"Do the Warblers do show choir competitions? I've never seen you at any of the ones my Glee club was at."

Kurt and Blaine were sitting together in the boarder's dining room at a table with some of the Warblers having dinner. Kurt had been braced for typical school cafeteria food but it was actually pretty good; he guessed a school like this could afford decent chefs.

Blaine took a sip of water, "We do, and we won our last Sectionals competition but were forced to pull out of Regionals at the last minute when half of us came down with a virus." He set his glass down on the table, "We were probably going to be competing against each other. What was your Glee club called?"

Kurt stabbed at a piece of carrot with his fork, "The New Directions."

Blaine frowned slightly as he thought, "That's from-"

"McKinley." Kurt finished for him.

Blaine was silent for a minute, concentrating on his food, and then he raised his head up to look at Kurt again. "Do you miss them?"

Kurt thought of Mercedes, who he had gotten friendly with before, in a panic, he had been forced to stop returning her calls, stop walking to class with her, and start sitting up the back of the choir room by himself. He thought of Rachel and how lucky it was that he was able to cut off their friendship on the pretence that she was his competition for solos and they were both divas at times. He had been careful that the Glee members were nothing more than acquaintances or casual friends and had spent a lot of meetings in silence, sitting by himself, playing on his phone.

"No, I don't miss them. I hated that school; I needed to get out of there." Realising he may have said too much, Kurt clamped his mouth shut and fixed his attention on his food.

Blaine was still watching him, "What was so bad about it?"

Kurt hunched over his plate, pushing food around it with his fork. "Just...the standard of teaching was poor, the teachers didn't care, and the vast majority of students were like sheep to the bitchy cheerleaders and the Neandertals that were the football team. A student could be beaten to a pulp in front of them and they wouldn't bat an eyelid." Kurt snapped his mouth shut, once again he had said too much. But there was something about Blaine that made him want to tell him everything. Blaine just stared at him, an unreadable expression in his eyes; Kurt felt a blush staining his cheeks.

"Are you finished eating?" Blaine asked softly.

Kurt nodded, pushing his plate away, knowing he couldn't escape the upcoming conversation.

"Let's go upstairs," Blaine said quietly, standing up. "We'll be able to talk in peace there."

Kurt followed Blaine up the stairs to where the boarder's bedrooms and common room were. Blaine peered around the doorway of the common room, saw there were a couple of boys inside who had obviously finished dinner early, and shook his head. He led the way to the bedroom he shared with Wes, knowing it would be empty as Wes was still at dinner. Sitting down on his bed and indicating that Kurt should do the same, Blaine sent a quick text to Wes telling him to stay out of their room for a while, before turning to face Kurt.

Kurt was perched on the edge of the bed, staring down at his hands which were twisted together on his lap.

"Kurt, why did you transfer to Dalton?"

Kurt bit his lip, still looking down at his hands and didn't answer.

Blaine shuffled a little closer to him on the bed, "Kurt, were you bullied at your old school?"

Blaine had been suspecting it since English class. Kurt seemed quiet and withdrawn, he flinched when someone stumbled beside his desk and had to catch themselves on the back of his chair, he winced when another student had slammed their locker shut, and had kept glancing around nervously when they had been in the dining hall. Blaine had been bullied at his old school and had transferred to Dalton because of it, so he recognised the signs.

"Yes, I was bullied, pretty badly, one guy even threatened to kill me."

Blaine gasped at this, he couldn't help it, and Kurt turned his eyes up to meet his.

"I got the standard slushy tosses for being in Glee club, but I also got the hateful slurs flung at me constantly in corridors and classrooms, got tossed in dumpsters, shoved into lockers..." Kurt held back a sob, squeezing his eyes shut to try and hold back the tears that the memories had caused.

Blaine moved closer to Kurt and, after a second's hesitation, placed an arm around his shoulders. Kurt sat rigid for a moment, before he lent into Blaine's side, tears now sliding down his face. Even though Kurt had only met Blaine today, he felt like he could trust him more than he had ever trusted anyone other than his parents. It sounded silly but there was something about Blaine that Kurt couldn't describe.

Blaine held Kurt for a few minutes, rubbing his arm and just letting him cry. When Kurt's tears stopped, Blaine spoke.

"I was bullied as well, similar stuff to what you got but minus the slushies. I was also locked in a janitor's closet for hours and got beaten up outside a school dance because I had taken another guy as my date."

Kurt sat up straighter, "You mean, you're gay...as well?"

Blaine nodded, his eyes still on Kurt.

"Kurt, I've been through everything you have and Dalton is an amazing school, no one here will judge you, there are several other openly gay students here. It will take some time but it will get better for you, I promise."

Kurt's eyes met Blaine's.

"You'll soon stop flinching every time a locker door is slammed, you'll stop having nightmares, and you'll start being yourself again. Until then, I'm here to help you get through this."

Kurt held Blaine's gaze, a smile spreading across his face, "Thank you."