“Dad,” Kurt whispers, dragging him out of the living room where Blaine sits quietly, peering at the pictures on the walls. “I have to head to the field now, but…can you do something for me?”

“What’s up, kid?” his dad asks.

“When you take Blaine to the game, just – just keep him close. Try to sit away from students and don’t let him wander off alone.”

“…Why?”

“He doesn’t ever go to things like this and I don’t want him to feel weird,” Kurt explains. “Most of the people that are mean to him will be on the field playing tonight, but I don’t want something bad to happen to him.”

His dad gives him a narrow look, as if mentally probing for more of an answer, but he simply nods and claps Kurt on the shoulder.

“Will do,” he finally says. “Get to the field. We’ll see you later. Maybe we can all go out for dinner after or something.”

“Thanks, dad,” Kurt says with a grateful smile. “Blaine?”

“Yeah?” Blaine answers quickly, jumping off the sofa.

“I have to go, but my dad will drive you guys to the game and I’ll come sit with you during my break. And we might go out to eat after.”

“Okay,” Blaine says shyly. “I’ll see you later, then?”

“You will,” Kurt says, like a promise. He lowers his voice and adds, “C’mere.”

Blaine shuffles over and Burt tactfully returns to the living room and turns on the television. He tilts his head up, gazing at Kurt with nervous eyes.

“My dad will look out for you, okay?” Kurt assures.

Giving a shaky nod, Blaine steps closer and winds his arms around Kurt’s waist.

“Do I get a kiss goodbye?” Blaine asks hopefully.

A gentle smile spreads over Kurt’s lips and he lowers his head, pressing their lips together in a sweet, brief kiss, bidding him farewell.

“See you,” Blaine says weakly, waving goodbye just before Kurt walks through the door, leaving him behind.

Kurt arrives at the football field just in time to see the rest of the squad stretching on the track. He jogs over, bag in hand and drops it alongside the pile already forming near the bleachers.

“You’re pushing it, Hummel,” Santana remarks.

“I’m not late,” Kurt snaps.

“Damn near,” she mutters.

“Do I hear arguing on the field?”

Kurt’s head swivels around at the sweet, soft voice to see Quinn Fabray striding over with Sue Sylvester on her tail.

“No,” Kurt says.

“I thought not,” she says with a smile,

She’s just so pretty and she’s so evil that it makes Kurt want to slap her in the face.

“Kurt?” she asks nicely. “A word?”

Groaning to himself, he follows her around the corner of the bleachers, away from the squad and the band members beginning to fill their side of the stands.

“Am I…in trouble?” he asks warily. “I wasn’t late.”

“No, no,” she says. “This is about personal matters.”

Kurt swallows his nerves.

“A rumor seems to be going around, just within the squad, that you might be developing feelings for one of the more…unsavory students in our school. Is this true?”

He juts his chin out defiantly in response. “I’m not sure what you mean by unsavory.”

“Oh, you know,” Quinn says offhandedly, flipping her ponytail. “The kind that might make us look bad. As a team. You are still dedicated to the team, aren’t you, Kurt?”

“Of course I am.”

She smiles broadly. “I’m glad to hear it. Just remember that, as a part of this team, it’s your personal responsibility to be wary of who you become involved with. I mean, how would it look if one of the girls started dating a boy with too many piercings or worse, one that smokes?”

“I think that people have the right to date whoever they want,” Kurt states.

“While nice in sentiment, it isn’t ideal in practice,” she says, and she almost looks like it pains her to say such a thing. But Kurt knows the truth. “We just want to make sure that relationships are…wholesome. And good. We’re here to support each other and keep each other on track. Now, you’re already gay, which, of course, we support whole heartedly! Don’t ever think that we don’t. But when it comes to dating, we just want to make sure that you’re not with someone who could potentially damage your…image.”

“You mean your image.”

“Our image,” she says, tone less sweet and turning sour. “Be careful.”

“I’m perfectly careful,” he says airily.

She spins on her heel, leaving Kurt alone to take a calming breath.

Honestly, he’s so angry right now that he wishes he could scream at them all, but people are starting to trickle into the stands and this isn’t the place for a furious rage. Kurt clenches his fists at his side, willing his temper to die down before he makes his way back over to the squad.

He receives cold shoulders from the majority of his squad for the rest of the evening. The only girl willing to speak to him is Brittany, who keeps asking him if it’s true he’s found a unicorn. He can only smile in return because Santana drags her away. It’s an uncomfortable night and Kurt finds he would much rather be up in the stands with his father and Blaine. He wanted to wave when he saw them sit down, but considering he’s already on thin ice with the rest of the team, he doesn’t raise his hand in greeting.

Halftime rolls around and Kurt nearly sighs in relief, breaking away from the squad and stomping up the bleacher steps to where Blaine and his dad are sitting. He situates himself in between them, reaching for the bottle of water his dad always keeps for him during his break.

“You don’t look too happy,” his dad notes.

“That easy to tell?” Kurt quips.

“What’s wrong?” Blaine asks, voice meek, as he bites his lip in concern.

“Just people being idiots,” Kurt replies, waving off the question. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Is it…because of me?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Kurt says again, placing a discreet hand on Blaine’s thigh.

“At least we’re winning the game,” Burt says in good humor.

“There is that,” Kurt agrees.

He squeezes Blaine’s thigh once more before dropping his hand and turning to cheer on their band at the halftime show. It’s ridiculous, he thinks, that he can’t be affectionate with his boyfriend without fear of reprimand from their captain. Kurt’s love life is Kurt’s love life and nobody else should have a say in it.

No one beyond his dad, anyway.

But Blaine and Burt seem to be getting along like a house on fire and even Coach Sylvester had said he should date whoever he wants.

Inside, Kurt’s blood runs hot and fierce through his veins. Out of the corner of his eye, he catches sight of Quinn and Santana laughing together on the sidelines. Finn will appear in a few minutes, Kurt knows, and he’ll bend down and give Quinn a perfectly chaste kiss on the lips and when he does, Kurt’s pretty sure he’s going to snap. Looking over at Blaine, he sees his boyfriend’s eyes glitter with joy as he watches the halftime show.

It isn’t fair.

Blaine means as much to him as Finn means to Quinn.

Yeah, Blaine likes bowties and sweater vests and he likes to study. But…

The realization hits Kurt like a freight train in the face.

It doesn’t matter. None of it matters. He’s been shallow and conceited, worrying about some warped self-image when that image isn’t really who he is at all. In fact, all at once, Kurt misses his designer jeans and his Doc Martens and his own bowties. He misses giggling with Mercedes over magazines and their girls’ nights.

Mercedes, he thinks mournfully. He’s tired of – of catching her eyes in the hallway and turning his back on her. She doesn’t deserve such treatment. How could he let himself turn into this – this person? He looks down at his legs, clad in red polyester blend and he feels sick. Everything is hitting him rightnowrighthere and he feels nauseous and disgusted with himself.

All of the kids he’s tormented, all of people he’s laughed at, it’s all wrong.

Everything is wrong.

Blaine’s the only thing that’s right in his life. Blaine, sitting next to him like a beacon of light, calling him home, calling him back to himself. He looks up at Kurt with his pretty, honey eyes and that’s it, it’s over, Kurt’s done.

He’s done.

He doesn’t know why this moment is suddenly the time where the fog lifts and the sky clears. He doesn’t know why none of it matters anymore; the uniform doesn’t matter, the reputation doesn’t matter.

Kurt had been mostly unhappy during his first two years at McKinley. He had been alone in one of the biggest ways but he isn’t alone now.

The world is crashing down around him, but in the midst of chaos, he’s gifted with something like an angel.

God, how could I ever be ashamed of you, he recalls himself saying.

“Kurt?” Blaine asks.

The crowd stands and cheers loudly when the halftime show ends. Everyone is screaming around him but Blaine remains immobile with him on hard, cold bleachers.

Kurt reaches out his hand. “Stand with me.”

Blaine says nothing. He simply takes Kurt’s hand and they stand together.

“I’ll make you proud of me!” Kurt yells over the sound of the crowd.

With that, he dips his head down and captures Blaine’s lips in a fierce, passionate kiss, oblivious to his father staring at them with raised eyebrows and oblivious to the eyes of his teammates staring up at him from the track.