It was very clear to Kurt Hummel that the world seemed to have a serious problem with him, he knew this because it kept throwing everything imaginable at him and at least for the last few weeks, most of it had been bad. But he was very proud that during all the drama he faced on a daily basis, Kurt could still notice when his boyfriend was upset. Kurt even knew what was affecting Blaine, despite his best efforts to hide it from everyone, however it was easy to deduce since Blaine had started to act slightly off key ever since they'd found out they were going against the Warblers for Sectionals. But Kurt still deserved some credit because he was sure no one else had noticed it was affecting him at all. Kurt knew what his next move would be after he had discovered Blaine was feeling down, he could finally start to pay back for all the times Blaine had been there for him. Comforting him with words and or physical touch, somehow Blaine always seemed to know what Kurt needed for every situation he had faced so far. Kurt wasn't buying Blaine's claims that he was bad at romance, not by a long shot, so even when he knew it wasn't a contest and Blaine would be the first one to point that out. Kurt wanted to help him no matter what, even when Blaine would go off and say it wasn't necessary, because that's what couples did for one another.

As soon as they two of them where alone Kurt had decided to bring the subject up so the healing could begin. Or that had been the plan, but as soon as Kurt stepped into Blaine's room he soon discovered that his boyfriend had other ideas. So instead of talking they ended up kissing and having a very good make out session. Kurt figured it had to be another way of helping Blaine cope, by keeping his mind off things. But as Kurt began to fix his hair in Blaine's mirror, he saw in the reflection that even kissing couldn't help cheer him up enough and that was a red flag in Kurt's mind.

“Blaine, you do realize you can talk to me about what's bothering you... as fun as kissing is, sometimes words are better healers.” Kurt offered.

Blaine looked over at Kurt and eyed him for a moment. He had thought he was hiding things pretty well but that was obviously wrong. “It's nothing...” he began.

Kurt turned and glared at Blaine from his spot on the bed until he began to squirm. “Blaine... sweetie, nothing about your life is too small for you to not tell me about. I'm your boyfriend and I love you more than you'll ever know. Don't ever think that something happening to you is not worth my time, you hear me?” Kurt told Blaine firmly. “You have every right to be upset over having to compete against your friends...”

Blaine took in a long breath and exhaled. “I know... sorry... and you're right of course. But was it that easy to tell that it was getting to me?” he asked.

Kurt smiled warmly at Blaine and came to sit beside him on the foot of the bed and drape his arm over his shoulder. “Not at all, actually. I'm sure nobody else noticed. It just proves how well I know you, Blaine... that, and you're still sad looking after we ended up kissing for so long.” Kurt replied.

“Okay that would be pretty obvious.” Blaine admitted with a weak laugh.

“So talk to me, tell me what's been going on in that mind of yours over this. I speak from experience; it really helps get you through it all. I can listen just as well as I can talk.” Kurt urged.

Blaine let out a small laugh and paused to give Kurt a kiss on the cheek. “I already know that, Kurt, don't think you don't pull your weight around in this relationship, because you do. I know it's not that big of a deal, and I knew from the beginning this could happen. It was different last year for Regionals because you and I didn't go up head to head. Now that it's actually happening with the Warblers... I'm finding it hard to accept.” Blaine admitted. “This might take a while, so can we cuddle?” he asked Kurt cutely.

Kurt let out a small laugh and nodded, they got themselves all comfy against Blaine's headboard and Blaine snuggled beside Kurt and scooted down a bit so his head rested against Kurt's shoulder. Blaine reached out and took Kurt's hand, entwining their fingers, like they had done many times before. “I just don't know what to do about this... I mean, you know I don't regret transferring... but I feel kind of lost. Like if I give the Warblers too much support people might think I'm being a traitor. But if I just out right ignore them and alienate my friends, they'll just end up resenting me. I don't want to be a stranger to the Warblers or the New Directions.” Blaine explained.

Kurt had no real answer to Blaine's dilemma, but knew just how to help in his own way. Because Blaine had done the very same thing for him time and time again. “I am going to take you on a special date tomorrow night so we can both forget about all our troubles.” Kurt told him after Blaine was done.

“That would be nice.” Blaine admitted.

“Good, then it's settled.” Kurt replied with a grin.
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Kurt's mind was still busy with planning their date even during school the next day that he didn't react to Rachel's takeover of the glee club when Mr. Schuester ended up being sick. Normally he would have looked at her in horror and began to fight about it almost instantly. Instead he just pushed it aside for later, it could wait until his special date with Blaine was all figured out. Sure enough as soon as he was done with planning he thought of a way he might be able to save everyone in Glee from Rachel's wrath. So when he found himself in line up with Mercedes's in the cafeteria, he was ready to voice his idea to her.

“I am shaking and it's either from low blood sugar or rage. I knew it was only a matter of time before Rachel tried to take over the glee club.” Kurt whispered to Mercedes as they waited to join the line.

“We'll forget all about it tonight at bowling.” Mercedes replied.

Kurt froze and looked at her, “Crap that's right we had plans tonight! I'm sorry Mercedes, I can't because I asked Blaine out on a date tonight.” Kurt told her.

“I've been looking forward to it all week...” Mercedes began in a disappointed tone. “Look, I'm happy for you and I adore Blaine. It's just I can't help but feel that since he came along I hardly ever get to spend any time with you, you know... alone.” Mercedes explained.

Kurt gave a sigh, “I know, I'm sorry, seriously the last thing I want to become is that person who deserts their friends the moment they get a boyfriend. It's just that Blaine's been feeling down ever since we found out we're going head to head against the Warblers. So I want to cheer him up, especially considering how much he's been there for me lately. What with my dad and all the other things I've been facing...” Kurt sputtered off quickly as he tried to explain himself.

“Wait, what else have you been facing?” Mercedes began to asked.

“Never mind, I promise to make it up to you, we'll hang out Friday night.” Kurt quickly answered, changing the subject.

Then Blaine suddenly stepped up to join them with a smile on his face, though it was clear he still wasn't his usual chipper self just yet. “Hey guys, glad I made it in time to catch you two, so whatcha talking about?” Blaine asked them.

“About what we're gonna do about glee club while Mr. Schue is sick.” Mercedes told him.

Kurt was grateful that Mercedes had lied, because it meant she wasn't mad at him for breaking their plans. Since Mercedes's had brought the subject back to the whole Rachel dilemma, he decided to fill them both in on his master plan.

“I might have a way to fix that already, have either of you met the new Spanish teacher?” Kurt asked them. When he saw them both shake their heads in reply he continued. “She subbed for my English class last week and she's amazing. She sang a stunning rendition of conjunction junction and I think she's the answer to our prayers. I was planning to go ask her to take over glee club while Mr. Schuester's away.” Kurt finished.

“Sounds good to me.” Blaine replied.

“And no matter how amazing she actually is, anyone would be better than Miss Rachel Berry.” Mercedes said with a groan.
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Kurt had set his plan into motion right away when he headed over to the Spanish class room and interrupted her lesson to see if Holly Holiday would be game. When his attempts to recruit her turned out to be successful, he proudly headed to glee club the following day with Blaine right behind him. But his triumph lasted only a second when he strolled into the room and suddenly slipped and not gracefully as he went crashing to the floor, his fleet flying up into the air. As laughter filled the room Kurt sighed, it had been nice while it lasted. But he quickly realized his suddenly clumsiness had not been his fault, someone had greased up the floor. Sure enough he glared over at Puck and noticed the stick of butter in his hand. “Nice welcome committee, Puck.” Kurt grumbled.

Blaine had already hurried to his side and carefully helped him stand back up, and began to dust him off. Kurt voiced his thanks for coming to his aid and they two of them slowly moved to a safer spot to stand.

During this Holly Holiday herself had made her appearance and wowed them all when she simply slid over the buttered floor like she was a figure skater. “Hola Classi.” She told them all as she began to introduce herself.

“Now that's how you make an entrance.” Blaine whispered to Kurt.

Blaine and Kurt walked over to take their seats as they listened to her talk, it was very clear that Miss Holiday wasn't your average substitute teacher. Which she ended up telling them all herself and Kurt gave her an approving smile. That started off what was their most enjoyable day of glee club yet. Which continued when Holly asked them a question they had never been asked before; what did they want to sing? Kurt knew right away what song he had wanted to sing, Hummingbird Heartbeat by Katy Perry. But Puck beat him to the punch when he voiced how he had wanted to sing Forget You by Se-Lo. Kurt could hardly feel any resentment when Holly ended up singing that very song and she was nailing it. It simply felt so uplifting to be singing an actual current pop song, one that was from the last decade as well. So Kurt didn't hesitate to join in on the merriment and begin to sing along. Everyone quickly got into the number, everyone except Rachel who simply glared at them all in anger, but they just ignored her as usual. For once Kurt got out on the dance floor before Blaine could and grabbed for his boyfriends hand as they began to run in circled around the piano at one point during the song. Towards the end the pair began to dance together and twirl each other around, totally enjoying themselves in the music.

Even when the song was over the fun didn't stop, when Holly suddenly shouted out that they were going for tacos. But that seemed to be the last straw for Rachel who stood up in protest and stormed towards the door. She paused and turned back to glare at them. “You're all being ridiculous! Don't cry to me if we ended up losing at Sectionals!” Rachel shouted and she left the room in her typical diva fashion.

Finn began to walk towards the door but failed to stop Rachel in time and he hesitated. Finn was obviously torn between going after his angry girlfriend, or getting tacos with everyone else. Some peoples hard choices may have been love or career, but Finn's seemed to be love or food, or at least at the moment.

Kurt thought he'd help make his decision a bit easier to decide as he walked over to him and laid an arm on Finn's shoulder. “Let her go, she's too angry to listen to you right now.” Kurt pointed out.

“Come get some tacos, it will give her time to calm down. Then when you see her you'll have a full stomach.” Blaine added.
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True to his word after school Kurt took Blaine out for a memorable evening where he even tried to mix things up. Instead of their usual movie and dinner at a restaurant date, Kurt put his wit to use and managed to find out that the next town over had an actual drive in movie theatre. So after spending a fun night cuddled up in back of Kurt's navigator as they shared a bucket of popcorn, they headed back to Blaine's house afterwards. Once Kurt pulled his car into the drive way they noticed right away that it was empty.

“That's weird, my parents must be working late or something... this hasn't happened too much lately.” Blaine muttered as they got out of the car.

“I know, I've certainly complained about it enough recently to remember. Think they left a note?” Kurt asked as he followed Blaine up to the front door.

“Let's hope so and while we're at it, let's hope they're gone for a while.” Blaine answered with a smirk.

Once inside Blaine darted off into the kitchen to see if his parents had left a note and he was delighted to see a piece of paper taped to the fridge. “Eureka!” Blaine called from the kitchen.

Kurt shook his head as he walked into the kitchen. “Who says things like that Blaine?” he chuckled.

“So what's the verdict?”

“It's good, I forgot my parents had this dinner event for my dad’s work tonight. They won't be home till late tonight... so we have hours alone to kill.” Blaine explained.

But at the realization of that fact, all they could do was stare at each other awkwardly as they felt the tension build up around them. So far they had been able to avoid moments like this, only because they hadn't had to face the idea of being alone for a whole night with any parents arriving. For the first time in ages since becoming boyfriends, they were at a total loss for words. It didn't take long for them to realize how silly they were being and all it took was looking at their nervous faces and they broke out laughing.

“Why are we so nervous anyway...” Blaine began as they headed to his bedroom. “It's not like we haven't been alone in my house before.” he pointed out.

“Yes, but this time we're both slowly getting comfortable with the idea of going further than we have before and let's face it, it's a bit scary.” Kurt replied.

Blaine paused, his hand was on his doorknob and he turned to look back at Kurt in surprise. “Are you scared?”

Kurt gave Blaine a coy smile as he came over and placed his hand over Blaine's and opened the door to his bedroom and led him inside. Once they were in his room Kurt quickly put his boyfriend's mind at ease when he kissed him. “I'm not scared of being with you, or anything we end up doing, Blaine. No... it's hard to put into words exactly but... just the idea of heading in that direction is daunting. It's new and it makes me nervous just thinking about it... but not because I don't want it to happen...” Kurt admitted to him in exasperation. “God why is this so hard!” he blurted out.

Blaine smiled at Kurt with affection and didn't even call him out on saying hard. Instead he hugged Kurt and kissed the side of his mouth playfully. “You are so adorable.” he told him.

“Likewise... but before we start being brave with our physical relationship. Let's be mature and focus on the emotional side first. So we're going to do nothing but snuggle on your bed while you talk and I'm just going to listen. Once you've gotten all your troubles off your chest we can see what else we want to do together.” Kurt explained as he pushed Blaine towards the bed.

“What if my problem is trying to deal with what I want to do with you right now...” Blaine teased.

“Blaine.” Kurt warned.

Blaine gave Kurt a sheepish smile and decided to change their usual cuddle position up a bit. Once Kurt sat on the bed Blaine came to rest his head in Kurt's lap and let out a long content sigh. “Even when you're far too irresistible, Kurt, I can't say no to such a gracious offer, not after such a fun date tonight. But don't let me rambled so much that we run out of time to do anything else, because that would be such a waste. I'm honestly feeling way better about this whole thing with the Warblers. I took a page from our book and I called up some of them to talk about it. That really helped, almost as much as talking to you did, but you still win in that retrospect. Anyway, after talking to them I could tell that they miss me... because I miss Dalton and the Warblers too. But they understand why I transferred and they don't resent me for it. So all I have to worry over is that I can prove to the New Directions that my allegiance is with you guys and I'll be set.” Blaine explained.

“Oh they know you’re trustworthy. Blaine, don't let Santana or anyone like that make you think otherwise.” Kurt replied.

“Yeah I know, and I honestly am feeling better about it, thanks to you.” Blaine said with a smile.

Kurt leaned his head down to give Blaine a long kiss in response. “Then my work is done.”

Blaine laughed and suddenly sat up so he was now facing Kurt until their faces were only inched apart. As they gazed into each other’s eyes, their looks of love quickly turned to desire. Making the small distance between their lips non-existent as they came together to kiss. As usual the first long passionate kiss led to many more and soon they started a rhythm to make sure they remembered to breathe as they continued to make out heavily. It was a struggle but they managed to keep their word of stopping when things got too dangerous and they pulled their bodies apart. Only as they looked at each other, there were no nerves, no embarrassment; all they knew was neither of them wanted to end it there.

Never the less, Kurt quickly sat up and crossed his legs on the bed as he took a deep breath. He had gotten very close to sporting a full erection a moment ago. Which wasn't surprising, he just didn't want anything to kill the mood, or take things further than he wanted to. “That was fun.” Kurt said with a smirk.

Blaine smiled bashfully at Kurt and ran a hand through his now ruffled hair. “Yeah, that is was. But you know Kurt... going slow still means we keep moving.” he pointed out.

Kurt's eyes widened in surprise but he didn't shy away from what Blaine was getting at, instead he gave him a seductive look. “It does...” he agreed. Kurt began to crawl over to Blaine and leaned in close to his face. “What did you have in mind?” he whispered in his boyfriend’s ear.

Blaine shivered at the tone Kurt's voice had and knew he had started to blush bright red. He just tried to push past that and all he had to think about was the reward might be if he did. He placed his hands on Kurt's shoulders and smiled at him. “That we don't have to go all the way... because again, I doubt either of us has protection or lube on hand, because I don't.” Blaine began and when he saw Kurt nod he continued. “But there are plenty of other ways to reach orgasm, we've already proved that once. So I think it's safe if we take another step in that direction... I mean as long as we both want it.”

Kurt had a feeling Blaine wasn't suggesting they give another go at frottage this time, so he decided to come out and say what Blaine was getting at. “As in a hand job?” he offered.

Just hearing Kurt say the word was making Blaine realize he was getting hard already. “Yes, actually.” he admitted.

Kurt returned Blaine's shy smile and kissed him. “So now that we know that's what we want to do... how do we manage to actually do it?” Kurt asked with a sigh.

Blaine laughed lightly as he began to push Kurt gently down on the bed and came to hover over him. Kurt laughed with him as he brought his hand to grasp the back of Blaine's neck and pulled his face downward for a long kiss. Even when they were both nervous they still knew how to start things off.

Blaine pulled back after they kissed a few more times, “I think the answers pretty clear Kurt. We just need to relax and give into the pleasure, at least some of it. That and we get comfortable and the rest will happen pretty quick...well hopefully not too quickly.” Blaine answered with a smirk.

Kurt laughed as Blaine began to suck on Kurt's neck and he responded by gliding his hands over his chest and tugged at his clothing. “I think it's working, Blaine...” he moaned as he began to undo Blaine's fly. “But we'd better keep things safe and keep our clothing on...” he warned.

Blaine gave Kurt a seductive look as Kurt's hands got braver as he unzipped his fly. “I think I can live with that.”
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The next morning Kurt was still blissfully content as he finished getting ready for school. So much that it became clear he wasn't bothering to hide it when he crossed paths with Finn on his way back from the bathroom. Judging by the look on Finn's face he was sure he would jump to conclusions about what had happened, but Kurt for once didn't care, all he could think about how right his and Blaine's decision to go slow had been, and that it being safe had its rewards. Kurt didn't want anything to ruin his good mood so he decided to check how Blaine was doing, humming happily as he brought up his number and hit the call button.

“And how is my cutie this bright and wonderful morning?” Kurt said musically to Blaine.

“Fine... you're in a good mood.” Blaine replied with a chuckle.

“Can you blame me?” Kurt teased.

“I hope I'm the cause of your happiness Kurt.”

“Oh please, you know you are and I know you have a smug smile on your face to prove it! No, I'm just calling to make sure things won't get... awkward for us when we see each other today. After... well...you know...” Kurt began.

“You mean the most awesome moment in my life so far?” Blaine offered.

“I wouldn't word it that way exactly but yes, that.” Kurt answered.

“Do you feel awkward right now?” Blaine asked playfully.

“No, just really happy, so I think we'll be okay. Never the less I wanted to make sure.”

“Good idea, I'm fine talking to you but I don't know if that will change when I see your face. Or your hands and I remember where they've touched...” Blaine admitted lightly. “So that could get... weird...”

“Considering how satisfying last night was, I think it was worth it.” Kurt replied with a laugh.

“And neither of us regret doing it or once again not taking things any farther. We'll just go one step at a time.” Blaine replied in agreement.

“Who knew 'walking' could be so much fun.”

“Oh, Kurt, I almost forgot! I got a call from Wes, remember how were so bummed over not getting tickets to this year’s production of Rent? Well, Wes did and he can't make it so he gave me the tickets! This one looks even better than the one we went to last year. You already know Greg Evigan's starring in it. I know it's short notice but are you up for it?” Blaine said.

“Of course I am! I mean I was heartbroken when we got the ticket sale day mixed up and missed out. We had such a great time when saw the production last year and that was just a minor one... and we were just new friends back then. Wait, what time is the show at?” Kurt asked him.

“Um eight, why is that too late?”

“No it's perfect actually! Why don't you come for family dinner night at my place then? Carole has been bugging me to invite you and I know it would be okay if we had it slightly early that night to make it possible.” Kurt muttered as he explained things to Blaine.

“I'd love to Kurt, think Burt will mind?” Blaine replied.

“Oh please he's been bugging me more than Carole I think. He's worried you might think you're not welcome since you haven't been invited to one yet. Which I told him was silly because after what's happened and everything. But what do you think? Ready to face this?” Kurt asked him playfully.

“I'm already trying not to tear up here, so yes I'm ready.” Blaine answered.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

But once again things turned out to be far from magical when once again Kurt managed to forget about his plans with Mercedes and he felt like the worst friend on the planet. So when she reminded him of their friday plans his look of blissful content turned to horror and guilt in an instant. He swore under his breath and smacked himself in the forehead. “Oh my god what is wrong with me! I'm so sorry Mercedes but I kind of... have plans with Blaine on friday now.” Kurt admitted with a groan.

“What?” Mercedes said in annoyance.

“It's just Blaine managed to get us tickets to go see Rent at the Community Playhouse at the last minute. We had really wanted to go see it but we missed out and well he has tickets for us now.” Kurt explained.

“Us as in all of us?” Mercedes asked.

“Um no, he could only score two... his friend Wes from the Warblers couldn't go so he gave his tickets to Blaine... so there's only two.” Kurt admitted.

But Kurt never got the chance to redeem himself by further apologizing to Mercedes when Santana and Brittany appeared on the other side of them in line at the cafeteria. They started to announce that Principal Sylvester had banned tater tots and they went on to dump them into the garbage. So needless to say Mercedes was not any mood to listen to Kurt after that. But he refused to give up and Kurt knew he had to make things right and the sooner the better. So when Mercedes's stormed out of Sue's office a short while later, Kurt was lying in wait for her.

“Save it Hummel, I am not in the mood.” She warned him as she stormed off down the hallway.

“Mercedes wait!” Kurt called as he hurried after her.

Finally Mercedes came to a stop and turned to face Kurt, her hands on her hips as she began eye him. “Yes?” she asked him.

“Look I'm sorry about Friday, and Thursday and every other day I've been busy since I started dating Blaine. I need to make more time for my friends and especially you, but Friday Blaine is coming over for his first family dinner at my place and then there's Rent, so it's kind of special night for us...” Kurt explained.

Mercedes sighed, “You don't have to break your date for Friday, Kurt. I just miss hanging out with you.”

“I know, and I miss hanging out with you, too. So we're going to spend the entire weekend together, just the two of us, no Blaine at all. That is, if you'll forgive me enough to agree.” Kurt asked her, as he made a puppy dog face like the type Blaine always gave him.

Kurt's look worked when Mercedes finally began to chuckle and shake her head at him. “Fine, you're forgiven, as long as you keep our plans for this weekend this time okay?”

“I promise, I'll go tell Blaine right now so he won't plan anything by accident.” Kurt told her, he came up to give her a quick hug. “Thanks Mercedes.”

With everything he and Mercedes had been dealing with finally being addressed and patched up, Kurt could now focus on the other thing he wanted to do. And to do that meant he needed to go in search of Holly Holiday, who ended up being in Mr. Schuester's classroom for Spanish, where Kurt found her twirling around in his desk chair, like she was a leggy two year old.

“Miss Holiday, may I have a word again?” he asked as he stepped inside the empty classroom.

Holly stopped spinning to look at him and gave him a sly grin, “Of course Kurt, just say what you feel.”

“I heard that you're letting Rachel sing a song of her choice for glee club. So I was hoping that I could do the same thing. I'd love to sing something I really want to without Mr. Schue shutting it down a second later.” Kurt explained.

“All I have to say to that is; go for it sweet cheeks! I look forward to seeing it.” Holly replied with a wink.

Kurt made a fist pump in triumph and told Holly his thanks before he headed out of the room, he was so happy he felt like skipping. But he had more important things to do, like to continue to set things in motion, which meant he needed to find the girls of glee next. He managed to corner them later on after glee club and submit his cause to them. Surprisingly he managed to get them all to agree to back him up with his musical number. Aside from Rachel who Kurt agreed would be too busy planning her own number with Miss Holiday. While his number was nothing too complicated so they wouldn't need to spend too much time rehearsing. So Kurt was confident they could work it all out and be ready to preform it for glee club by the end of the week. Giving Kurt another thing to look forward to, in addition to his and Blaine's plans for Friday, not to mention his weekend with Mercedes. None of this escaped him at the moment and Kurt couldn't help but feel optimistic for once. “Things are going your way for once. Kurt Hummel.” Kurt muttered to himself as he walked down the hallway.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The next day Kurt was determined that Mercedes should be as happy as he was feeling, so he set off to make that very thing happen. So when he and Blaine came to join her for lunch at the table she was already sitting at, he was bringing her good news. But the moment Kurt took his seat, Mercedes went venting off in anger about their food options in the cafeteria before Kurt even had a chance to fill her in on his news concerning her.

“Look at this crap, foam fish sticks? Principal Sylvester’s only serving per-digested food now. To give us more energy, I mean do I look like a baby bird?” Mercedes told them both.

“It doesn't taste that bad actually...” Blaine pointed out as he finished a spoonful of his own lunch.

“Don't fret your culinary disappointments, we come bearing gifts.” Kurt said with a witty smile on his face.

“You brought tots?” Mercedes asked.

“Better, I've set you up on a date. I get it, my blossoming romance with Blaine is making you feel left out, jealous.” Kurt answered, still smiling.

“Who's the guy?” Mercedes interrupted him.

“Anthony Reshaude.” Kurt replied and his glanced at an attractive young man sitting a table behind them.

“Why him?” Mercedes just asked.

“No reason...” Kurt began as he looked away from Mercedes.

“Oh so it has nothing to do with the fact that he is one of the five black guys at this school?”

Kurt just looked at Mercedes in disbelieve at her attitude, he looked to Blaine who just shrugged and remained silent. “No, he is a wide receiver on the football team.”

“He's also very attractive if you haven't noticed.” Blaine commented, finally saying something during the conversation.

“And he is a member of the black student union.” Kurt added as he gave a thumbs up.

“Any non-black activities?” Mercedes asked.

“I don't know my google search was a little...” Kurt began mutter in response.

“I can't take this anymore.” Mercedes said as she began to write something on a paper in front of her.

“Mercedes trust me, Blaine and I are a perfect proof that love can be just around the corner.” Kurt began, but he looked up to see David Karofsky come into view up ahead.

“'Sup homos?” he sneered as he gave him and Blaine a cruel look as he passed them by.

Kurt and Blaine simply glared at David as he left and when he was gone Blaine looked back to Kurt and saw his boyfriends snarky expression. Even at the risk of provoking someone Blaine didn't hesitate to put his hand over Kurt's for a moment of support, before he reluctantly withdrew it quickly. But any worries either of them had came to an abrupt halt when Mercedes started a riot over the loss of tater tots and they could only react in horror from the sudden turn of events.

Only the fact that Kurt had his performance to look forward to that day made him able to recover fully from the riot at lunch. So when everyone in glee club made their way to the auditorium to watch Miss Holiday and Rachel do their number first, Kurt's bright mood had fully returned to him. Kurt winked playfully at the pair as they did their amazing broadway song and dance routine. Others may have thought the idea of going up after such an act would be daunting, but Kurt was ready to. Once Rachel and Miss Holiday finished their song and took a bow, Kurt bounced out of his seat and began to clap as he came to stand in front of the stage.

“That was simply splendid Rachel and it is very hard to follow that. But I think I'm up for it, so you two sit back and rest and you can be the judge.” Kurt commented with a grin. “Ladies, if you please.” he told the remaining girls as he walked up onto the stage as Tina, Mercedes, Brittany, Quinn and even Santana got up to follow him.

Leaving the guys, Rachel and Miss Holiday to sit and watch them from their seats, who were all not sure what to expect. For once even Blaine had no idea what song Kurt had picked to sing, since he hadn't told him. Blaine hadn't been able to pry the secret from his boyfriend, no matter how hard he had tried. So Blaine was just as surprised as the others when Kurt started to sing 'Humming Bird Heartbeat.' by Katy Perry. At first Blaine laughed in amusement as Kurt began to sing, with the girls backing him up and dancing behind him. When Kurt looked directly at him and gave him a smile that was boarding on seductive, Blaine felt the heat rise to his cheeks. It wasn't that Kurt wasn't singing the song perfectly, it was that he was obviously singing the song to Blaine and some of the the lyrics were the reason Blaine had started to blush bright red. All Blaine could do at first was to smile bashfully as a number of the New Directions began to laugh, though it was all in fun and not meant to be cruel. Realizing he was being silly, Blaine just focused on Kurt and the music and forgot about anyone else and cheered his boyfriend on.

The laughed stopped quickly after that and was replaced by cheers and clapping as Kurt finished the song and took a graceful bow, blowing a kiss to Blaine with a wink. Blaine mimed to catch the kiss and touched his cheek with his hand, causing Kurt to begin to laugh. Which was the biggest reward Blaine could ever want at that moment, because neither of them were willing to give into the peer pressure and stop showing each other how strong their love was.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Come Friday night Blaine was glad to see he wasn't feeling the least bit nervous when he arrived at Kurt's house for dinner. It wasn't like it was the first time he'd come over for a meal, but Blaine knew how special Friday nights dinners were to the Hummel family, or rather now the Hummel-Hudson family. Though they weren't an official family since Carole and Burt weren't married. But that hardly mattered. Even though it had taken a while for him to be invited, it didn't diminish how welcome it made Blaine feel.

Kurt greeted him at the door and ushered him inside and they headed straight to the dinning room, where everyone was already sitting and waiting for his arrival. Blaine greeted them all warmly and took his seat and the dinner was soon underway.

“We wanted to have you over way sooner than this Blaine, it's just with my heart and all... things kinda got pushed aside there.” Burt explained.

“Oh I totally understand, Burt! I'm just happy to be here and be included.” Blaine replied with a big smile.

“And we're happy to have you here.” Carole said as she put the last dish on the table.

“I mean you're pretty much over here all the time.” Kurt added with a grin.

“It's true, I'll admit this has become a second home to me.” Blaine replied.

“Glad to hear it kid.” Burt told him. “Because I know how depressed Kurt would be if you weren't around.”

“DAD!” Kurt moaned in protest.

Dinner turned out to be a wonderful start to the evening and Blaine was happy to see first-hand how well Burt was recovering from his heart attack. It was as if it had never happened. But neither he nor Kurt had the time to linger, so as soon as they had finished eating Kurt hurried them off to head to the theatre to see Rent, for the second time together. Only this was their first time seeing it as a couple and they both wanted to make the most of it. So as they made their way to the theatre and headed inside, they walked together hand in hand and they never let go during the whole show.

Blaine was amused to realize that even after all this time and how much their relationship had grown, they still enjoyed each other’s company the same way as when they first went together as friends. Or rather, just as much, since nothing was exactly the same way since they had first met, it had changed for the better. Blaine glanced at their entwined hands and smiled warmly, he had to admit it was harder to pay attention to what was on the stage instead of Kurt's reactions now. Kurt seemed to notice this and pointed towards the stage and Blaine just nodded and returned his attention to the musical. Only at the end of 'I'll Cover You.' Blaine leaned over and gave Kurt a quick kiss on the cheek, considering the topic of Rent, he figured it was safe enough to do so.

Kurt on the other hand, despite it looking like the show had his full attention as he watched the performers up on stage. In reality he was actually off lost in thought, those thoughts naturally being about Blaine and what their journey had been like up to this point. As Kurt though about it further, he was having a hard time accepting it had all been real, he only could because he had lived through it all. What had begun with Kurt finding a friend and kindred spirit had developed into a deep love that continued to grow and mature every day. Kurt glanced over at Blaine at one point during the show, to see, like before, Blaine was once again getting teary-eyed at Angel's funeral scene and Kurt squeezed his hand lightly.

Despite the fact that their attention had wavered throughout the show, both of them had enjoyed themselves immensely. After all the drama that had happened to the both of them over the last few weeks, it had been something they both really needed. By the time the show was over, it was too late to do anything else. So Blaine drove Kurt straight home and Blaine insisted on walking Kurt to the door.

“You know, we should make this a yearly thing, us seeing Rent together.” Blaine suggested.

“What if it's not playing next year or any years after that?”

“Then we'll just watch it together on dvd.”

“I like the sound of that.” Kurt replied with a grin.

After they reached the front of the door neither of them could help but end up in each other’s arms for their goodbye kiss, which ended up going on for too long. Acknowledging this fact, Kurt finally released his firm hold on Blaine's waist and gave him a warm smile. “So you're okay with Mercedes and I spending the weekend together?” he asked.

“Oh Kurt, it would be so wrong if I was, Mercedes has been so welcoming to me from the start. You two deserve this, I mean, you've been friends far longer than when I stepped into the picture. I'll survive somehow.” Blaine told him. “I actually got invited to a boys night out with Nick and the guys already.” he added with a grin.

“Just make sure to behave and I'll see you on Monday.” Kurt replied and gave him one more quick kiss, after they said their quick goodbyes Kurt stepped inside the house. Only to see his dad standing in the hallway, looking at him.

“What? I made it back for my curfew, which I thought we agreed wasn't really all that necessary.” Kurt muttered as he walked through the hallway.

“Did I say you were in trouble? Makes me think what you could have done to go right to the defence.” Burt answered.

Kurt was relieved to see his dad's face showed he wasn't really being serious when he answered him and Kurt let out a sigh. “This whole teasing me because I have a boyfriend now has just begun hasn't it?”

“You have no idea Kurt, you have no idea.” Burt replied with a smirk.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

With another Friday over and done with, Saturday had arrived and with it began Kurt's weekend with Mercedes and Kurt managed to keep his promise to her for once. It started off with them finally being able to go bowling together, where Mercedes's beat Kurt's score far too easily for him to admit it. Then what followed was them heading off for lunch, during all of this Kurt managed not to bring up Blaine at all, though it took all the control he had to do so. Because so many things reminded him of Blaine or something about him, without even trying. By the end of the night when Kurt was in Mercedes's bedroom for their sleepover, he found out while he had managed to not mention Blaine, he hadn't managed to not show how much of a struggle it was for him to pull off.

“You know Kurt, I'm touched that you're trying so hard, but you can talk about Blaine if you want to. I mean he is your boyfriend after all.” Mercedes told him.

Kurt just looked at her and let out a heavy sigh, “Oh, thank god!” he muttered in relief, which he noticed had made Mercedes laugh. “Well, I am glad I'm amusing you.” he hissed.

“Oh come on, it's funny. I mean, just thinking how much things have changed for you makes me begin to smile.” Mercedes pointed out as she poked him lightly in the side.

“I can hardly believe it myself most of the time, but then I see his face or hear his voice and I remember it's real.” Kurt said with a dreamy look on his face.

“Well since we're on the subject of Blaine now, I'm curious about something. Because I think anyone who knows you can tell that things between you and Blaine have been really good lately. So I am wondering what caused that...” Mercedes began as she smirked at Kurt.

“What exactly do you mean by that?” Kurt asked her suspiciously, he could already tell he was beginning to blush.

“I mean have you two slept together yet?” Mercedes asked.

Kurt just stared at her at a moment, hardly believing she had just come right out and asked him that. He could feel his face flushing even redder now. “How can I... oh my god I can't believe you... honestly...” Kurt began to sputter in response.

“You owe me, Kurt.” Mercedes pointed out.

Kurt gave in and let out a large breath in defeat, “Fine, as long as this conversation doesn't leave this room. To answer your question, even though it is nobody’s business, while we have slept together, as in been asleep in the same bed once, we haven't had sex.” Kurt told her.

“Well that's surprising, considering how much you've been blissfully smiling at each other all week.”

“We've done some things... just not the final act of sex.”

“Whatever that means.” Mercedes replied with a smirk.

"Well if you don't know, I'm certainly not telling you!" Kurt blurted out.

He suddenly felt very tired and Kurt hid his face in the pillow he was holding in his moment of embarrassment. It was like the sex talk with his father all over again. “We decided to take things slow and not go all the way yet...”

“But do you want to? Go all the way I mean?” Mercedes asked him with a warm smile as she came to sit closer to him.

Kurt looked up and saw that Mercedes was giving himself a chance to be honest and talk about things like this, which he hadn't done with anyone except Blaine so far. Only for once this was something he couldn't talk to Blaine about, because it concerned him. So Kurt finally nodded, “Yes, I really do.” he told her softly. “I mean going slow was absolutely the right way to go at the beginning. But now I find myself wanting to do more, to experience everything with Blaine, I can't stop thinking of how amazing it would be.”

“Well, I am willing to bet that Blaine feels the exact same way, Kurt.” Mercedes told him.

Kurt glanced up from the pillow at her and smiled lightly, “Probably... but it's still easier said than done.”

“Meaning?”

“Well, for one I'm still too scared of the idea of having to go buy condoms and lube...I mean, what if someone who knows me sees me... or worse what if they know my dad. Or...oh my god what if my dad sees me! I can't take it... it's just... gah, too much to deal with at once!” Kurt muttered and he buried his head back into the pillow.

“Oh look at you right now, Kurt, it won't be that bad, considering what the reward is. But if it's that hard for you to face alone, I could go with you. Heck I'll even buy them myself if you chicken out.” Mercedes told him as she put her hands on his shoulder and shook him lightly.

Kurt gave in and put the pillow back down on Mercedes bed, “Oh that would be so much better, a gay guy having his straight friend, who's a girl, buy his protection so he can have sex with his boyfriend finally...” Kurt muttered with a chuckle. “Sorry, but you're right... I'm being silly... but actually I was thinking of even driving to the next town to get them. It’s stupid, I know. but it seems less embarrassing to me, so it would be nice to have someone keep me company during the trip.” Kurt explained.

“Say no more, it looks like we're going for a road trip tomorrow.” Mercedes said with a laugh.

“I'll even buy you some tots as a thank you.”
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Their road trip the next day turned out to a fun filled driving adventure, starting off with Kurt and Mercedes singing along to one of his cds for the entire drive. Once they reached their destination, which was a drug store, Kurt stepped inside and instantly felt very nervous. He walked through the store so awkwardly at first that Mercedes's began to chuckle and pushed at him, to force him to relax. Kurt still felt very embarrassed when he went through the cashier till with his purchase of lube and condoms. But he was relieved when the cashier lady hadn't made any comments and only smiled at him, which still caused Kurt to blush. Things had been easier when Mercedes's began to laugh and hang onto Kurt's arm like she was his adoring girlfriend. It had been hard not to break character and roll his eyes at her antics, since he hadn't asked her to do it.

Now they were back and headed to Kurt's room, where he quickly stashed his personal purchases in the best hiding place he could find. “Thank you Mercedes, all that is needed is now is to wait for the perfect time.” Kurt told her.

“When there's no risk of Finn or your dad walking in on you, I get it.” Mercedes replied with a wink.

“Don't even mention that Mercedes or I'm never going to be brave enough to get laid!” Kurt blurted out. Once he managed to calm down Kurt shook his head until he suddenly heard his phone's text alert noise, he brought it out and smiled. “It's Blaine, asking how our weekends going.” he told Mercedes.

“Shouldn't you tell him how he'll benefit from our shopping trip today?” Mercedes asked teasingly.

“Oh like I would...” Kurt muttered as began to text him in reply.

“Say why don't you invite him to join us, we could all go to bread sticks together?” Mercedes suggested.

Kurt stopped texting and looked up at her, “Are you sure? Isn't this supposed to be our weekend of just the two of us?” he asked.

Mercedes smiled and just took the phone out of Kurt's hand and began to dial Blaine's number. “Hey there Blaine, I figure I've hogged your boyfriend long enough. So why don't you come over and join us for dinner at bread sticks?” she asked Blaine.

“Well if you don't mind me being the third wheel sure.” Blaine replied.

“Oh like you'd be the third wheel in this, Blaine.” Mercedes said with a laugh.

Mercedes found herself a short while later sitting across from Kurt and Blaine at their booth at Breadsticks, and she was beginning to regret her decision to invite Blaine. She knew the boys weren't trying to make her the third wheel, but as she sat and listened to the both of them chatter endlessly away so much, it was like they were one person. As this continued Mercedes began to drift away until she swore every word they were saying ended up sounding like gay. She finally snapped out of her weird trance when Kurt called her name a couple of times. After asking the waitress for some tots Mercedes became optimistic when Blaine suggested they change their discussion to something she would be interested in. Only to have Kurt asked the both of them if they had read Patti LuPone's new book, causing her to roll her eyes as the happy couple began to gush over how amazing a book it was, because of course Blaine had read it too. Finally Mercedes's had reached her breaking point and decided to break the happy bliss up, if even for a moment. “You guys are so sweet, I feel like my teeth are gonna fall out.” Mercedes told them both.

Kurt and Blaine looked at each other and smiled, “That almost sounded like a compliment.” Kurt replied with a smirk.

“Considering she's been forced to listen to us gab away I can't blame her, Kurt.” Blaine pointed out.

“You're right I'm sorry, okay now we'll turn the tables. We'll be quiet and you do all the talking. You have our complete attention.” Kurt told her reassuringly.

Mercedes could only smile as she studied them, at the moment Kurt's arm was wrapped tightly around Blaine's waist and they were leaning into each other as close as physically possible. But she decided to give them a break since they were actually trying to listen now, so she began to talk with them and was delighted to see that this time, they did keep their word of being the ones to listen for once.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kurt was at his locker the next day at class when he noticed Mercedes's flash him a devious grin from her own locker beside him.

“Look what I snuck in.” She began, her grin widening.

Kurt gave her a curious look from his view point, but when it turned out to be a container of tatter tots he just gaped at her.

“My heart was racing.” Mercedes added as she walked over to him.

“Are you out of your mind? After what you did to Sue's LaCar? You're gonna end up in prison.” Kurt whispered to her.

“So? You know what they have in prison? Tots.”

“Things are going really well with Blaine, I truly love him and I'm sorry but he's always in my mind. I know it must get annoying but I couldn't stop it if I wanted do and I don't want to either. You are substituting food for love Mercedes and more importantly, you're substituting me for a boyfriend. Look at me, six months ago I thought there was no way I'd ever find someone like Blaine and there he was! You will find somebody, but until then, you just gotta take care of yourself. Yah know treat yourself with a little respect.” Kurt told Mercedes with an affectionate smile.

“You're right, I gotta go.” Mercedes replied.

As she turned and started to walk by, Kurt turned to face her, “Where?” he asked slightly concerned.

“I'm gonna go talk to that Anthony kid, first time I saw him I thought he was pretty cute. Maybe we have a shot.” Mercedes replied and gave Kurt a finale smile before walking off down the hallway.

Kurt simply watched her go until he felt a rough hand come on his shoulder and yank him around, to find himself looking at Karofsky.

“Question for you, you tell anyone else what happened? How you... kissed me.” David told him.

“You kissed me, Karofsky.” Kurt pointed out, which caused David to shush him and look around, clearly making sure no one overhead him. “And I understand how hard this is to deal with so no, I've only told Blaine and neither of us plans to tell anyone else.” Kurt added.

“Good, you keep it that way, cause if you do, I'm gonna kill you.” Karofsky told him, his gaze full of anger.

Just when Kurt thought there was nothing Karofsky could do to shock him anymore than when he had hate kissed him, he soon found out he was very wrong. At first Kurt just stood there still in complete shock from having just received an actual death threat. His mind instanly wanted to forget it had happened, but that was proving to be hard. Because as much as Kurt wanted to forget it, he knew he shouldn't. While his mind was conflicted with all of this, Kurt hadn't noticed that Blaine had come up to him and called his name.

“Kurt?” Blaine called to Kurt again, but slightly louder this time. When that got no response Blaine fought to keep himself from panicking as he shook Kurt's shoulder lightly. “What's wrong, why are you like this right now?” Blaine asked with concern as he scanned the hallways for any sign of David.

Kurt made himself snap out of it, touching Blaine's arm and force himself to smile. “It's nothing, I'm fine..” he answered.

It was easy to tell by reading Blaine's concerned face that he wasn't buying it, “Are you sure? Because your face sure doesn't look fine... so I'm wondering why you're lying to me when there's no reason to. You know you can tell me anything, Kurt.” Blaine told him softly.

Kurt could only sigh, “I know and I will, I promise. Only can it wait until we're alone after school?” Kurt asked him.

Blaine knew there would be no point in trying to pry whatever was bothering Kurt at that moment, so he simply nodded. “Sure.”

Kurt gave a sigh of relief and took hold of Blaine's arm after he closed his locker shut. “Come on, we have glee club next.” Kurt muttered as he led Blaine to the choir room.

Blaine once again just nodded and let the fact that Kurt had promised they would discuss it later put him at ease. So for now he would let it go, no matter how much his mind wanted to worry over what the problem could be. Blaine only hoped that when Kurt told him what was bothering him, it wasn't any of the horrible things that kept popping into his mind.

After school was finally over, Blaine had insisted they go straight to his house after they got their usual drinks at the Lima Bean. Because he had a hunch that whatever Kurt had promised to tell him, he didn't want an audience.

When they were finally alone together, Kurt was touched to see that Blaine didn't ask him about what had happened with David right away. Instead they found themselves discussing Mr. Schuester desire to have them sing 'Singing in the Rain' from the movie with the same name.

“Honestly I'm not surprised that we're the only ones excited about doing Singing in the Rain in glee club.” Kurt said as he followed Blaine into his bedroom.

“The fact that we both love the movie aside, it's also special because it was one the first things we watched after we first met.” Blaine added with a smile.

“Back when we were totally clueless to how we felt about each other.” Kurt said as he came over to give Blaine a long kiss.

It ended up taking five more equally long and passionate kisses for Blaine to realize Kurt was using his lips to prolong having to keep him promise to Blaine, and Blaine wasn't about to let him play dirty like this.

“Kurt... you're stalling...” Blaine said after they kissed again.

“You want me to stop then.” Kurt muttered as he pulled Blaine closer and began to kiss Blaine's neck.

“You can be so evil sometimes... but yes, we can continue this after.” Blaine hissed as he took hold of Kurt's shoulder and pulled him off his neck. “You promised after all.” Blaine told him and took Kurt's hand and pulled him towards the bed to sit down. “Start talking.” he commanded.

Kurt knew a lost cause when he saw one and gave in and let out a sigh as he took a seat next to Blaine on his bed. He had been dreading this all day, because he knew Blaine would freak out the second he told him about Karofsky. In all honestly, Kurt knew he should be doing the same thing, but he was still in shock and denial over what had happened. He knew telling Blaine would undo all the hard work he had done to push it all deep down and safely away from his mind. But keeping Blaine ignorant to all of this wouldn't help the either of them to recover from it, so he knew he had to tell Blaine the truth. “Alright sorry, I'll tell you Blaine. But only if you promise to let me finish before you do anything okay?” Kurt explained.

Blaine wasn't sure if he should be worried or amused at that, so he just nodded. “Deal, now talk to me Kurt, it's what we do best, well... aside from kissing.” Blaine added with a wink.

Kurt smiled weakly and grabbed hold of Blaine's hand with a firm grip, he figured Blaine would see it as him needing the support. When in reality it would stop Blaine from being able to bolt off like Kurt knew Blaine would want to. “When you came to see me at my locker earlier today... Karofsky had just been there.” Kurt began and then he hesitated as the memories began to flood back to him. “He asked if I had told anyone other than you about the kiss, which I said no... and then he said if I told anyone else he would...” Kurt began, but when he thought how Blaine would react he wasn't sure he could actually finish.

Blaine was getting really worried now, he placed his hand to cup Kurt's cheek and looked him right in the eye. “Kurt, tell me.” he pleaded.

“He said he'd kill me.” Kurt whispered.

Just as Kurt had guessed he was forced to watch Blaine's face turn from concern to horror and if he hadn't already been holding onto his arm, Blaine would already have been out of the door. But Kurt put all his weight into his grip as he fought to hold Blaine in place.

“Where are you going?” Kurt blurted out as he stood up and stopped Blaine completely.

“To tell someone, Kurt you have to! This isn't some joke, this is your life! He cannot get away with this!” Blaine shouted out in alarm.

Kurt just looked at him, the concern on his face was touching, but Kurt's mind filled with panic at his reaction. “No, Blaine... I can't... don't tell anyone, please.” Kurt pleaded.

“No, Kurt! Not this fucking time! I am not just going to sit here!” Blaine shouted at him.

“I didn't tell you so you could go get yourself killed, Blaine! You cannot tell anyone about this!” Kurt demanded as he yelled back just as loudly.

The face Blaine gave Kurt looked like he was a wounded deer in front of a hunter. Hurt and worry rush through him, but it didn't douse his rising anger.

“How can you ask me to do that, Kurt? How can you just act like it's nothing? Don't you care about yourself or those who cares about you? First the kiss, now this... it's wrong! and I can't, no I won't just sit here and do nothing about it!”

“Blaine! It is my choice on how I want to deal with this, it happened to me. So please calm down and listen to my reasons!” Kurt shouted back.

“So why did you even bother to tell me if you've made your mind up?”

“Because I thought I could trust you!” Kurt shouted at the top of his lungs. But as Kurt began to breath heavily from the effort of having to yell so loud, he looked over at Blaine and he instantly regretted everything he had just told his boyfriend.

Blaine was somehow angry and worried at the same time as he just stood in front of Kurt with his mouth wide open. All he wanted, all he had ever wanted was for Kurt to be safe and that to him meant keeping Kurt away from David, as far as possible. To see him get expelled and no longer be able to hurt the person he loved so desperately, emotionally or physically. But here was Kurt, asking him to stay silent and do nothing to help him. As much as he loved Kurt, at that moment he was simply shocked at how selfish he was being. It was like his life didn't matter to him and Blaine couldn't barely take it all in. He knew he shouldn't have yelled at Kurt in his anger, but he was at such a loss, Blaine had no idea to react to it all.

“This is your life, Kurt... I can't.” Blaine whispered and yanked his arm out of Kurt's grasp and began to storm towards his bedroom door.

“I am begging you don't do this, Blaine! Just listen to me!” Kurt shouted.

Blaine froze, his hand already on the doorknob, all it would take for him to start to secure Kurt's safety was to leave that room and go tell someone, anyone about what Karofsky had said to him. But as he turned to face Kurt and saw the desperation his beautiful face held, he simply gave up completely and felt himself begin to cry, as he fought to find the right words to make Kurt understand how insane he was being.

“Kurt, if something was to happen to you and I did nothing to stop it... I couldn't... I could never forgive myself. If he actually hurt you or tried to...” Blaine began, but when he was faced with the idea of Kurt being killed he had reached his limit. He simply lost all control he had been clinging to and became an emotional wreck. Something that he had never let Kurt see before, not even when Burt had been ill. Blaine couldn't help but remember when he had been lying on the cold ground after he had beaten up after his old schools dance. Which lead him to picturing Kurt lying there beside him, as a bruised mess with no signs of life left in him. Blaine let out a frustrated cry as he slammed into the wall beside him, doing nothing as he slid down to collapse on the floor. Still crying, Blaine put his head between his legs and hid his face with his arms as he brought them to cover over his head. He didn't want Kurt to see him like this, as he wept hysterically and felt so weak and pathetic.

Kurt felt totally helpless as he watched Blaine totally close himself from the world and realized he was crying too. Only seeing Blaine finally break down completely made Kurt recover enough to want to help Blaine pick up the pieces of his broken control. He slowly walked over to where Blaine stat crumbled up and crying and hovered over him. Unsure if Blaine could be reached yet, but he wasn't going to give up and not try to comfort him, he touched Blaine's shoulder lightly but when Blaine didn't respond Kurt sighed. This wasn't going to be easy. “Blaine, honey, it's okay, I'm fine...” Kurt told him soothingly.

“For now... but...” Blaine muttered softly.

“How could I let you get like this, Blaine?” Kurt muttered as he came to take hold of Blaine, resting his forehead on the top of Blaine's arms that covered his head still. “Don't you feel guilty now because I yelled just as loudly. But please, Blaine. you promised to let me finish, I know this sounds crazy but... I don't want to tell anyone else about what Karofsky told me. But that didn't stop me from wanting to tell you. I don't want any lies between us, Blaine, ever, not when our safety is concerned. I know it's selfish of me and I know it sounds insane to you. But please... try to understand. Because what if I did let you go right now? What if you went and told someone and Karofsky finds out you did? What if you end up getting hurt or worse because of it? Then I couldn't forgive myself if you got hurt because of me. I do value my life, Blaine, more than you'll ever know but I value yours just as much. His threat to kill me is huge, I know, but it's just words, Blaine, and I don't think he meant it. Sure, it terrified me and I'm scared and he tried to act like he meant it. But no matter how much of a bully he is, he is not a killer, Blaine. He's a scared boy who is lost just like the rest of us.” Kurt explained to Blaine.

Blaine finally relaxed his arms and pushed Kurt's hold on him away so he could pull his head up to look at him. “What if you're wrong, Kurt?” he asked him.

Kurt brought his arms to encircle Blaine's tiny crouched up frame and pulled him into his arms. “I know I'm asking a lot, Blaine, but please, can you promise me you won't tell anyone? For me?” he pleaded, hating himself for what he was asking Blaine to do. But it somehow seemed to be the right decision. Because he knew that telling someone wouldn't do anything, but Karofsky finding out that he had told someone, could have something very scary happen. Something Kurt refused to think about happening because it was too painful.

Blaine looked up at him and took hold of Kurt with all his might, pressing his head against Kurt's chest. “Only if you promise me that if Karofsky does anything else, anything at all, anything that would cross the line. That you will tell everyone, the principal, your dad… everyone. Kurt. Because if you don't, then I will, no matter what the consequences to our relationship are.” Blaine told him.

“I promise, Blaine. I promise you with all my heart. I am so sorry to ask this. Just this once, do this for me, because you love me... even when I am asking something so selfish.” Kurt said.

Blaine let go of Kurt slightly so he could gaze into his eyes, “Yes you're being selfish. Kurt. But my break down aside I can see why... or almost. So I'm going to stay quiet, because I trust you and I want you safe. But that doesn't mean I'm going to just step aside and do nothing... okay? But we shouldn't be fighting or yelling at each other over this. Because that would only make the bullies win and I will not let that happen. They will not take you from me, I won't let them, Kurt, no matter what it takes.”

“I don't know what I did to deserve you, but whatever it is, I am truly grateful for it. Because here you are being so worried for my wellbeing and you still are able to accept what I want. You have to know that you being with me has affected me so much more than anything Karofsky has ever done or said to me. No matter what he does, Blaine, he can't stop me from loving you. And do you know why?”

Blaine gave him a weak smile and kissed him, “Because no matter what, love defeats hate.”

“It might not always, but for us it does.” Kurt added.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It had taken them the whole night and the following school day to have fully recovered from their emotional outbreak the day before. But Kurt and Blaine were determined to remain brave during it all and not give in. Them having to focus to work on their big musical number for Glee club ended up being a big help in distracting them enough to bounce back fully. So when they both headed to the locker room, soaked to the bone from being rained on during an entire song, their playful banter had returned to them.

“Well that was by far the funnest group number I've done so far.” Blaine laughed as he and Kurt towel off their wet hair in the guys locker room after they had finished changing out of their wet clothing.

“It certainly was the most elaborate, so much that I doubt we'll be able to do it for Sectionals.” Kurt said in agreement.

“It might be a bit too much yeah.” Blaine added with a laugh. He then saw Kurt was smiling at him lovingly, he glanced at the other guys from glee, who were short distance away but not paying attention to him and Kurt.

“What's with the look?” he asked playfully.

Kurt grinned and strolled over to Blaine and took hold of both his hands in his own, he wished he could do more but with their current company he knew it wasn't the right place for that yet.

“I was just thinking how it's like you're my umbrella, Blaine. That no matter how hard the rain might fall... it's okay because I always have you there, ready to protect me and keep me dry.” Kurt told him with a grin.