely ended up brushing his shoulder with the wall during the brief altercation. So far, Rachel hasn't made an appearance, though Kurt thinks he saw a swift flash of her hair as she rounded the corner to the girls' restroom. Mercedes had attempted to corner him in pursuit of an explanation, but Kurt had promised to talk to her about the situation in detail later when they weren't at school and trying to steer clear of any further attention.

It isn't until lunch that things take a turn for the worse.

Kurt takes a seat next to Mercedes at their usual table, but Blaine holds his lunch tray in his hands and looks worriedly at the chair at Kurt's side.

            "Is it - is it okay if I sit with you?" he asks Mercedes, clearly expecting to be turned away.

            "Oh, sit your bony butt down," she says, exasperated. "I'm not mad at either of you."

            "You're not?" Blaine asks, finally seating himself next to Kurt at the table.

            "I wish I'd been more in the loop," she says. "But I get why you guys kept it a secret. I'm not an idiot."

            "I never - that's not what I-"

            "She means that she actually has a soul and can rationalize the fact that I lied to her despite her being my best friend," Kurt says with a roll of his eyes. "You don't need to be so nervous."

            "I'm sorry," Blaine says softly, staring down at his lunch tray. "I know, I just - I'm sorry."

            "Don't be sorry," Mercedes says kindly. She does, however, point a finger at both of them. "You're so not off the hook, though. After school, we're going for coffee or something and you're both going to explain you asses off until more of this makes sense."

            "Yes, ma'am," Kurt says, giving her a tiny salute.

She smiles, obviously satisfied for the moment, and Kurt's heart feels a little lighter when he sees Blaine's soft grin as well.

Five minutes later, Kurt's heart feels weighted and heavy, sinking somewhere around his knees.

Four boys in letterman jackets crowd in front of them on the other side of the table. One of them - Kurt thinks his last name is Rhodes - grabs an empty chair and spins it around before plopping down, uninvited, straddling the chair and draping his arms over the back of it.

            "So," he says with a malicious glint in his eyes as his friends stand behind him. "Is it true?"

His eyes are glued on Blaine's face. Blaine swallows in apprehension around a mouthful of potato chips.

            "Is what true?" he asks, and Kurt can practically hear Blaine's pulse skyrocket out of sheer panic.

            "Aw, he's trying to play dumb," Rhodes drawls, the corners of his lips curling into an unpleasant smile that resembles a sneer more than anything. "You know what, Anderson. Is it true you're a little homo now? Are you really Hummel's butt buddy?"

Kurt glares, wishing he could set Rhodes on fire with just his gaze.

            "I don't think that's any of your business," Blaine says in a whisper.

            "Oh but see, it is my business," Rhodes states. "Because if you're gonna run off and be a fag now, I think some changes are gonna have to be made at this school. And I think-" his eyes cut to the table where Blaine usually sits, where Quinn sits with her arm around an unusually quiet and stone-still Rachel, "-that I wanna start with her."

            "What-"

            "I mean, if you're gonna be sucking dick now, then Berry's little legs are open for business."

Rhodes receives a high five from one of the boys standing behind him. Blaine's fist clenches around his bottle of water and Kurt thinks he might crush it. On Kurt's part, he can't help but stare back in utter disgust at the boy on the opposite side of the table. Is this guy serious right now?

            "Leave her alone," Blaine says in a growl.

            "But you've got your little Hummel homo," Rhodes says. "I can take Berry off your hands if you want, make it real easy for you. Unless, you know, you're keeping her on the side because she likes to take it up the ass too."

            "Shut your mouth, Greg," Blaine states.

            "I bet she's a little freak in the sheets, huh? I mean, I know she used to be all into those creepy fucking animal sweaters or whatever, but now she's got those skirts," Rhodes continues, licking at his lips in repulsive show of lust. "I could be a real man for her if you're done with her. Bet she'd take my dick real nice."

            "Rachel Berry happens to be a person," Kurt interrupts, unable to sit there and listen to such filth. "She isn't some toy or some - some thing you can just take whenever you want. She also happens to have morals and self respect so I think you should back off before I get my brother and his friends involved. Namely Puck and Sam."

Internally hating the fact that he has to play the brother card, Kurt feels slightly ill to his stomach. He's never had to name drop any of their more popular acquaintances because, while he's never been happy or content with the abuse he's received at some of these guys' hands, he had resigned himself to dealing with it alone. This, though, is entirely foul. Rachel might not Kurt's favorite person in the world, but she is just a girl and nobody deserves such disgusting things directed at them, even behind their back. With Blaine suddenly bumped to the bottom of the social heap, he doesn't have the status to protect Rachel from someone as lecherous as Greg Rhodes. But Finn Hudson would never stand for someone treating one of his friends this way and Kurt knows that for a fact.

            "I don't think anybody asked you," Rhodes snarls in return.

            "I don't care whether you asked me or not," Kurt states. "Blaine's issues are none of your business and neither is Rachel. You're a pathetic excuse for a man and if you think, for one second, that a woman would ever actually respect you for saying such awful things, then you are one delusional idiot. Now go crawl back into whatever hole in hell you slithered out from because no one at this table actually feels like listening to anything that comes out of that revolting orifice you call a mouth."

            "I'll orifice you, you little fairy fucking-"

            "Do we have a problem here?"

Santana is there, once again at their rescue, and has her biggest bitch glare focused on Rhodes and his band of bastards. Rhodes grunts in defeat, clearly not willing to take on Santana when she looks like she's ready to start knocking out some teeth just for fun.

            "No problem." Rhodes says, sliding off the chair and standing, giving a firm tug of his letterman jacket. "Just setting some things straight."

            "Well you're obviously at the wrong table for that," she snaps. "Now get the hell away from them before I roundhouse kick you where your balls should be."

            "Screw you, Lopez," Rhodes mumbles, slinking off with his friends.

            "In your dreams," she bites back.

When they're gone, Santana looks back to Blaine and Kurt.

            "You two really don't know how to lay low, do you?"

            "He's the one that was saying all those - those things about Rachel!" Blaine says in protest.

            "I know," she says. "I heard every word. But they're just trying to rile you up. Don't you get it? They want to make you mad so that you'll fight back and when you do, they'll have some reason to do worse to you. They like to see you angry."

            "They also like to see us cower," Kurt interjects. "We can't just be nothing."

            "That's exactly what you should do," Santana says. "If you want to make it out of here alive, ignore everything they say. Don't let them get to you in any way. Eventually, they'll realize you're not worth the effort and leave you alone. Because you won't exist to them."

She offers them a hard look before spinning and striding away, ponytail swinging in her wake.

Kurt huffs in frustration. He can't just - just do nothing about any of this. Keeping their heads down for a while is one thing. Waiting for the whole scandal to blow over after a week so that people will take less interest in them and their relationship is an entirely different beast from attempting to pretend like they don't exist at all. That has never been on Kurt's agenda. He isn't some bland personality that wants to blend in with the rest. He has always been about making a statement and putting himself out there, in spite of the animosity and the cruelty and the homophobia.

But then he looks at Blaine, whose shoulders are hunched in defeat, and realizes that this isn't just about him anymore. He has to look after Blaine. He has to be what Blaine needs. He has to be that strength and that foundation and he needs to be the person Blaine can come to for help.

He has to keep them safe because Blaine still doesn't know how to handle most of this. Just as he'd realized earlier, they have to do this together. Only now, he knows exactly how difficult this is going to be.

-

The atmosphere in the choir room is tense and so ungodly awkward that even Mr. Schuester appears uncomfortable. Sure, the Glee club has had their fair share of drama; they're teenagers in high school. But this seems to be awkward in epic proportions hitherto unheard of, even for them. Rachel and Blaine sit on opposite sides of the room, with Kurt at Blaine's side, Mercedes seated behind them, and Santana and Brittany seated next to Kurt. There's a divide of empty chairs on the other side of Brittany, and the rest of the club has settled near Rachel, save for Artie who is positioned right in the middle on the floor in his wheelchair.

            "So..." Mr. Schuester begins slowly, "I was gonna start off with telling you guys our assignment for the week, but I thought that maybe, uh, some people might need to get some stuff off their chests. By singing about it."

At first, all eyes turn to Rachel, but she remains perfectly still with her head forward and tension clearly evident in her jaw. When she says nothing and refuses to acknowledge their teacher and their classmates, everyone's eyes turn to Blaine.

Blaine lowers his head, ever so slightly, and bites his lips between his teeth.

            "No one wants to sing?" Mr. Schue prompts weakly, attempting a half-hearted smile. "Rachel?"

            "I have nothing to sing about today, Mr. Schue."

Mr. Schue deflates visibly and glances to Blaine and Kurt one last time before heaving a deep sigh. He shakes his head as if to rid his mind of concern and begins prattling about this week's assignment, another one about overcoming adversity, and Kurt tunes out completely. The rest of the class passes in a blur. All Kurt knows is that the sing a few songs together that Mr. Schue suggests, and then it all comes to an end. Artie wheels out, quick as lightning, with Mike and Tina following right behind him. Santana offers Kurt a helpless shrug before twining pinkies with Brittany and leaving as well. Various others follow, including Mr. Schuester.

Just as Rachel is about to pass through the door with Quinn and Finn, Blaine stands.

            "Rachel," he blurts. "I - will you-"

            "Believe it or not," she snaps, whirling around to face him, "I am attempting to avoid you because if I don't, I think I'll scream until I feel some semblance of satisfaction. So don't."

            "Please, can we please talk about this?" he begs.

            "What do you want me so say, Blaine?" she erupts, throwing her hands in the air. "What am I supposed to say about all of this?"

The other students have disappeared around the corner of the door frame, leaving only Kurt, Blaine, and Rachel inside the choir room. Kurt remains at Blaine's side, just as he'd promised, but he's actually a little terrified of what might happen now that they're all alone.

            "I - I don't know," Blaine admits, clearly grasping at straws. Kurt can tell that he needs to talk to her and get it over with, needs to make her understand, but he has no idea where to start.

Kurt can sympathize.

            "Should I start with the fact that you lied to me?" she asks with an enraged, sarcastic bite to her words. "Or maybe we should start with the fact that you've been cheating on me for who knows how long. Because I have to wonder how long you've been sleeping with him and then kissing me and telling me that you love me. Actually, I think that's a good place to start. Don't you?"

She crosses her thin arms across her chest in defense. Kurt swallows hard, eyes cutting to Blaine and wondering how he plans to approach this.

            "It - it hasn't been that long," Blaine says, quiet and sad. Kurt knows that Blaine never wanted to hurt Rachel in the midst of all of this. "Just a f-few months."

            "Oh, is that all?" she snaps. "You've been with him for a few months and you've already shacked up in some gross motel and you've been with me for two years and you've barely touched me?"

            "I'm sorry," Blaine says, tears in his wide, coffee eyes, regret swimming in his gaze. "I never - I didn't know why I - but I can't help it."

Rachel's lips pinch together in a flat line. Her eyes harden in response and she remains quiet for a few, torturous moments before finally speaking.

            "I know you can't help it."

At that, even Kurt boggles.

            "W-What?" Blaine stammers.

            "I'm not some ignorant bitch," she states. "I have two gay dads, if you recall. I understand the fact that you can't help being gay. You are who you are."

Blaine can't seem to find the words to respond, but tears begin streaming in rivulets down his face. Kurt had always known that Rachel would understand the fact that Blaine was gay; for Blaine, however, it seems like a blessing and a breath of relief when Rachel affirms that notion by saying it aloud.

            "I'm angry because you lied to me about it," Rachel declares. "I'm angry because you didn't trust me enough to tell me that you were questioning or that you were confused. We've been together for two years, Blaine. You could have talked to me about this. Instead, you both went behind my back - everyone's backs - and had some secret affair, like we wouldn't have understood even though everyone at this club knows that Kurt's gay and none of them have a problem with it."

Lowering his head, Blaine squeezes his eyes shut as the tears continue to fall.

Kurt, on the other hand, lifts an eyebrow, challenging her choice of words.

He is so not about to let her pin all of this on Blaine.

            "I think I'm going to have to cut in for a second," Kurt says, stepping down to the next row on the risers.

Rachel glares at him, obviously having expected him to keep his mouth shut through the entirety of the proceedings, but he isn't going to let her off the hook that easily.

            "You can say that you're accepting and open-minded all you want, and I know that having gay parents gives you a leg up on the whole issue, but you can't stand there and claim that this club is as progressive as that."

            "Excuse me?" she sasses, planting her hands on her hips. "The people in this club are the only people at this school that accept you for being who you are. We're the only ones that have ever shown you any support."

            "Actually," Kurt says, "the last time I checked, none of you will even talk to me outside of this room. Even my own brother prefers not to be seen with me outside of Glee club. And you guys won't even talk to Mercedes because she's the only one that talks to me."

            "We invited you to the party at my house a few months ago!"

            "Blaine invited me to that party," Kurt reminds, bristling at her words. "You put up with me that night because you were drunk off your ass and felt some misguided need to be polite and supportive because we were in the house where your gay parents live. I won't let you stand there and pretend like you're ready to wave the rainbow flag every day, no matter who it's for, and tell Blaine that everyone would have accepted him because they wouldn't have. He's seen the way you all treat me. Hell, he did the same thing before he realized he was gay because he thought that's how he was supposed to treat me just because that's what you all did. He knew that he'd become some social pariah if he came out. You can say you're supportive all you want, but you don't do a damn thing to actually support me or anybody else in this school because you're too worried about how you'd look to everyone else if you did."

            "I - I am perfectly accepting!" she screeches indignantly.

            "You're passively accepting," Kurt says. "You pretend like I don't exist because it's easier to ignore me than it is to actually accept me."

            "I would have understood if he talked to me about it!" she shouts. "I'm not like the rest of the people at this school!"

            "Then maybe you should act like it," Kurt says. "Blaine didn't talk to you about it because he's seen the way you treat me. How was he supposed to be honest with you when he knew he'd screw up everything you two have built over the past few years? How was he supposed to talk to you when he knew you'd end up ignoring him the same way you ignore me every single day?"

            "Well, since it seems like the past two years were a complete lie, I guess it doesn't really matter," she states.

            "But it wasn't a lie," Blaine cuts in, stepping down the risers and onto the floor. "You're - Rachel, you were my best friend for years. I came to you for everything and we - I loved you, I did. I just didn't know that it wasn't...that kind of love."

            "Then you should have said something."

            "How was I supposed to know?" he asks, shrugging his shoulders. "I didn't even know I was gay. I didn't know that was a possibility for me. I thought that what we shared was real and, you know, authentic. But it just wasn't real in that way. I couldn't have known any of that, though, especially when I didn't know how I could feel for another boy."

            "Even if you couldn't talk to me about being gay, why didn't you just break up with me instead of cheating on me?" she asks.

Uh oh.

Blaine stutters, tripping over his words, jaw working around aborted sounds and explanations.

This is not going to end well.

            "I thought - fuck," he mumbles. With a sigh, he finally admits the truth. "I didn't think you'd let me go because I knew how much you wanted to be popular. So I didn't break things off because I figured you'd fight me and try to convince me to stay, even though I didn't want to."

Kurt looks to Rachel, attempting to gauge her expression. Any second now, he expects she'll turn purple with fury at the accusation. Her eyes widen and her mouth opens, preparing to say something in response, and then it snaps shut.

When her eyes begin to water and her chin begins to quiver, she surprises them both.

            "Is that - is that what you really think of me?" she asks in a broken tone, arms sliding around her middle. "You think I would - you think I'd keep you in this and try and - and convince you that you straight? You think I'd want to be your beard just so I could stay popular?"

            "I'm sorry," Blaine says quickly, attempting to save himself. "I didn't - I was confused and - and scared and I didn't know what to do. And you were always - you always held on so tight and I didn't-"

            "I thought you liked spending time with me," she says with wet eyes. "I thought you loved me, even if I was a little controlling."

            "More like a tyrannical dictator," Kurt interrupts.

She glares at him.

            "Not helping," Blaine whispers.

            "Well I'm not going to let her stand there and blame this all on you," Kurt says, unapologetic. "Look, I'm just going to say this because Blaine will dance around and try and be nice and he'll let you guilt trip him into next week. The fact is that Blaine is gay. And yeah, he screwed up; we both screwed up. He should've broken up with you instead of sneaking around behind your back. It was wrong and immoral and whatever else you want to call it. But you can't fault him for being scared or worried about how you and everyone else would have responded to any of this. If he had told you and you had understood and you had let him go with some sort of blessing, someone else would have found out. You would've told someone, probably Quinn, and she would've told someone else and then the whole freaking school would know. He was outed. He didn't come out. If he tried to break up with you without telling you that he was gay, you would've demanded a reason and he wouldn't have been able to come up with anything good enough that might actually convince you to let him go. And he isn't at fault for assuming that you might freak out and not let him go because you are who you are. Jesus, you got pissed at him because he didn't want you sitting in his lap one day. You were suffocating him, Rachel. And you were suffocating him when he was already confused and trying to figure himself out so yeah, this all ended badly. For everyone. But he isn't a bad person for leaning on me when I was the only one to show him real support and real acceptance. If you think it was easy to hide all of this from everyone and pretend like we weren't ridiculously happy with each other, then you're wrong. Do you have any idea how hard it was to watch him kiss you or put his arm around you? Because I was dying inside. But I understood that it wasn't about me. It was about him. So don't you dare make this about you. Because now, everyone is going to treat him like he's less than what he is while everyone coos and fusses over you and says I'm so sorry and You deserve better and He was never good enough for you because you're pretty and you're popular and you're heartbroken. Meanwhile, he can't even hold hands with the person that he likes because the person that he likes happens to be a guy. So fuck you, Rachel Berry."

By the end of it, Kurt is breathless and panting and angry. He had no idea he had so much pent up rage that needed venting and okay, maybe that last little quip didn't really need saying, but it's too late to take it back now. Rachel stares back at him, eyes so large that she kind of reminds him of that girl in Jurassic Park whenever she sees the shadows of those dinosaurs and all she wants to do is eat her damn jell-o.

Blaine, on the other hand, has similar wide eyes, though he has his hand covering his mouth to hide his shock.

            "On that note," Kurt concludes, grabbing his bag, "I have a coffee date with Mercedes. Blaine, I'll talk to you later. Rachel, I hope you'll actually listen to whatever Blaine has to say to you."

He strides out of the room with his head held high, feeling better than he has all day.