Kurt decided he wasn't going to let his dad know about Blaine yet. He had never been one to keep things from him, but he figured maybe he should get to know Blaine a bit more before his dad had to worry with him having a boyfriend.

So when Burt asked why he looked so happy he shrugged it off and smiled, saying he'd just had a good day. Which, that was true. As he lay in bed that night he sighed to himself, hoping that one day soon he'd have more good days thanks to Blaine.

The next morning his day started as usual; showering, face routine, getting dressed, eating breakfast. He headed to school , humming to himself with a smile on his lips.

"Well, someone sure looks like he's in a good mood," Mercedes said as she fell into step next to him, raising an eyebrow at him. "It wouldn't have anything to do with the new boy, would it?"

"Maybe," he said with a quiet laugh, stopping at his locker. "And you can call him by his name, you know."

"Which name? His real one, or the one I know you have stuck in your head; soulmate?"

Kurt blushed. Mercedes had been one of the first people to see the name on his finger, and he'd let her know that the new boy bared the same name as the one on his finger shortly after he'd found out himself. And she knew how much of a romantic he was, how much he had dreamed of the day they would meet, and the way his eyes lit up whenever the soulmate topic was brought up.

"He is my soulmate, but...he isn't my boyfriend yet, so I'm trying not to get ahead of myself."

Mercedes laughed and patted him on the shoulder. "I hope everything works out for the two of you," she said. That's when Kurt noticed Blaine coming into the school, flicking his cigarette outside before the door shut behind him. He looked up, eyes locked on Kurt's own and he gave him a tentative smile. It was almost as if he was afraid of letting someone else into his heart, as his adoptive parents had been. Which, Kurt knew just by the way he talked about them, that he did have some sort of affection for them.

But that little smile was enough to make Kurt hope and believe that, one day, Blaine would let him into his heart as well. And he couldn't help smiling, just a little, back at him.

"It will, Mercedes. It will."

—-

His first few classes went by as usual before it was time for lunch. He and his friends walked to the lunchroom and went through the line before grabbing their usual table. Kurt had set down his tray and noticed Blaine, who sat a few tables away, alone.

Kurt bit his lip, debating. He could go sit with him, or ask him to come sit with him and his friends. Of course, Blaine could say no to either of those options, and that would definitely be disheartening.

You have to stop thinking of him as your soulmate. Just...think of him as an attractive guy you want to know better and date. He thought to himself. Perhaps that would make things easier.

Before his friends could ask what he was doing he walked over to Blaine's table. Blaine looked up at him, black-rimmed eyes looking him over a moment before they landed on his own eyes.

"I wanted to come ask you if you want to sit at my table, with me and my friends," he said with a smile. He didn't like the look Blaine was giving him, like he hadn't wanted him to ask that.

"I'd rather stay over here if the reason you're asking is because you feel sorry that I'm sitting by myself, because I'm fine with eating alone." Blaine replied, stabbing a steamed carrot on his tray, looking back up at him.

"No, that's not why I'm asking. I want you to come sit with me because I want my friends to get to know you. And so I can get to know you more."

Blaine sighed to himself, running his fingers through his hair. Kurt thought perhaps he would say no, but finally he said, "Alright. I'll come sit with you," and stood with his tray.

Kurt bit back a grin, leading him over to his table. "Everyone, this is Blaine. He's new here."

He shot Mercedes a look when she said, "We know who he is," and gave them both a knowing smile, to which Blaine frowned at as he sat down.

"Do you sing?" Rachel asked with a hopeful smile, which Kurt shook his head briefly at. Of course Rachel would be trying to recruit him to the Glee club. Not that they didn't need some new members, but it would be nice if she left that alone for a while.

"I have before, but it's not something I really do," Blaine replied with a shrug, eating some of his lunch. Kurt nearly pouted at that. While he loved singing and could entertain himself with that, he had always wanted who he ended up with to be a singer like him.

"Well, if you ever decide you want to, there's always room in the glee club for new members," Kurt said with a smile.

Blaine looked over at him and asked, "You're in it?"

"Yes...I was actually one of the first members," he replied with a small smile. He watched Blaine nod and give him an unreadable look before he went back to eating.

The rest of the lunch period was spent with people asking Blaine questions; where are you from? What was California like? Do you like it here? Blaine seemed a little irritated with all the questions but he answered anyways.

Soon, lunch was over and as everyone was getting up to take their tray Blaine turned towards Kurt and asked, "We have our next class together, right?"

Kurt nodded, smiling a little. "Yeah, we do." He had been hoping Blaine had noticed him.

"Well, I guess since we're going to the same place...we may as well walk together, huh?" Now it was Blaine who had just a bit of a hopeful look on his face.

"Oh...of course, yeah...that would make sense," he said with a smile, dropping his tray off before they headed to the door and to their class together.

They didn't really talk on the way there, nor during class. But Kurt knew he spotted Blaine glancing towards him more than once, and that made the smallest thrill run through him.

—-

After his classes were over, Kurt headed to his locker. It was a Friday so they didn't have Glee club practice, and for that he was thankful. He just wanted to go home and relax.

His mind was lost in thinking about curling up on his bed with the latest issue of Vogue and he didn't notice the slushie one of the jocks walking down the hallway was holding until it was thrown in his face. He gasped, all thoughts of Vogue out of his mind and now on the cold, sticky sensation of the slushie all over his face and the front of his clothes. He sputtered out a bit of ice and jumped when he heard the slam of lockers behind him.

He turned as he wiped slushie away from his eyes and found Blaine had shoved the jock back against the lockers before swinging his fist at his face, connecting with his jaw. It looked like a bruise was already forming and he wondered how hard Blaine had hit him for it to bruise. He gasped as the jock punched back, his fist connecting with Blaine's cheek, hard enough to cause him to stumble a little.

"Back off, hobbit," the jock spat, rubbing his hand over his eye before stalking down the hallway. Kurt's eyes fell back on Blaine, who looked like he was debating on whether to run after him or not, then finally decided against it as he turned towards Kurt. Their eyes met and Kurt felt his heart beat a little faster.

Did he really do that for me?

Blaine walked over, gently grabbing Kurt's arm and pulled him towards the bathroom.

"What are you doing?" Kurt asked, watching as Blaine ran a paper towel under water before walking over to him, raising his eyebrow.

"Well I was going to help you clean up. But if you don't want me to..." he trailed off and Kurt shook his head.

"No...no, I don't mind," he murmured, biting his lip as he felt Blaine start moving the wet paper towel over his cheek to scrub off some of the dye from the slushie.

"Why did you do that?" Kurt asked quietly, opening his eyes when Blaine had finished cleaning around them.

He watched Blaine shrug before responding, "Because he's an asshole for throwing a slushie on you when you weren't doing anything."

"But...we barely even know each other," he murmured, feeling his heart flutter with the faintest idea that, maybe even if they didn't know each other very well, Blaine still felt protective. Or maybe he was just...nice in his own way.

"I know enough about you to know you didn't deserve that," Blaine replied, wiping over his shirt. "It isn't going to come out of your shirt just with a paper towel."

"Yeah, I know, this isn't the first time this has happened. I'll have to wash it whenever I get home," He shrugged, as if it wasn't a big deal that this was an occurrence that happened often. Kurt watched the corners of Blaine's mouth turn down in a small frown.

"Your school system is a joke if it lets things like this happen and doesn't do anything about it. Not that one of my old schools was any better off. At least you got slushied, not stabbed."

Kurt's eyes widened a little, and he wondered if Blaine had been the one that happened to, or if he had just witnessed it.

"There. I guess that's as good as you're going to get for now," Blaine said, tossing away the paper towels when he was finished cleaning Kurt up.

"Thank you," Kurt murmured softly with a smile. "You're really brave for standing up to any of the guys that do that. No one else really does."

Blaine shrugged. "Because I'm sure they're just cowards, afraid they'll be the next target if they say anything."

"Probably so," Kurt said with a nod, walking out of the bathroom with Blaine and to his locker, getting out the books he needed to take home before they walked out of the school. Blaine pulled out a cigarette, holding it in his mouth as he lit it up with his lighter. He pocketed the lighter before taking the cigarette between his fingers, blowing out a stream of smoke. He turned his head and noticed Kurt watching him, then gave him a smile.

"What?" Blaine asked, taking another drag of his cigarette with an amused smile.

Kurt shook his head a little. "Nothing, just...smoking isn't very healthy." Blaine laughed at that.

"Life isn't healthy. We all die in the end, after all," He winked at him with a smirk, walking towards his bike. "See you later, Kurt."

As Kurt watched him flick his cigarette to the side and put on his helmet before pealing out of the parking lot, he thought that maybe Blaine wasn't a bad guy like everyone else thought. Sure, he had admitted to stealing and spray painting buildings. He had been rude and disrespectful. But, when it came down to things, the lives people led weren't so different. They just had a different way of looking at things.