Kurt had never thought there would be a downside to being a good kisser until he and Blaine realized there was a side effect to it. They were beginning to discover, while they had their kissing skills down to an art, it also meant that they were reaching their breaking points far faster. Which meant it was becoming far more of a challenge to keep their desires contained and under control. This became apparent when Kurt was lying on top of his boyfriend on Blaine's bed as they kissed each other eagerly. Kurt got so caught up in how Blaine's mouth felt on his neck that he accidentally let his hands lower dangerously close to Blaine's crotch.

Blissfully unaware of the danger, Blaine grabbed hold of Kurt's face and kissed him deeply which caused Kurt to make a grabbing motion and Blaine instantly felt his cock begin to harden in response to the touch. Blaine fumbled to untangle his hands out of Kurt's hair and pulled Kurt's hand off of his groin.

“Uh, Kurt... sorry but you're going to have to stop doing that.” he muttered.

“Oh my god, I am so sorry, Blaine! I don't know what's gotten into me!” Kurt blurted out in horror.

Blaine just chuckled for a moment as he let himself cool down and get his urges under control. He ran a hand through his now ruffled hair and nudge Kurt's shoulder with his lightly.

“I think we both know... we're just too good at kissing.” Blaine told him with a smirk.

Kurt smiled weakly and then gave a long sigh, “Yes, but also after what we did back when my dad was in the hospital... I find it harder to keep things under control now. Especially with my hands it seems.” Kurt admitted sheepishly.

“We really need to talk about what happened back then Kurt and what it means to us now.” Blaine told him.

“Yeah... well, first let me say that I don't regret it at all.” Kurt said.

“Me neither, it's what we both needed at the time and I'm glad that's as far as we let things go. I've been avoiding saying anything to you before this because...” Blaine began, but he found his mind coming to a blank.

“That considering the dire circumstances the frottage happened under, I've been unsure if I want to go that far again.” Kurt finished for him.

Blaine gave a sigh of relief, “Exactly.” he said in response. “And that even if we both wanted to, we wouldn't get many chances to even try considering the clean-up time needed and...” Blaine began, but he realized what he was saying and got too embarrassed to finish.

Kurt continued to chuckle, as it was a way to deal with the embarrassment and scooted back on the bed until his back rested against Blaine's headboard. He held out his arms to Blaine and gave him his best imitation at Blaine's puppy face. “Come here puppy and we can cuddle while we talk. It will make things easier to start... or are you 'recovered' enough to touch me?” Kurt asked, pointing to his groin when he had said the word recovered.

Blaine just scowled at him, “Yeah, I am but I dunno if I should after how cruel you're being to me.” Blaine began but he crawled over to Kurt and fell into his embrace, resting his head on Kurt's chest and he pulled Kurt's arms to wrap around him. “But then I remember we do really need to talk about this. So the big question is this, how far do we want to go from now on?”

“Well to be completely honest, I think we should slow it back down a bit more. I still meant what I said before, how I'm heading towards wanting to have sex with you, Blaine. But I also know I don't want to rush things too much. I want to be comfortable with you and be able to talk about it. As amazing as our first experience at making each other climax was... I think we should postpone going that far again. Mainly because I know next time we decided to do that, I don't think I'd be able to stop so easily.” Kurt explained softly.

Blaine smiled warmly, “It's like we're one mind here, Kurt. So let's try to slow it back down a bit. Maybe get less handsy and we both agree whenever we've reached our limit, we stop and cool down.” Blaine commented.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The next day Kurt was feeling quite perky when he walked to the choir room with Tina. He had found the most amazing vintage clockwork bow-tie online and today was his first day to wear it. Kurt was even celebrating his good mood by wearing one of his new sweaters for the start of the winter season. But his good mood came crashing down when a rough hand shoved him into the nearby lockers.

“Are you okay?” Tina asked with concern.

Kurt straightened himself up and glared at Karofsky as he walked by, “Yeah, fine.” he said softly in reply. Which Tina could probably tell was a lie, but she didn't press him on it. As they continued to walk to the choir room, Kurt thought how for some reason, David was targeting him more than usual and he had no idea why.

Once they arrived in the choir room, Kurt saw that everyone else, Blaine included was already there. Kurt came up to take a seat in between Blaine and Mercedes and Blaine couldn't help but notice his sad expression. But Blaine's concern for Kurt would have to wait until they were alone later on. Since at that moment Will announced he had the results for who they would compete against for Sectionals.

Will looked at the list and paused, glancing up at Blaine for a second before the told them the first show choir group turned out to be the Warblers. At that news, everyone, Kurt included and looked over at Blaine.

“Okay, hold up... how can we trust Warbler boy over here not to leak our set list to his old team?” Santana commented.

“Because unlike some people, Santana, Blaine knows what commitment is.” Kurt told Santana as he glared at her.

“Kurt, it's okay, I just want to let everyone know you don't need to worry. I'm part of the New Directions now because this is where I wanna be.” Blaine told them all and took a seat back down.

Will then continued with his announcement and revealed the last group was a team made up of senior citizens. With that news given he quickly moved on to tell them all he was having them do another girls versus boys competition.

Kurt rolled his eyes in sheer annoyance at the news because after all the crap he'd been through lately, this was the last thing Kurt wanted to do. Even the fact that he would get to sing with Blaine didn't change his dark mood. As soon as Mr. Schuester told them to split up into their groups he didn't hesitate to take hold of Blaine's hand and begin to lead him over to the girl’s side. Though it came to no surprise to Kurt that Will seemed to know he would do just that and told him to go to the boys side without even looking forward. Kurt sighed and dropped Blaine's hand without a word of protest, knowing a lost cause when he saw one. He simply walked over to take a seat among the boys, who had already started to talk about song choices.

Blaine gave Kurt a concerned look and came to sit beside him and he placed a hand on Kurt's shoulder. One look at Kurt's face and he could tell it wasn't the time to try to talk to him about it, he'd wait till they were alone to try. So he simply leaned in and began to talk with the other guys about what song they should do.

The final nail in the coffin for how horrible the week had been for Kurt came when Karofsky once again shoved him into the wall, only this time Kurt wasn't going to take the abuse and do nothing about it.

“What is your problem?!” he called out to David angrily.

Blaine, who had spotted Kurt from down the hall stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Kurt call out to David. He forced himself to stay still because he knew Kurt needed to face Karofsky on his own. He felt himself fill up with pride over how Kurt had stood up to him and talked back. But Blaine's smile faded when he saw it didn't change David's attitude at all and he sighed. Of course things could never be easy like that, life was rarely that fair when it came to bullies. Seeing the state Kurt was in Blaine hurried over to join him. “You faced him so it's a start Kurt.” he said softly and squeezed Kurt's shoulder lightly.

Kurt glanced up at Blaine and mumbled his quiet thanks to him. Kurt knew he should remain being his strong and superior self at times like this. But everyone had their off days, even Kurt Hummel. The long silence was interrupted by Mr. Schuester, who neither he or Blaine had noticed until he had approached them.

“Come on Kurt, let's talk in my office for a moment.” He told Kurt softly.

Blaine saw that Kurt was getting ready to refuse the offer and push him away. So Blaine squeezed his shoulder again and gave his boyfriend an encouraging smile. Hoping Kurt would remember it wasn't wrong to depend on others.

Kurt looked from Blaine and back to Will and just nodded, “Fine, but only if Blaine can come too.” he told him with a hard gaze.

If Will wanted to say something about it, he must have realized Kurt wouldn't budge and nodded. “Okay.” he replied and began to walk towards his office, Blaine and Kurt following behind him. Once they were seated in his office, Mr. Schuester held out a cup of water to Kurt.

“Is there anything that I can do?” he asked.

Kurt just stared at the cup for a moment before finally taking it. Kurt could tell Will was trying to help, but it was clear to see there was nothing he could really do about the situation. Kurt sighed lightly and fought his urge to simply vent his frustration of it all on him.

“No, this is my hill to climb alone, or at least for the most part.” Kurt replied as he glanced at Blaine and gave him a warm smile, but as soon as he looked back to Will his face went neutral once more.

“Can I be honest? I think it's getting to you, usually this stuff rolls right off your back. But lately you've been belligerent, angry, pushing people away.” Will began.

Blaine couldn't take it any longer, “With all due respect Mr. Schue, you have no idea what Kurt's been through lately.” Blaine pointed out.

“Blaine, it's fine, Can I be honest with you?” Kurt began, when he saw Will's nod of approval he continued. “You like everyone else in this school are too quick to let homophobia slide. I think Blaine would be the first to agree with me since he's faced it too. And your lesson plans are boring and repetitive.” Kurt told Will. “Boys versus Girls... that doesn't challenge any of us.”

Blaine shifted in his seat as he began to think he shouldn't be there at the moment, but remained silent because it was too late now.

“You mean because I didn't let you and Blaine join the girls team like you wanted?”

Kurt's eyes narrowed in response as he looked away from Will for a moment. He had reached his limit and placed the cup back on the table. He took hold of Blaine's hand and stood up, pulling Blaine to join him. He sighed and looked back at Will, deciding it wasn't right to leave it like this. “To answer your question, yes, sometimes I am unhappy and yes, Blaine and I being the only out gay kids at this school gets me down. That no matter how much support Blaine and I can give each other, sometimes it's not enough. But most of all, I'm not challenged in the least here.” Kurt finished and left the room, pulling Blaine along behind him.

Once they were safely outside and out of Mr. Schuester’s ear shot Kurt let go of Blaine's hand and turned to face him. “I'm sorry for what I said back there, I didn't want it to sound like I don't realize how much better things are with you here. It's just so hard to face sometimes.” Kurt tried to explain.

“I understand Kurt and I shouldn't have joined you in there.” Blaine replied.

“No, I wanted you there.”

“Well, I can tell you're not ready to talk about it yet, but promise me you'll come find me when you are?” Blaine asked him.

Kurt forced himself to smile warmly at Blaine, “I promise.”
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kurt had been surprised but delighted when Will ended up announcing the sudden change for their Girls versus Boys number. He never would have thought Mr. Schue would actually take his words to heart and do something about it. He grinned happily and leaned into forward as the other guys looked at him. “Don't worry gentlemen, I have this one under control.” he told them.

The following day Kurt was well prepared to prove his case to all of them, when he called a meeting in an empty classroom. Blaine helped up but the swatch board he had made the night before and brought out a pointer and twirled around to face everyone. 'Oh I have this in the bag.' Kurt thought to himself as he began to voice his ideas to the guys in the room.

“Now, obviously for this medley to work I'm gonna have to sing lead and of course when you're singing Diana Ross. Bob Mackiest mariboo feathers are a must.” Kurt began to explain.

Blaine from his view point on the other side of Kurt's chart saw the unsure looks the guys had as they were all huddled together and he knew things wouldn't end well.

“Isn't this lesson about opposites? I mean you in a sequin gown with a feather boa is exactly what you'd expect.” Artie replied.

Blaine glared at Artie, “It's not what I'd expect.” Blaine muttered in disgust.

“Kay, who said anything about a gown?” Kurt said as he shook his head from side to side.

“Ah dude why don't you make yourself useful and take that hobbit sized boyfriend of yours and use him to go spy on the Garblers.” Puck told him.

“The Warblers.” Kurt quickly corrected him.

“Whatever, act like he's just paying a friendly visit for old time sakes. See what they're up to and I bet you can wear all the feathers you want. You'll blend right in.” Puck told him.

Blaine could hardly belief what he was hearing. “How dare you...” Blaine muttered as he stepped towards Puck.

Kurt raced over to Blaine's side and grabbed onto his arm to stop him in his place. Kurt was relieved to see Puck wasn't rising to meet the challenge and he pulled Blaine back to a safer distance.

“Blaine don't, I can't believe you think I'd do something like make Blaine spy on his friends!” Kurt muttered as he took down his poster board and stormed out of the room with Blaine in tow without another word.

Later that night when the two of them were finally in alone in the safety of Blaine's room, Kurt finally decided it was time to talk about everything that had been bothering him lately. So he simple took hold of Blaine as they sat on his bed and began to explain it all to him. How David for some reason had begun to target him and harass him even more than usual and that Kurt had no idea why.

Blaine just remained silent as he listened to Kurt tell him all of his problems. He quickly found himself feeling very hopeless and worried with what he could do to help.

“I wish I knew why Karofsky's doing this to you, Kurt... but I have no idea. I just wish I could do more to help you.” Blaine admitted to him.

Kurt found he was able to smile and knew it was all thanks to Blaine, so he leaned in and gave him a long kiss in thanks, his hands coming to grasp the sides of his face afterwards.

“Shh Blaine, you're already doing so much, far more than anyone else has. I want you to know that as hard as it's been for me, you make it bearable. Like with our song assignment, while it of course hurt to have my idea shot down like that. I was able to accept it because in the end I get to sing along side you and that is something.”

After hearing such touching words from Kurt, Blaine could only bring himself to pull him into his arms and give him a tender kiss. As they pulled close and began to embrace each other Blaine found himself wishing he could still do more. A second later he realized there was something he could do and he knew it had worked wonders before. Blaine might have used it so much that it was risking to become a clique, but if it worked Blaine wasn't going to hesitate to use the fact to his advantage and just go for it.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

When Kurt opened his locket the next day at school he was surprised to find a note waiting inside for him. He opened it up and glanced around, but returned his gaze to the paper when whoever the messenger had been, obviously wasn't still around. Kurt wasn't sure what to expect to find when he opened it, since it was the end of the day. He finally made himself unfold the note and began to read what it said.

Meet me in the auditorium after class.

Was that it?He thought. Kurt's first thought was to just disregard the note, after all there was a good chance it could be Karofsky setting up some sort of trap. But he studied the note and swore the hand writing looked very familiar and he grinned, deciding he was too curious not to go check it out after all. Sure enough when he stepped into the auditorium he saw Blaine sitting at the piano up on the stage.

“So what brings me here, Blaine?” Kurt asked playfully as he made his way up to the stage.

Blaine gave him a smile and held out his hand for Kurt to take, once Kurt made it to the piano and grasped his hand Blaine finally answered the question. “I thought I would do what I do best and sing to you. Yah know... try to use a song to really show what I feel about you Kurt. So have a seat and really listen, okay?” Blaine said as he pointed to the stool in beside them.

Kurt could only nod and took the seat beside the piano has Blaine began to play. He couldn't help to think how many times Blaine had comforted him with music. The answer made him give Blaine a warm smile. But as he listened to the introduction of the song he became confused, until Blaine began to sing and Kurt caught his breath. It was a piano version of Katy Perry's Teenage Dream and Blaine was pouring his heart into the song. During the song Blaine glanced up at Kurt a number of times until he had to focus back on the music to be able to continue. When all Kurt could do was simply sit there and listen to him as his eyes began to well up from the emotions of it all.

Blaine it seemed, was doing no better because when the song finished, he had already begun to cry. Kurt didn't even give Blaine the chance to stand when Kurt came at him with a tackling hug. Blaine bounced back slightly from the force of his embrace but caught onto him, but it wasn't quick enough. The force sent Blaine tumbling off the piano bench and Kurt, who was still in arms, soon joined him on the floor.

“Okay, that hurt.” Blaine muttered as he rubbed his sore behind. “Are you alive?” he asked Kurt.

Kurt, who had fallen on top of Blaine groaned in response as he rolled off of him onto the floor beside. “Barely...” he replied. The two of them just sat there staring at each other and began to laugh. “Despite our near death experience it doesn't break the romantic mood...” Kurt told him and came over to cling onto Blaine, burying his head in Blaine's shoulder.

“I love you so much, Blaine... maybe you can't stop Karofsky from bullying me. But this, right now, this makes whatever pain I'm going to face be nothing compared to how I feel about you. So much that I am going to try to not let Karofsky or anyone else win.”

“I know you can't be strong all the time, Kurt, everyone has days when they just want to give up, heck I know I do. But I also know that no matter what we have to face. We can't forget that we have each other and that is something the bullies can never take away.” Blaine told him softly.

Kurt nodded and couldn't help himself but to lean in to give Blaine a long passionate kiss. In which Blaine quickly responded too and returned eagerly. As they continue to kiss, Kurt found himself coming to sit on Blaine's lap as they continued to lock lips.

“We... we should stop and cool down.” Blaine muttered through their kisses.

“Yes we should... before we get caught.” Kurt admitted and kissed Blaine one last time before he got up off his lap.

Blaine stood up himself and exchanged bashful looks with Kurt, “You know I heard from the guys in glee that some of them are picturing coach Beiste to cool down.” Blaine told him.

“Oh that is so insensitive and horrible... even for them!” Kurt muttered in reply as he shook his head in disbelief.

“I know and it's something I vowed to never do myself.” Blaine added.

“Agreed, I've already got my cool down tool already anyway. All I have to do is think of all the bad fashion choices the students make in this school and I'm good.” Kurt explained with a smirk.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Only Blaine had to face the reality that they both had their work cut out for them when he found out David had pushed Kurt into the lockers yet again that week. Blaine knew the second he saw Kurt afterwards was that he needed a chance to vent it all out. So they headed straight to Kurt's house after school where they could discuss it alone. Blaine had offered to get him a glass of warm milk before they went to his room.

“I know I said I'd be strong about it, but every time I get slammed into those damn lockers I just feel like giving up.” Kurt muttered as he came to sit on his bed.

Blaine simply watched him for a moment and took a seat beside him and handed him the mug of warm milk. “You're already handling this so much better and braver than I ever did before I ran to Dalton, Kurt.” Blaine pointed out.

“It's just I want to know why David's suddenly decided to make my life a living hell. Also that nobody aside from you really seems to notice.” Kurt replied as he felt all his emotional walls begin break down.

“I know how you feel, as I've told you before I got taunted at my old school before going Dalton and it really got to me. I wish I could say it just pissed me off, but I know it affected me far more than that. I even complained about it to the faculty and they were sympathetic and all. But you could just really tell that nobody really cared. It was like, ‘Hey if you're gay, your life’s just going to be miserable, sorry, nothing we can do about it.’ So I left and went to Dalton, simple as that and I was ready to accept it as my fate, until I ended up meeting this wonderful boy who was full of pride and sass. Who showed me I didn't want to be the guy who ran anymore.” Blaine began to tell Kurt.

Kurt simply gave him a loving look and managed to smile even as he was beginning to cry. Blaine stopped and handed him a tissue before continuing.

“So after meeting you, I think we both know what the only option is. That you can refuse to be the victim, prejudice is just ignorance, Kurt, and you have a chance right now to teach him.”

“How?” was all Kurt asked in reply.

Blaine brought his arm to wrap around Kurt's shoulder and pull him close. “Confront him, call him out. I ran, Kurt, before I found my courage from you I didn't stand up when I faced the same type of hate. I find myself thanking the world every day that after meeting and falling in love with you I was finally able to stop running.”

Kurt came to rest his head on Blaine's shoulder and took a deep breath, letting Blaine's words wash all over him. “You're right, I'm going to give it my best.”

“I can go with you if you want.” Blaine offered.

Kurt smiled lightly, “No, I need to do this on my own. Because you've given me the courage I need to face my fears head on.”

“I understand, but you've had that courage in you all along.” Blaine replied.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Fuelled with the encouraging words of Blaine, Kurt was determined to that the next time Karofsky came at him, he would rise to face him. At least in glee the girls were ready to sing their number for the competition so Kurt had something to distract him. As he stepped into the choir room he saw there were only two chairs left open, each on the far edge of the row of seats and Blaine hadn't arrived yet. Kurt sighed but didn't move any of the chairs, after it all it wasn't like they always had to sit together. Just when Kurt chose his own seat he saw Blaine hurry in and give Kurt a quick smile before sitting at the other side of the row. Rock music filled the room as the girls started their number in leather clad outfits. Kurt had to admit they were amazing and he began to cheer along, bopping his head to the beet. Until he noticed he had gotten a text message and he glanced at his phone, wondering who it was from. Only to smile warmly as he saw it was from Blaine.

Courage

Kurt grinned and leaned forward to see Blaine was also leaning forward in his chair, while giving him an encouraging smile. Kurt brought his hand to rest over his heart and mouthed 'thank you' to Blaine and then sat back up in his chair. 'Just remember, no matter what happens, no one can touch our love.' Kurt thought to himself as he took the words to heart.

So when Kurt once again found himself shoved into the lockers by Karofsky, Kurt rose to take the chance to do something about his situation. He picked himself off the floor, letting his anger fuel him.

“Hey!” he yelled and he ran after David and followed him into the mens locker room without a moment’s hesitation.

“I am talking to you!” Kurt shouted as he entered the room.

“Girls locker room is next door.” Karofsky replied as he pulled his clothing out of his locker.

“What is your problem?” Kurt asked him as he came right up to face David.

“'’Scuse me?” David replied as he turned around.

“What are you so scared of?”

“Besides you sneaking in here to sneak a peek at my junk?”

“Oh yeah, every straight guys nightmare, that all us gays our secretly out to molest and convert you. Well guess what, hamhock? I already have a boyfriend and even if I didn't, you're not my type.”

“That right?”

“Yeah, I don't dig on chubby boys who sweat too much and are gonna be bald by the time they're thirty.”

Karofsky then lifted his fist to Kurt's eye level in frustration, “Do not push me, Hummel.” he warned.

Kurt glanced as his fist but he refused to back down, “You gonna hit me? Do it.” he taunted.

“Don't push me!” David shouted even louder.

“Hit me, ‘cause it's not gonna change who I am. You can't punch the gay out of me anymore than I can punch the ignoramus out of you.”

“SO GET OUT OF MY FACE!” David bellowed desperately as his anger rose.

Never faltering Kurt met his anger and jabbed a finger straight at David's face in defiance. . “You are nothing but a scared little boy who can't handle how extraordinarily ordinary you are...” Kurt began to accuse.

But what followed after his outburst was so unexpected that it shocked Kurt to his core, when instead of hitting him, David grabbed the sides of his face and kissed him. The seconds it took for Kurt's mind to register what had happened felt like eons when his mind finally clicked back into working as David pulled his face back. Kurt was so full of shock that he could only stare in horror at first but when David moved his face close for another kiss Kurt pushed him back and stumbled a few feet away from him. Kurt could only stare off blankly as David hit the nearby locking in frustration and ran out of the room, leaving Kurt standing there, his hand covering his mouth in disbelief.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Blaine had been begun to wonder where Kurt had gotten to when he heard his phone suddenly ring. Blaine looked at the screen and was happy to see it was from Kurt and he answered it quickly.

“Hey Kurt, I was just wondering where you were.” Blaine told him with a grin. But his smile quickly faded when Kurt didn't say anything in reply, in fact Blaine swore he could hear his boyfriend sobbing lightly.

“Blaine... I need you.” Kurt said weakly.

Blaine froze from the sheer desperation in Kurt's voice. “Tell me where you are, Kurt.” Blaine demanded trying not to sound too forceful, but he was scared.

“In my car... in the parking lot... Blaine, I can't...” he said as he began to cry again.

“I'm on my way, Kurt. I'm on my way.” Blaine shouted as he ran as fast as he could to the parking lot.

Once he made it there Blaine darted off to Kurt's car and almost crashed into it as he stopped. Blaine pressed his face against the window. Kurt was in the back seat crunched up, his face red and wet from crying. Blaine could tell Kurt was still cradling his phone against his ear and Blaine touched the passenger side door, which was still locked. “Kurt, let me in.” he said softly through his phone that he was also still holding onto.

Kurt slowly touched the button to open the car doors and Blaine climbed inside, without even bothering to ask Kurt was wrong he gathered him into his arms and let him simply cry into his shoulder. Finally, when he had recovered enough Kurt pulled himself up and Blaine wiped his wet face with a tissue.

“I went and faced Karofsky like we talked about before... only he...” Kurt began.

“Oh my god, did he hurt you?” Blaine asked in horror at the idea and he began to look for any visible wounds on Kurt's body.

“No... he... he kissed me, Blaine...” Kurt explained weakly.

At first Blaine's mind couldn't process what Kurt had just told him, but as he came to understand the words Kurt had spoken he snapped up on instinct and opened up the car door. But Kurt's hands shot out just as quickly and clamped onto his arm, pulling him back inside the car.

“Blaine, don't!” Kurt pleaded.

Blaine fought Kurt's hold for a moment until he saw Kurt's desperate face and he went slack and slumped back against the car seat. He knew he should try to remain calm for Kurt's sake, but all he could feel was complete shock and an overwhelming weight of grief come upon him. But try as he might it all changed back to anger in a heartbeat. “Kurt let me go, I'm not going to let him get away with this!” Blaine blurted out.

“No, don't go...”

“How can you ask me to do that, Kurt? Not after what he... what he did to you!”

“Blaine, it's not the way to deal with this. This totally explains why he's been targeting me.” Kurt pleaded, he needed to make Blaine understand it all.

Blaine could only look at Kurt and grabbed onto his shoulders and shook him slightly. “Kurt, Karofsky doesn't deserve that! How can you even begin to justify his actions? I mean he hate kissed you!” Blaine yelled at Kurt with all his might. But a second late Blaine realized what he had done and began to cry, “I'm so sorry...” he wept.

Kurt brought his arms to wrap around Blaine and pulled him into a tight embrace as he let the both of them let all their emotions out and just let they cry in the safety of each other’s arms for a moment, so they could manage to continue.

“I am so sorry this has happened, Kurt, and all because I told you to face Karofsky...” Blaine began helplessly.

“You had no idea this would happen, no one did. So stop beating yourself up over this.” Kurt told him softly.

“We still have to confront Karofsky about this, Kurt, and nothing you can say will change my mind...” Blaine began.

“We will, only we won't threaten him with violence or fear tactics. We're going to offer our sympathy and help so maybe it could end all of this.” Kurt told Blaine as he took hold of his hand.

Blaine realized what Kurt was telling him was the right decision, he kissed Kurt's hand. “You're right, Kurt, it's the right thing to do. So I'll be there at your side during all of it.”

“Together.” Kurt said warmly in agreement.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

But when it came time for the both of them to live up to their words of bravery the next day, It was far from easy, but neither of them refused to back down from their goal. Blaine followed beside Kurt as they later finally found Karofsky on the stairwell outside and they hurried to catch up with him. Blaine forced himself to keep his emotions under control when he caught sight of David and was reminded of what he had done to Kurt. But he also reminded himself of Kurt's words before, that they needed to respond with offers of help not violence, if there was any hope of it all coming to an end.

“Ready for this?” Kurt asked Blaine with a small smile.

“Yes, don't worry about it just let me do most of the talking.” Blaine replied as they walked up the stairs together and stopped in front of Karofsky who was coming down towards them. “I’ve got your back.” Blaine quickly added.

“Excuse me.” Blaine began as they approached him.

David looked at the both of them and a mean smirk quickly filled his face, “Hey lady boys, sending your boyfriend after me huh Kurt?” he asked tauntingly.

Blaine ignored this and continued with what he and Kurt had planned to tell him. “Kurt and I would like to talk to you about something.” he began to explain.

“I gotta go to class.” David quickly replied and pushed by them.

Going off script, Blaine knew exactly what to say to get David to stop, “Kurt of course told me what you did.”

Sure enough David turned around to face them both, “Oh yeah, what's that?”

Kurt glanced at Blaine and he nodded to him, “You kissed me.” Kurt told David as he looked back at him.

David's head whirled around to make sure no one had overhead Kurt, “I dunno what you’re talking about.”

Blaine narrowed his eyes at Karofsky as he fought to keep his rising anger in check. “Oh I think you do, and I'm even willing to put the fact that you kissed my boyfriend aside, because I know deep down you must be confused and that's totally normal. I won't lie and say I can justify how you dealt with it. But I also can't ignore that you'd of course be confused with what you're feeling. This is a very hard thing to come to terms with for anyone. So we're here to let you know that you're not alone...” Blaine began to explain.

“Do not mess with me, Anderson.” David said in a threatening tone.

But Karofsky brought Blaine's effort to be understanding to a halt when he came charging at Blaine and pushed at him. Blaine raised his arms up in surrender as he wasn't looking for a fight but it did little good, because Blaine found his back pushed up against the chain link fence from the force.

Kurt lunged forward and pushed Karofsky off of Blaine before anything worse could happen.

“You have to stop this!” he blurted out. He and Blaine just remained still and watched the conflicted emotions on David's face, until he turned and raced away without another word.

Blaine sighed and began to straighten his rumpled outfit, “Well, it was a long shot but it looks like he won't be coming out anytime soon.” Blaine said with a small grin, hoping to break the tension just a little. He glanced over to see Kurt's heavy expression as he let out a long breath in frustration. Blaine turned to face him as Kurt went to sit down beside him on the steps.

“Hey are you okay? What's going on?” Blaine asked.

Kurt gave Blaine an awkward smile, “Because I just realized how that could have easily been my first kiss yesterday, well the first one that counted. What if I had never been kissed by a guy until today?” Kurt admitted softly.

Blaine smiled warmly and Kurt and rested his hand on Kurt's shoulder for a moment. “Come on, let me buy you lunch.” he said and helped pull Kurt to stand.

“Thanks... love you.” Kurt said in reply as they began to walk down the stairs, Blaine's arm still protectively over his shoulder.

Blaine was glad that Kurt didn't try to protest when he insisted that Kurt should go save them a table as he got them their lunches. Kurt had even made a witty comment about reminding Blaine he better choose something he would want to eat. With their meals piled onto his tray, Blaine hurried back to join Kurt and was surprised to see Finn sitting next to Kurt at their table.

“Oh hey, Finn.” Blaine commented as he joined them at the table.

“Hey, I was just going to ask Kurt if he'd help me out with our outfits for the competition.” Finn explained.

“Really? Even after his ideas before were totally shot down before?” Blaine asked.

Kurt rolled his eyes at Blaine, “Behave Blaine, Finn didn't join in on that. I've come to accept that my brilliant ideas aren't for everyone. I even have to admit the mash up you guys decided on is pretty good.” Kurt replied.

“Yeah and now we need some killer outfits to seal the deal on our win and fast.” Finn said as he gave Kurt a pleading look.

“Fine, I'll help and I promise to pick something toned down enough that no one will freak out. Though what fun would it be if we didn't add a bit of flair...” Kurt began to mutter as he started to think of the possibilities.

“Okay just make sure you run whatever you come up with by us all first.” Finn replied and left to join Rachel a few tables away.

Blaine chuckled to himself as he silently thanked Finn, because this was just the thing Kurt needed to distract him from the day’s turn of events.
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That night Kurt found himself calling Blaine like he did every night once his skin routine was finished. But this time he had something he especially wanted to ask his boyfriend, causing him to smile as he brought up his number to call.

“Hey cutie, I have a little request of you.” Kurt asked him as he came to sit on the side of his bed.

“Of course, you only need to ask.” Blaine replied with a chuckle.

“Can you bring me a photo of yourself to school tomorrow for me to have?”

“Uh sure, though all I have on hand right now is my school photo from last year. Will that do?” Blaine replied in surprise.

“That would work just fine thank you.”

“Does this mean I can have one of you as well?”

“I suppose that would be fair, but next we need to take one of us together.”

“Agreed.” Blaine replied in agreement.
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The next morning, Blaine did just as Kurt had requested and gave him his photo when they met that morning, so Kurt’s plan was set in motion and it now resulted in him admiring his handy work at his opened locker. Blaine's photo had been placed at the top of his locker door, with the words 'courage' put under it as a collage of letters cut from various magazines. Kurt gave an approving smile as he looked at Blaine's handsome face, he could feel it begin to raise his spirits already. But it ended up being so affective in taking his mind off things that he didn't notice Karofsky approach him. Until he got smashed up against the lockers with so much force it sent him crashing to the floor. Kurt glanced up to see Karofsky disappear in the crowd of students ahead. Kurt hissed in frustration more than the pain as he folded his legs up so he could hug them in a crouched position on the floor. As he sat there Kurt couldn't help but notice that one even cared that he was sitting there in this state and Kurt let out a small sigh. Kurt began to think how it would be so easy to just give in to all the despair that was surfacing in his mind. But Kurt lifted his head to glance up at his locker door and saw Blaine's photo hanging there he brought Blaine's words of courage back to his mind. That he needed to refuse to be the victim and not give into all the hate. With those words to urge him forward, Kurt forced himself to proudly stand back up. He picked up the letter ‘o’ that had fallen when he had smashed against his locker and put it back in place. After one more quick glance at Blaine's photo, Kurt closed his locker and headed to the choir room with his head held high.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

There were far more important things to deal with, such as the boys performance in glee club, with their costumes done after they had been amazingly accept by all the guys, the day to sing their number had finally arrived at the end of the week. Kurt had been giving his approval when the song ended up being dedicated to Coach Beiste even when Kurt himself was innocent in hurting her. Even though the song had not been the choice he wanted, Kurt quickly found himself enjoying it as he joined in. Of course Kurt didn't even need to look at Blaine to know he was fully into it and Kurt had to smile at that. With his dark mood lifted Kurt and Blaine even danced over to Mercedes's during part of the song. Their movements making her break out laughing as she hid her face in embarrassment, as Kurt came to sit on her lap.

The song ended and Blaine came over to Kurt as they stepped back and watched the others embrace Coach Beiste. Kurt brought his arm to wrap around Blaine's waist and Blaine did the same thing. So they found themselves at that moment, arm in arm as they clapped in approval of the touching scene before them. Watching this reminded them both how while it was true some people knew only ignorance and hate, others, the people who really counted, knew what really mattered.

Blaine found out what Kurt had in mind when he asked him for his photo when he came to greet his boyfriend at his locker once classes where finally over. He noticed his photo's place of honour on Kurt's locker's door and smiled warmly in approval.

“So that's what you wanted my photo for.” He said.

“Yes, I just felt the need to be able look at your handsome face whenever I need a pick me up.” Kurt explained.

“Even when you get to see my face every day at school now?” Blaine asked with a smirk.

Kurt laughed out loud lightly, “Yes, even then.” he replied.