Chapter 12

October was passing in a blur of remarkably similar days, filled with school, Rocky Horror rehearsals, coffee at the Lima Bean, and movie nights. The only thing that seemed to be changing, was the increasingly hateful expression Karofsky was wearing every time he passed Kurt or Blaine – and especially, the two of them together – in the McKinley hallways. His resentment was growing along with the slurs he would throw at them, and the force with which he shoved them into lockers, whenever no teacher was in sight.

Neither Kurt, nor Blaine mentioned Karofsky’s continued attacks to Finn, but the boy happened to witness one of the many times Kurt was pushed into a wall. Having shoved the bully back, and checked if his friend wasn’t injured, Finn went straight to Coach Beiste. But as much as she sympathized with the victims, there was nothing she could do, but talk to Karofsky and make him sit the next game out.

Everybody else in the faculty seemed oblivious to any of Karofsky’s actions. He was always careful not to be seen by teachers, and surprisingly, became more violent, when his footballer friends weren’t there. Kurt suspected it gave him an additional sense of power to be able to toss them around like rag dolls without any help, and soon both he and Blaine realized that running into Karofsky with Azimio or some other jock was a lesser threat than stumbling upon Dave when he was alone.

To Kurt’s astonishment, one of the people who seemed the most concerned with the bullying, was Rachel. As days slipped by, he found himself spending more and more time with her, Blaine usually tagging along. The girl was sincerely worried they could get hurt by the shoving into solid metal and bricks, and Kurt soon decided she wasn’t quite the pain in the ass he’d always taken her for. It didn’t take much longer for her to be invited to one of the boys’ movie nights, during which Kurt ended up borrowing Aileen’s nail enamel to paint Rachel’s toenails.

Rehearsing Rocky Horror set everyone in the mood for Halloween. Kurt was resolved on having fun on the holiday, despite the bullying that was becoming a bigger problem with each passing day. Nothing could spoil trick-or-treating for him. Most of the Glee club was going together, so he felt safe enough to really enjoy it.

The costumes he and Blaine were going to wear caused the latter a little confusion when Kurt announced his idea.

‘You get all annoyed when people take us for a couple, and then you get us matching costumes?,’ he said incredulously, looking at the two replicas of Hogwarts robe sets.

‘Oh, come on, Blaine, it’s different. We’re going as Harry and Ron, it’s perfect and you love it, admit it.’ Kurt rolled his eyes, just to switch his expression into puppy dog face a second later.

It was hard to deny that the idea was very appealing to Blaine, and it did fit for them to dress as friends devoted to each other for life and death. That was certainly something that they were.

‘Alright,’ he sighed finally, knowing there was no convincing Kurt. ‘So who’s Harry, who’s Ron?’

Kurt jumped up and clapped his hands together cheerfully, before sending Blaine a disbelieving look.

‘You’re Harry, obviously. You look exactly like the guy from the Potter musicals, you have to be Harry.’

Blaine chuckled, picking up a pair of glasses that were part of his costume.

‘You’re gonna have to lose the gel,’ Kurt said, reaching to ruffle his friend’s hair, but he ducked.

‘No way.’ He paused, the glasses still in his hand. ‘Aren’t you worried there will be more wand jokes and the like after this?’

Kurt’s eyes fell to the costumes, clearly avoiding looking into Blaine’s for a moment. But when his gaze returned to his friend’s face, it was steady and resolved.

‘I guess there’ll be more of that, yes. Actually, they gave me the idea. That and your insistence on a Harry Potter movie marathon last week. But if they want to pick on us, they will. We could go as- I don’t know- anything really, and they’d figure out a way to tease us about it. So, we’re going trick-or-treating in matching costumes, as the kind of best friends that we are and we will not let them spoil it.’

The speech made him run out of breath, but he kept his eyes firmly fixed on Blaine, who was slightly surprised by it.

‘You know,’ he said, taking a step towards Kurt, ‘you’re probably the bravest person I know.’

Kurt snorted; Blaine wasn’t being funny at all.

‘I’m serious, Kurt. A year ago you were still in the closet, you were terrified that people would find out, and look at you now. Standing up to bullies, not letting them break you down. All out and proud.’ His lips had begun to twitch up, but wavered, his expression becoming more of a grimace. ‘I just wish it didn’t put you- or me- anyone in any danger.’

They looked each other in the eye for a minute, before Kurt shrugged, a little bit discouraged.

‘But we’re not going alone, there’s nothing to worry about.’

‘I know, I’m a little paranoid.’ Blaine’s smile was coming back. ‘This is why we’re going.’

***

The afternoon of the 31st passed on helping Finn and Rachel with their costumes – especially their make-up – and preparing candy for Burt and Carole to give to the children. Kurt had carved a couple of pumpkins a few days ago and set them symmetrically on the Hummel porch. No tacky skeletons would ever decorate his home.

Everyone was supposed to meet at the Hummels’ and proceed down the street. They all agreed that Halloween wouldn’t be quite as much fun without trick-or-treating – and then stuffing themselves with empty calories. Even Kurt didn’t really mind that once a year.

Mercedes was the first one to show up and present her Whitney Houston costume, to Kurt’s highest praise. Tina and Mike followed soon after in matching Nightmare Before Christmas outfits, neither recognizable at first glance in their thick layers of make-up. When the three Cheerios arrived along with Sam, Finn couldn’t hold back a whistle at the sight of Santana in a tiny skirt, fishnets and a corset that constituted her Burlesque-inspired costume. Quinn only rolled her eyes, which gesture didn’t go quite well with her Cinderella dress. Brittany had to examine each and every single one of them to figure out who was whom.

‘I see you embraced your monstrosity, Frankenteen,’ Santana said mockingly at Finn in his Frankenstein costume, then cast her eyes over Rachel, who was dressed as Elphaba from Wicked. ‘Oh, you’re colour-coordinating, cute.’ She turned back to Kurt, who was wearing his ridiculously red wig and robe. ‘Red hair and a hand-me-down robe? You must be a Weasley.’ She smirked at him, as he was trying to overcome his shock at her perfect quote from the movie.

‘Okay, since we’re all here,’ Kurt started, beaming at his friends, ‘why don’t we go and get some treats.’

They walked from one house to the next, usually sending Brittany in her Tinker Bell dress and wings to get candy, while the rest chatted and joked around. From time to time someone would strike up a song from Rocky Horror or Nightmare Before Christmas, or whatever they found fitting the mood. Everything was perfectly gleeful.

Until they saw a few teenage boys in McKinley letterman jackets and zombie masks running around the street and sending little kids running in the opposite direction and screaming.

‘That’s real mature,’ Kurt muttered to Blaine, as he took a closer look at the jocks. ‘It’s them. Azimio, Karofsky and co,’ he added in a hushed voice.

By then both groups were aware of each other. Even though nobody could see the bullies’ faces because of their masks, Kurt was convinced there were mocking smiles behind them. He could feel Blaine shrink right next to him, grasping his arm tightly. The grip was almost bone-breaking and Kurt gulped; it wasn’t out of pain, but the realization of how much this had to remind Blaine of the time when he got attacked.

‘It’s fine, Blaine, you hear me? It’s all gonna be fine,’ Kurt murmured soothingly to his friend, catching the hand that was digging into the flesh of his arm.

Blaine was close to hyperventilating. He managed somehow to nod infinitesimally, as he repeatedly told himself in his mind that he was safe, that nothing would happen. Nothing was going to happen. But flashes from two years earlier kept rushing through his mind, making him dizzy and nauseous. Kurt’s presence right next to him, and the group of friends that now practically encircled them, keeping them shielded from the jocks, made it a little easier, and Blaine’s breath began to get back to normal.

‘Hey, you freaks!,’ shouted Azimio from across the street. ‘You checking other freaks out if they didn’t outfreak you?’

Karofsky chuckled, but fell silent as he saw the boys standing in the middle. He hesitated for a couple of seconds and turned to Finn.

‘What are you now, a bodyguard?’ His voice was ice cold, but seemed much less certain than usually.

‘If I have to be,’ Finn replied with a hard expression on his face.

Azimio snorted, drawing Karofsky’s attention away from the Glee clubbers.

‘You coming, Karofsky? We got better things to do than hanging out with ‘em.’

The jocks went away, disappearing around the nearest corner, but none of the others moved. The street became eerily quiet, all kids scared away by Azimio, Karofsky and their sidekicks. Blaine was still slightly trembling, clutching Kurt’s arm firmly and trying to steady his breath.

‘Guys?,’ Kurt’s voice finally broke the silence. ‘I guess we’re gonna be off. I’ll get Blaine home, it’s just a few blocks away, so…’

He wasn’t sure if it was the best idea, but felt his friend needed a moment to compose himself, and getting home seemed like a good idea.

Rachel prodded Finn and motioned towards the two boys with her head.

‘Um, I’ll walk you,’ Finn mumbled.

‘You don’t have to, Finn, really,’ Blaine said in a weak voice.

‘Yes, he does.’

And as Rachel wouldn’t have it any other way, the three of them were pushed towards Aileen’s house. The walk passed in silence, with Kurt peeking at Blaine every half minute to make sure he was feeling better.

Finn left as soon as Kurt and Blaine were inside the dark house. Aileen was at a Halloween party a friend of hers was throwing, for which her nephew was thankful; he really wasn’t up for her deep psychological questions right now. And he knew she’d see something was up.

Once in his room, Blaine collapsed onto his bed, tearing the glasses off his face. The funny thing was, he really did have fun. Until that unfortunate encounter, he really enjoyed himself. But the memories of past experiences were just forcing themselves on him too strongly to appreciate the fun he’d had earlier that evening.

‘I’m sorry.’ Kurt’s voice resounded in the silence, despite its minimal volume. ‘For making you go.’

Blaine swallowed, hoping his own voice wouldn’t break mid-sentence.

‘It’s not your fault. It’s nobody’s fault. Apart from…’

‘Apart from the people who beat you up,’ Kurt finished for him.

‘Yeah, apart from them.’

Without another word, Kurt threw his red wig aside and slipped onto the bed next to Blaine.

When Aileen came back around two in the morning and went in to check on her nephew, she found the boys sleeping soundly, wrapped in one another’s arms.