As Kurt turned fourteen, he slowly began to speak to Blaine more again.

He would gradually start answering Blaine with more elaborate answers and would often initiate conversation with Blaine and Wes, even if he didn't speak that much during the conversation.

Blaine knew that Kurt pretty much just didn't speak while he was in school, he had gotten several phonecalls and letters from concerned teachers and everytime it was parents' evening all Blaine would really hear was "Kurt's a great student, but he lacks participation in class" or "Kurt's exceptionally smart, but he needs to talk more during lessons."

They all knew he had a speech disorder of some sort, but apparently that didn't matter and he had to force himself to speak as he came home in tears one day saying that he was being forced to do a presentation in English.

Blaine could understand the teacher asking everybody to at least try, but to tell a student with a speech problem that he had to present something to a class full of people was completely wrong.

"How can they do this!?" Blaine practically screamed to Wes as they sat in the kitchen while Kurt hid himself away in his tree house.

"Blaine, calm down. You getting angry isn't going to help anybody." Wes replied, surprisingly calmly.

"How am I supposed to not get angry, Wes!? He came home in floods of tears because he's scared of talking and they're making him talk in front of a bunch of people that he hardly knows!"

"You said you were gonna go talk to his teacher, right? Then calm the hell down! If you go there and start screaming it's gonna do more harm than good."

"I know," Blaine sighed, running a frustrated hand through his hair. "I'm just annoyed. I can't believe any teacher would do that."

"So go talk to the teacher," Wes said, covering Blaine's hand with his own in a comforting way. "Just please try and keep your cool. I don't wanna get any phonecalls telling me I need to come and bail you out of jail, okay?"

"Okay," Blaine laughed. "I solemnly swear not to get arrested."

"Good."

"Thank you." Blaine replied with a smile.

The drive to the school helped Blaine to calm down somewhat — and being talked down by his best friend, of course — but he was still incredibly angry.

After finding the correct classroom, Blaine knocked on the door and waited patiently until he was signaled to enter the classroom.

"Mr Anderson..." Kurt's English teacher acknowledged.

"I'm here to talk about the English presentation you're making Kurt do." Blaine replied, cutting straight to the chase.

"Everyone has to do it, Mr Anderson. I'm not singling Kurt out."

"He has a speech disorder," Blaine said, incredulous that the woman before him seemingly didn't care. "How do you expect him to stand up in front of a class of students that he barely even knows and present work to them?"

"I appreciate that he has a speech disorder, but I'm asking everyone to do it. It isn't fair to the rest of the class if I left Kurt sit out."

"It's not fair to make him do it!" Blaine exclaimed suddenly. "He can barely speak to me and I've been with him since he was six years old, do you really think that he can handle a class presentation!?"

"Mr Anderson, my decision is final."

"I promise you, this is not gonna end well." Blaine replied as he left the classroom, even more angry than he'd been before he arrived.

When Blaine got home, he found Kurt curled up under a blanket on the sofa watching TV.

"Hey little one," Blaine smiled, sitting on the sofa next to Kurt. Although Kurt was a teenager, Blaine still called him 'little one' because according to Blaine, he would always be the adorable six year old who was obsessed with starfish and couldn't eat a jam sandwich without getting half of his face covered with jam. "You okay?" He asked gently, rubbing calming circles on Kurt's arm.

Kurt nodded and attempted a smile at Blaine before turning his attention back to the TV.

The next day was the day that Kurt was supposed to do his presentation and he refused to talk to anyone and everyone, silently making his way through the day until English arrived.

The one thing Kurt was grateful for, was that Rachel was in his class and he practically plastered himself to her side.

"Kurt, you're up." Kurt heard his teacher say and he turned to Rachel with pleading eyes.

"You'll be fine." Rachel whispered as Kurt frantically shook his head from side to side.

Regardless, he made his way up to the front of the classroom but when he got there...he completely froze.

Kurt was pretty sure he could make out the noises of people in the class laughing at him, but he felt dizzy. The fear that he felt in that one moment was so overwhelming, he was paralysed. He could feel the tears running down his face but he couldn't wipe them away. He could hear the faint murmurs of people teasing him and could see Rachel running towards him from the back of the classroom but that was the last thing he remembered before everything went dark.

Kurt's eyes slowly fluttered open but immediately shut again as it was too painful to keep them open for more than a few seconds with the brightness of whatever room he was in. The fourteen year old left out a small whimper as he turned his head to the side a little and half opened his eyes to see Blaine sitting there with concern in his eyes but a comforting smile. He didn't even realise that Blaine was holding his hand until he felt the thirty three year old run his thumb over the back of his hand, which helped Kurt to calm down more than he thought it would. His head felt fuzzy and he had no idea what had happened, or where he was for that matter.

"What happened?" Kurt croaked out quietly, sheilding his eyes with his other arm as it was still difficult for him to keep them open.

"You passed out in class," Blaine explained softly. "Your head hit the floor before anyone could stop you so we brought you to the hospital just to make sure you were okay."

"Oh. Am I?" Kurt asked, still feeling a little dizzy.

"Yes, Kurt," Blaine laughed slightly. "You're perfectly fine. How do you feel?"

"Like I just got hit by a bus." Kurt replied. Apparently fainting gave him the freedom to talk more, although he probably had no idea what he was even saying.

"You'll be fine," Blaine replied, still laughing a little. "Although I think you may be a little concussed."

Kurt just made a little hum of acknowledgement before closing his eyes once again.

The second time Kurt woke up, his brain felt less fuzzy and his whole body felt less like he'd been crushed.

"Hey," Blaine smiled as Kurt's eyes opened. Blaine was still sitting in the same seat and holding onto Kurt's hand, it sort of made Kurt wonder if he'd been sitting there the whole time that he was asleep. "How you feeling?"

"Better," Kurt replied simply, sitting up a little. "When can I go home?"

"Now, actually. I was just waiting for you to wake up."

As soon as they got home, Kurt went upstairs and got changed into his favourite pair of pyjamas before going back downstairs and into the kitchen.

"You're alive!" Wes said excitedly as Kurt sat down at the table and began to eat the food that Blaine placed in front of him.

"Yeah, no thanks to that stupid teacher," Blaine commented through gritted teeth. "I'm pulling you out of that class." Blaine said simply, recieving a small smile from Kurt.

"I still feel dizzy." Kurt said when he finished eating, burying his face in his hands.

"You're probably still a little concussed. Go lay down in the living room and I'll bring you some water." Blaine said as Kurt stood up from the table and made his way into the living room, where he proceeded to follow Blaine's instructions.

Blaine entered the living room a few moments later with a glass of cold water. He placed the water on the table where Kurt could reach it if he wanted it and then covered the fourteen year old with a soft, fleecy blanket before making his way back to the kitchen to join his best friend — pressing a gentle kiss to Kurt's forehead as he walked past the sofa.