Kurt woke up on Sunday feeling a great sense of relief and freedom. It took a few seconds for the last vestiges of sleep to leave his head and him to remember why he felt this way. He had told his Dad the truth; he no longer had to hide from him. Except that he and Blaine were dating. He felt bad about that but he knew his Dad would barely leave him and Blaine alone if he knew they were together – it was bad enough now when he only suspected it. Still, it nagged at him that he was still keeping a secret from his Dad.

Pushing his bedding back he got up and headed for the bathroom to get ready for the day. As he did his hair the nerves for what he was planning to do today began to kick in. He hadn't spoken to anyone from New Directions in months, and the last time he had spoken to any of them he hadn't exactly been pleasant. Hearing a knock on his bedroom door he left the bathroom, giving his hair one last tweak before hurrying to answer the door.

"Morning!" Blaine greeted him cheerfully, the usual huge grin on his face.

"Sleep well?" Kurt's smile matched the one on Blaine's face.

"Very well, thanks."

They went to the kitchen for breakfast to find Burt already up and drinking coffee at the table.

"Morning boys," He said without looking up from his paper.

Kurt turned to Blaine. "I feel like making pancakes, do you want pancakes?" He began pulling ingredients out of the fridge.

"I love pancakes!" Blaine appeared at Kurt's side at the counter. "Can I help?"

Kurt eyed him critically. "Can you cook?"

Blaine pretended to look insulted. "Of course I can cook." He muttered something else under his breath but Kurt decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and handed him a bowl and set him to work.

"I'm stuffed," Blaine announced from where he was sprawled on his back on Kurt's bed. "Your pancakes are amazing."

When Kurt didn't say anything in reply he sat up quickly. Kurt was sitting in front of his laptop, drumming his fingers nervously on his desk. Blaine moved over to stand beside him. "What's wrong?"

Kurt fidgeted with the hem of his shirt. "I deleted the phone numbers of everyone from New Directions, so I'm going to have to try and contact them through Facebook. I'm not sure if I feel better or worse about that."

Blaine placed a hand on Kurt's shoulder, rubbing it comfortingly as Kurt opened up Facebook.

"I haven't used Facebook in months." Kurt commented as he typed Mercedes' name into the search bar. He clicked on her profile and scanned down the page, frowning slightly.

"Looks like the New Directions are doing a performance at a charity event this afternoon." Blaine said, pointing at the screen.

Kurt sighed. "I guess it would be better if I did this face-to-face, but it's a lot more nerve-wracking facing all of them at once, especially after a performance.

Blaine rubbed at his chin with the hand that wasn't resting on Kurt's shoulder, his eyes still on the post on Mercedes' wall about the performance. "Surely they will all split up at some point, even if it's only when they are about to go home, you can go talk to Mercedes then."

Kurt nodded slowly. "Alright." He jotted down the details of the charity event and then shut down his laptop. He stared down at the piece of paper he had just written on before suddenly reaching out and pulling Blaine down onto his lap, causing Blaine to yelp in surprise. "You're so small." Kurt remarked, resting his head on Blaine's.

Blaine tried to pout but the effect was lost when he shivered as Kurt started playing with his hair.

"Do you know what you're going to say to Mercedes?" Blaine asked, tracing patterns on Kurt's arm.

"I have an idea, yes." Kurt wound one of Blaine's curls around his finger. "You really shouldn't plaster your hair to your head with gel; your hair looks good without it. Plus all that gel combined with your outfits makes you look about twelve."

Blaine raised a hand to touch his hair self-consciously. "I feel scruffy when I don't have gel on." He chose to ignore Kurt's last comment.

"It's hot when you're scruffy." Kurt's voice was low and husky, causing Blaine to shudder.

Turning his head to the side, Blaine pressed a kiss to the soft skin of Kurt's neck and felt Kurt let out a shuddering breath. Kurt placed a hand under Blaine's chin to tilt his head up before bending down to kiss him, his mouth moving slowly against Blaine's. Just when the kiss began to get a little more heated, there was the sound of footsteps on the stairs and Kurt and Blaine jumped apart, Blaine leaping off Kurt's lap and throwing himself down onto the bed.

Burt appeared in the doorway, peering a little suspiciously into the room. "What are your plans for today?" He surveyed the two boys with narrowed eyes.

Blaine tried not to look too flustered and fought against the blush threatening to stain his cheeks after almost being caught as Burt's eyes swept over him.

"New Directions are performing at a charity event today so we're going to go to that and I'm going to try and get back in contact with my old friends." Kurt somehow managed to sound nonchalant – Blaine guessed he must be a pretty good actor from years of pretending he didn't care about people.

Burt nodded. "That's good, I'm glad you're making amends with them."

There were several long minutes of awkward silence.

"I'll leave you boys to it then." Burt turned and headed back down the stairs.

Kurt rolled his eyes at Blaine. "He doesn't trust us to be alone together without having sex one little bit."

Blaine coughed and looked away, the blush he had managed to keep at bay finally colouring his face.

The park where the charity event was being held was crowded by the time Kurt and Blaine arrived. Stalls selling food, drinks, and trinkets formed a large horseshoe shape with a small stage in the centre on which, Kurt presumed, the New Directions would be performing later. This was Lima's largest charity event and Kurt was both surprised and impressed that his old Glee club had managed to be able to perform here – he imagined it was mostly Rachel's doing, she could be extremely persuasive.

The colourful bunting strung between the trees flapped in the gentle breeze as Kurt and Blaine walked slowly down the nearest line of stalls, weaving their way around people carrying bags, a family pushing a stroller, and a line of young children waiting at a face-painting stall. As they neared the stage, Kurt spotted a sign announcing the acts and their performing times erected next to it. With Blaine hurrying through the crowd behind him, Kurt approached the sign, scanning down the various acts until he saw the New Directions.

"They're performing at 2.30." He told Blaine, pointing at the sign. "What time is it now?"

Blaine checked his watch. "1.45pm."

"We can look around the stalls until then." Kurt said as he and Blaine moved away from the stage.

They made their way around the stalls, Kurt nervously keeping an eye out for any members of New Directions; he only wanted to talk to Mercedes today, he couldn't face the others yet. A teenage couple cut across in front of them and Kurt watched them stroll over to a food stall hand-in-hand jealously. He wished he could hold Blaine's hand in public without having to worry about disgusted looks or comments. Blaine smiled sadly when Kurt met his eyes and Kurt knew he was thinking the same thing.

When 2.30pm drew closer, Kurt and Blaine made their way over to the stage where a small crowd had already begun to gather in anticipation of the upcoming performance. Kurt stood at the back of the crowd behind a group of fairly tall people so he couldn't be easily seen from the stage. He supposed a good few of the New Directions would ignore him if they saw him, but he was sure some of the others would come up to him and he didn't want a group of them approaching him after they were finished performing.

Rachel was the first out on the stage to announce the New Directions. The rest of the group filed out quickly as the music started and they went on to perform several numbers, finishing with an old favourite of the group, the song that kicked off the Glee club, 'Don't Stop Believin''. A fairly large crowd had assembled in front of the stage to watch – all cheering loudly when the final song ended – and Kurt found himself feeling proud of how far his old Glee club had come. Rachel thanked the audience and asked them to continue to spend money at the stalls or donate and support the good cause, before the New Directions left the stage to a final applause.

"We'll watch and see where Mercedes goes; hopefully they'll all split up and not walk around in a big group." Blaine tugged on Kurt's sleeve, pulling him to the edge of the slowly dispersing crowd so they could see the back of the stage better.

Kurt could see Rachel standing in the centre of the group, gesturing with her hands as she spoke – probably either critiquing someone else's performance or gushing about her own. Mercedes stood near the back of the group next to Sam and was engaged in a conversation with him rather than listening to Rachel. Suddenly, the group broke up, Rachel dragging Finn off in one direction whilst everyone else drifted off in twos or threes. Kurt kept his eyes on Mercedes as she and Sam made their way over to one of the stalls, still talking.

"Hurry up and ditch peroxide head." Kurt muttered to himself as he and Blaine edged closer to Mercedes and Sam, keeping out of the pair's sight.

"Peroxide head?"

Kurt glanced over at Blaine and indicated Sam's hair with a wave of his hand. "He clearly dyes his hair."

Blaine laughed softly, shaking his head. "If you say so."

Mercedes and Sam moved over to the next stall and Kurt and Blaine followed, still keeping out of sight.

"I have three gifts, Blaine." Kurt explained, his eyes still trained on Mercedes and Sam. "My voice, my ability to spot trends in men's fashion, and my ability to know when it comes from a bottle." He nodded at Sam.

Blaine smiled at him. "Have I ever told you how adorable you are?"

"Yes, but I never tire of it."

Blaine let out a small sigh. "I would kiss you now but I doubt it would go down well here, sadly."

Kurt smiled sadly at him. "You can save it for when we are back at my house." He caught sight of Sam walking across the park out the corner of his eye, Mercedes wasn't with him.

Blaine followed his gaze. "Let's go quickly whilst she's alone!"

Kurt hesitated, his stomach churning again.

Blaine took his hand, not caring that they were in public, and pulled Kurt towards where Mercedes was standing examining some home-made jewellery for sale. "You're not backing out of this now."

They reached Mercedes and Blaine let go of Kurt's hand. "Excuse me, Mercedes?"

Mercedes turned to face them, her eyes landing on Blaine first, a puzzled look crossing her face, and then she saw Kurt.

"Kurt?" She sounded shocked and a little wary.

Blaine nudged him slightly and Kurt cleared his throat. "Uh hey, Mercedes." She continued to stare at him. "I saw you and the rest of New Directions perform earlier – you guys were great."

Mercedes' eyes flicked to Blaine briefly before returning to Kurt. "What are you doing here? Talking to me that is. You haven't spoken to me in months, even when we were in Glee and classes together, and I'm pretty sure the last time you did talk to me you insulted me."

Kurt bit the inside of his lip. "I know this is probably too late and won't make up for everything I did and said, but I'm really sorry about all that Mercedes."

She crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow at him, her expression stony.

"I- I was going through a really rough time and I felt hopeless and isolated and I struggled to cope, so I took my pain out on other people."

Mercedes unfolded her arms, her expression now a mixture of concern, troubled, and slight annoyance. "What was wrong? And why did you never talk to me about it? I was supposed to be your best friend!"

"I know, Mercedes I know. I coped with it in completely the wrong way. I was stupid, I know that now. I had friends I should have trusted and turned to for help rather than suffering in silence."

"So what was it that caused all this?" Mercedes was completely focussed on Kurt, missing Blaine shifting nervously next to him.

"It was the bullying, it was a lot worse than I told you it was and I couldn't handle it. Eventually my Dad figured out what was going on and he let me transfer to Dalton Academy." Kurt avoided looking at Blaine.

Mercedes looked troubled. "I never realised it was that bad."

"You never could have known, I never told anyone. My Dad only found out after he accidently saw the bruises on my back and I had to tell him everything. As soon as it started getting really bad I started pushing everyone away and saying hateful things to anyone who spoke to me. You have no idea how much I regret all that." He paused. "I'm sorry, Mercedes."

"Everything is better now that you're at a different school? You're happier now?"

Kurt nodded. "Dalton is really strictly against bullying so I feel safe again and I've recovered from my experiences at McKinley." He glanced briefly at Blaine. "And yes, I'm a lot happier now."

Mercedes smiled at him. "I'm glad you are." She nodded at Blaine. "Are you a friend of Kurt's from Dalton?"

Blaine held out his hand, his usual charming smile on his face. "I'm Blaine, and yes, I am a friend of Kurt's from school."

"Nice to meet you." Mercedes shook Blaine's hand. "I'm glad Kurt is making friends again." She glanced over her shoulder. "Do you want me to go fetch Rachel or any of the others?"

Kurt shook his head. "No, I can't face anyone else today. I'll talk to them all eventually, but I just wanted to talk to you to begin with."

"How about we meet up for coffee tomorrow? If you want I could bring Rachel so you aren't facing her on your own."

Kurt hesitated then nodded; there was no point in dragging it out much longer. "Ok, how about we meet around eleven?" He glanced at Blaine again. "Do you mind if Blaine comes?"

"Eleven is fine, and Blaine can come if he wants."

Kurt nodded. "Good, well we'll see you and Rachel tomorrow. Oh, and I would prefer you kept this to yourself for now, if you need to tell Rachel then do it at the last minute as she can sometimes struggle with keeping things secret."

Mercedes smiled at him. "No problem, Kurt." Her gaze switched to something over Kurt's shoulder and Kurt knew without looking that it would be Sam walking towards them. "I'll see you both tomorrow." She gave them both one last smile before going to meet Sam.

Blaine looked on as Kurt searched through his DVD collection looking for a movie for them to watch.

"'Chicago'? 'The Wizard of Oz'? 'When Harry Met Sally'?" He held up each of the DVDs in turn.

Blaine shifted position slightly. "Why did you use the bullying as your way of explaining why you acted like you did? I know the part about your Dad seeing your bruises and letting you transfer was true, but I personally don't think I could use being bullied, something that affected me so much both physically and emotionally, in that way."

Kurt set the DVDs down, his shoulders drooping. "I didn't want to but it was the only thing I could think of that they would believe."

Blaine got off the bed and sat next to Kurt, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and pulling him against his chest. "I'm not judging you or angry at you for doing it – I know that you're been through a really hard time – I was just surprised."

"I hated doing it, but it was the only thing I could think of and I couldn't tell the truth." Kurt mumbled into Blaine's chest.

Blaine rubbed Kurt's back and placed a kiss on his forehead. "It's ok, Kurt I understand. I couldn't think of anything for you to tell them so I have no right to call you out for it."

"If you had done it I would have reacted the same way." Kurt lightly traced a line down Blaine's chest with his finger, smiling softly when it caused Blaine to shiver.

"I think we should watch 'When Harry Met Sally'." Blaine pulled the DVD out of the pile in front of them with his free hand.

Kurt smiled and moved to put the movie on. "'When Harry Met Sally' it is."