Blaine and Kurt turned quickly, looking for their aggressor. Their eyes fell on Azimio and half a dozen other Titans members, walking ahead of them onto the football field.

Azimio waved his hand at the two of them, "Y'all are an endangered species here."

Blaine sneered viciously, "I'm not the one wearing tights and shoulder pads."

Azimio stopped in his tracks and took a few steps forward, standing close and towering over them; Blaine could feel his stale breath on his face and resisted the urge to cringe.

"You want to apologise, fag?"

Blaine saw red and drew his arm back, surprise allowing him to land a clumsy punch somewhere around the football players nose. His ears were filled with an unfamiliar ringing noise, but through the din he heard Kurt cry his name at the same instant as large hands grabbed his arms, followed by retreating footsteps hammering the concrete.

Azimio took a moment to regain his composure, meeting Blaine's eye savagely, "You thought that was a good idea?"

The larger boy punched him in the face once, twice, then the ribs. Blaine fought against whoever was holding him, barely able to lessen their grip and struggling to find his breath.

He was vaguely aware of shouting behind him, Azimio hesitating as he pulled his fist back a fourth time. Finn, Mike and Sam appeared in front of him, two of them pushing Azimio away as Sam yelled something at the group of spectators.

He heard Puck shout, "You fucking punk!" as he was released, rough paws replaced by slender arms, tender hands and a familiar scent. His breath was heavy as they urged him gently to his knees.

Don't need to tell me twice.

He sank down and Kurt moved into view, face pale and terrified. His hands moved lightly over Blaine's arms, clearly wanting to investigate further, but anxious not to hurt him.

He moaned, "Blaine, how's your head?"

He felt foggy, but otherwise doubted permanent damage, "I feel like I picked a fight with a truck."

Kurt lifted his hand, "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Blaine managed to laugh, "Kurt, I'm OK."

"How many?"

"Two, Kurt! You're holding up two fingers!"

"Good." His look of concern deepened, "Oh god, you're bleeding."

Blaine lifted his fingers to his bottom lip, a small amount of blood coating the pads as he pulled them away.

"Shit… I probably shouldn't feel so good about that."

Kurt hissed exasperatedly, "Are you seriously thinking about your street cred right now? Yes, you're a badass! A badass that probably needs stitches!"

"Kurt, calm down."

"No! You just got into a fight with a boy twice your size and you're making testosterone fuelled jokes about it!"

"I thought you liked it when I thought with my dick…"

Kurt stood up, "Stop it!" he turned away angrily and approached Finn who was now standing with the rest of Blaine's saviours, the four of them glowing and speaking loudly as they watched the assailants retreat.

Puck yelled over his shoulder, "You alright man?"

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks… all of you."

Finn called, "We're going to tell Coach Beiste. No way Figgins can ignore this."

"I started the fight, Finn."

Puck laughed, "Yeah, and I'm sure he didn't provoke you at all."

Sam smiled, "It's cool dude. There's no way you're in the wrong."

The four of them noisily started towards the locker room where Kurt had found them, clearly enjoying the perverse adrenaline rush.

The shock of the ordeal was slowly wearing off as Blaine gripped the bottom of his white t-shirt and pulled it up to dab at his split lip. His stomach swooped a little at the surprisingly large patch of red spreading across its hem.

Well that's going to stain.

He blinked. Maybe he was still in shock.

He looked up again to see Kurt watching him nervously, a small film of tears over his eyes. Instantly, he felt awful and beckoned faintly for Kurt to come back. He strode up and knelt next to Blaine, mouth set in a white line.

Blaine laid his hand on Kurt's cheek softly and put their foreheads together, sweat mingling, "I'm sorry." He whispered, "I'm not really thinking straight."

Kurt exhaled shakily, "Uh huh."

"Can we go inside?"

"You should see the nurse."

"I'm fine. I just need to wind down."

Kurt looked mutinous.

"Please?"

He buckled, "OK. But if you start talking about your dick again I'm taking you to sick bay."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kurt pushed the tea across the cafeteria table and Blaine took it gratefully, sipping and wincing minutely as it scalded his sensitive lips. The beginning of a large bruise was flourishing on his left cheekbone and eye. Kurt cradled his own drink in his hands and peered at his best friend with knitted brows.

"Why did you do that?"

"What?"

"Punch him."

Blaine rubbed his aching side, "He called us fags Kurt. Why not?"

"I… It's just… I've spent my whole time at this school trying my hardest to avoid fights. If I lashed out every time someone insulted me…"

Blaine nodded slowly, "No, I understand that. I just find it harder to ignore. He was so fucking… hateful. He went out of his way to choose the most offensive word he could think of, and then used it on us. I lost it."

"Have you ever started a fight before?"

Blaine looked at his hands, "Not started… I've… I've been in fights… one fight. Before Dalton."

Kurt caught himself, "Blaine, I'm so sorry! I forgot, I didn't -"

"No, it's fine. It happened, it's OK."

Kurt traced his finger around the edge of his drink, "I would have thought you'd be even more eager to avoid violence after that."

Blaine shrugged, "It was awful." He paused, "No, that's an understatement. It was the worst moment of my whole life and I thought they were going to kill us. I actually thought I was going to die that night."

Kurt was pressing a fist to his mouth and a couple of tears spilt from his eyes. Blaine had never spoken about this with him before. The time shortly after he came out, when he and his date had been attacked on the night of a Sadie Hawkins dance. He'd never wanted to make Blaine recount such a disturbing ordeal.

Blaine was still staring down, "It was why I left that school and I took a long time to get over it, but… I can't just be scared all the time. Whenever something happens, like with Azimio, I just want to run away or curl up in a ball. Just get the fuck away from them. But I want to be able to live my life without fear more. It's totally unrealistic and stupid, but I just have to ignore that fear. Or stand up to it. Just keep going. Keep trying to live my life how I want to and hopefully someday make a difference for other people who want to do the same. We deserve that."

Kurt didn't trust his voice to remain even enough to say anything, and Blaine looked up when he didn't respond.

"Kurt, what's wrong?"

He smiled feebly, "Nothing."

Blaine scooted across seats until he was next to him, putting an arm around his waist, "You OK?"

Kurt took Blaine's hand in one of his own, the other hovering over his swollen, split knuckle, "You're asking me if I'm OK?"

Blaine glanced at his injury and dismissed it, "That's nothing. Did I upset you?"

He shook his head, "No, I just can't believe how much shit you've been through."

"You and me both."

"I suppose." He wiped his eyes, "I… you've only been at this school a couple of weeks and this has already happened. You already have a reason to hate it."

Blaine grinned, "Kurt, McKinley isn't going to be ruined for me because of today. It's one incident and a few ignorant assholes. I've been through this before, but I learnt from it. It made me stronger. Anyway, I still have glee and I still have all our friends. I still have you. That's more than enough for me."

Kurt shook his head fondly, "You're unbelievable."

"Maybe." He squeezed his hand, "But we're going to come out of this year smiling together."

Kurt lifted Blaine's hurt hand gently, and kissed it as softly as possible, "Does it sting?"

"A little bit." he smiled, "It'll heal."