Kurt pulled into the car park and got out his Navigator, he'd pretty much pushed Blaine out of the car a couple of streets back in order to save the boy's reputation, Blaine had protested but Kurt had told him to get out before he chucked him out. He walked to his locker, shocked that he'd got this far without being abused.

His hands shook as he did the combination on his lock, truly amazed that nothing had happened thus far. He opened his locker and gasped. Out of his locker flew countless slips of paper in varying sizes, he caught a few and read what they said, feeling like the floor beneath him had disappeared.

Faggot.

Burn in Hell.

Unnatural.

Cock slut.

You disgust me.

Kurt turned, looking all around him, lost in a place he knew so well. Snickers resounded through the room as people looked at him, eyes full of hatred and pure revulsion. You disgust me. This had been all of them, they all hated him, were repulsed by him, thought he was an abomination because of something he couldn't control. He fell to the ground, his head swirling and his eyes admiring the varying handwriting on the notes.

A shadow crossed his face and he looked up just in time to be doused in five slushies. He cried out, his eyes burning and skin freezing, desperately trying to rid the stuff from his face so he could see. Well, if crying hadn't wrecked his moisturizing efforts, this certainly had. He thought, bitterly.

Kurt crawled away into a corner and just lay there, covered in corn syrup and shaking with the cold. He didn't know how long he was there, but after a while he just drifted off into unconsciousness, a place where he'd much rather be at the moment.

"Kurt?" A pair of strong arms grasped Kurt around his middle and pulled him to his feet, he tried to stand but his legs gave out and so the strong arms picked him up and dragged him off. "Guys...Guys! I've found him, he's in quite a mess." Kurt recognized the worried voice as Finn Hudson, the tall, good looking quarter-back who was also in Glee club.

"Oh my god, what the hell did they do to him?" said an angry voice and Kurt heard footsteps running towards him. "This is not happening. Those pricks.."

"No, Puck! Mr Schue said that when we find him we all have to go back," said Finn's voice, as he shifted Kurt in his arms.

"Dude, that's bullshit, I'm gonna go kick their asses." Kurt's eyes flickered, he could hear scuffling noises and then a resigned sigh. "Fine, but we're going to find those idiots once we've finished in Glee."

"You bet we are."

Warm air flushed against Kurt's skin as Finn carried him through into the choir room, he heard gasps of shock and squeals of horror. "Mr Schuester, we found him, he's not in a great way though, it looks like they super slushied him."

The room crowded around the dripping wet boy, as he opened a red, puffy eye. "M'sorry," Kurt mumbled, he would have cried but he was fairly sure he'd exhausted his tear ducts. A hand stroked his back.

"There's nothing to be sorry for, Kurt, it's not your fault, come on guys, lets give him some space," said Mr Schue, as he helped Kurt to his feet and supported him to a seat. "Do you want to tell us what happened?" Kurt shook his head, shivers coursing down his spine. There was only one person he wanted to talk to, only one person he wanted to reassure him, tell him it was going to be okay, but he wasn't there.

"I think we should take him to the nurse, he looks ill?" said a voice, unmistakably Rachel's.

"What about Figgins?" said another and soon suggestions were flying around the room, through which he could clearly hear Noah yelling 'kick their asses' angrily.

Kurt turned his head to find himself very close to Mercedes, his best friend within Glee club, she picked up one of the small slips of paper that had stayed on him due to the sticky nature of the slushie. The words were blurred, and her face contorted in her attempt to read it. "What are these?" she asked softly, but Kurt just shook his head. Mercedes raised an eye brow and unstuck another one from her friends hair. That one wasn't so smudged.

The whole room turned around and stared. Mercedes had screamed angrily and kicked the nearest empty chair, which skid across the room before crashing into a wall. "WHO THE HELL DID THIS TO YOU KURT?" she yelled. Mr Schue walked towards her, frowning, surprised by her utter insensitivity.

"Mercedes, yelling at Kurt isn't going to help anything, he's upset leave hi..."

"Read it." Mercedes thrust the piece of paper towards their teacher's hand, who looked at it warily, before taking it and reading it.

Abomination.

The man ripped the piece of paper into little shreds and the room froze, no one moved nor said anything, they just stood there and stared. Everyone of them knew what had happened the day before and it didn't take a genius to work out what kind of thing the paper must have said to alleviate that kind of response from their usually very calm teacher.

The tension in the room was palpable, Kurt felt as if he could reach out and grab it and strangle it. He wished that he could turn back time and stop his friends from finding the stupid slips of paper, he just felt embarrassed that the people he held so close to him had to see the horrible things that other people had said about him. He knew it was stupid, and that it wasn't his fault, but he couldn't help it.

The silence was disturbed by the sound of the door swinging open. The whole room turned to see a sweaty, curly-haired jock, still wearing his athletics gear, storm into the room. The Glee club closed ranks around their friend.

"What do you want Anderson?" growled Puck, walking towards the boy menacingly. Blaine gulped, Puck was a lot taller than him and besides he really didn't want to fight anyway. Then Blaine heard the most needing and scared voice he had ever heard. "Blaine?" it said, pulling hard on his heart strings.

Blaine pushed past the Glee members, who grumbled but didn't fight him, until he reached Kurt, who was sitting, dyed red and sticky, on a chair, looking thoroughly miserable. "Haven't you guys done enough damage?" asked Finn, the anger evident in his voice, but Blaine ignored him and knelt down next to Kurt, who wrapped his arms around the other boys curly-haired head and started moaning and crying.

"Shh, shh, shh," whispered Blaine picking the boy up and sitting back down with him on his lap, he hugged him and stroked his arm, hoping to God none of the boys from football saw him. "It's okay, it'll be okay, I've got you," he whispered, trying to hold back his own tears.

The rest of New Directions looked on in shear amazement, they'd all seen the two boys talk on occasion, but none of them knew just how close they were - though it explained why Kurt would never hear a word against him.

"You weren't in Math and I was worried, but I thought maybe you went home ill, but then some of the guys in football were saying...they were s-saying.." he took a deep breath in, redoubling his efforts not to cry. "what they'd done to you...and laughing and calling you..." He couldn't help it now, he just let go and felt the warm salty tears drip down his face and into his mouth.

Blaine looked down at his best friend, he hated seeing him like this, the worst part of it was how unhelpful he felt. He had no idea how to stop the storm of tears flooding down Kurt's face and it was killing him. Then suddenly he was doing something he really hadn't expected.

Once there was a way, to get back homeward,
Once there was a way, to get back home
Sleep pretty darling do not cry, and I will sing a lullaby
Golden slumbers fill your eyes, smiles awake you when you rise

Oh god. What was he doing? He was singing, he was singing to Kurt and Kurt was smiling through his tears at him. Well, at least he wasn't telling him to shut up, that was a good sign. He looked up in shock as he heard a guitar join in with his singing, and saw Puck strumming along a look of approval on his face, he nodded and Blaine nodded back.

Sleep pretty darling do not cry, and I will sing a lullaby
Once there was a way, to get back homeward,
Once there was a way, to get back home
Sleep pretty darling do not cry, and I will sing a lullaby

Blaine kissed his best friends head as a beautiful smile graced the boy's lips and he was grinning, he was grinning like a complete idiot. Everyone had started singing along and he was smiling and crying, this was too much, he was fairly sure that is heart was going to explode with the emotions that were going through him.

Boy you're gonna carry that weight, carry that weight for a long time
Boy you're gonna carry that weight, carry that weight for a long time
I never give you my pillow, I only send you my invitations
And in the middle of the celebrations, I break down

Kurt got to his feet pulling Blaine to his and now the whole room was dancing, singing and laughing. Blaine realized that he hadn't sang since middle school and even then he hadn't liked singing on his own, when his Dad had been around as a kid he'd always told him singing was for girls, that he shouldn't be doing it and punished him whenever he did.

Boy you're gonna carry that weight, carry that weight for a long time
Boy you're gonna carry that weight, carry that weight for a long time
Oh yeah, all right, are you gonna be in my dreams tonight?

Love you, love you, love you, love you, love you, love you, love you,
Love you, love you, love you, love you, love you, love you, love you,
Love you, love you, love you, love you, love you, love you, love you,
Love you, love you, love you
And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love, you make, Ah

The whole group broke down into laughter, smiling at the boy that not long before they'd thought was just another insensitive jock, Puck even went so far as to fist bump him. There was really a lot Kurt hadn't told them. Everyone was clapping and Blaine felt happier than he had in a long time, he was sharing something special with a load of people he hardly talked to, but he knew that was about to change.

The look on Mr. Schue's face was ecstatic as he practically bounced over to Blaine, hope filling his eyes. "So..." he said, and Blaine stared back at him, grinning. "How would you feel about joining the New Directions, Blaine? You have a beautiful voice and we would be honored if you would join us!"

Blaine's smile faltered a little, he knew that the other jocks would be furious, but he loved what had just happened, he loved the chance to perform and have fun, it had been something he'd missed out on when he was a kid and after all. He looked around the room at the happy faces staring back at him, no matter how much crap they got, they stuck with it. They kept going back. They were closer friends than you found in any other club or clique and his heart ached with the want to part of that.

His head was spinning. The choir room was blurring a little and all he could see in his imperfect vision were Kurt's eyes. Kurt's beautiful, hopeful eyes and that's what did it.

Everyone was silent and Blaine suddenly realized he was taking way to long to answer the question, he looked away from Kurt and up to Mr Schuester, grinning.

"So," he said. "When do I start rehearsals?"

The room exploded into general excitement. The only person who wasn't screaming or talking was Finn, he was just staring stonily forward, but in their enthused state no one really noticed. Rachel had grabbed Blaine's arm and sat him down next to her, whilst Kurt was hugging him and Puck was eying him with the deepest respect.

"You know, I've been needing a male vocalist like you for some time now," she said matter of factly, and Kurt just rolled his eyes. "Whilst those we already have are good, they don't quite have the tone you have that will go so perfectly with my own voice, what's your range like?"

Blaine looked completely dazzled by the new interest taken in him by the very loud and bouncing girl. She had a very strange fashion sense, he didn't think he'd ever seen someone over the age of five wear an animal sweater.

"It's Rachel, right?" he asked, remembering Kurt's whining about the girl, she nodded grinning, and Blaine noticed that she managed to show every single one of her very white teeth. She was pretty, he guessed as she continued in her one sided talk, maybe if she didn't talk so much, but not as pretty as Kurt, he added. Still there had to be a reason that the quarter-back was staring at her like a creep.

Glee rehearsal had been fun, Blaine had got to know everyone's names and soon enough Kurt had almost completely forgotten about the incident from earlier, or at least he didn't mention it. It was so isolated in the little choir room, they seemed like such a family, bickering a little, but ultimately caring for each other no matter what people said about them outside of Glee Club.

Blaine had picked up some vibes from Finn and decided that being too close to Rachel wasn't such a good idea, he wasn't very keen on the glares even smiling at her got - but the girl was making it difficult by pretty much clinging on to him every time he tried to move or turn around. He didn't notice the death stare Kurt had been giving Rachel.

"So what do you think of Glee?" asked Kurt, poking Blaine in the ribs. The two boys were sat on Kurt's floor, attempting to revise for the math mock that they had the next day. Blaine looked up and smiled, his eyes softening a little with talk of something other than his impending doom via simultaneous equations. Kurt had been telling him off for his poor grades in class and he'd agreed that he would revise, but only if Kurt helped him.

"I like it," Blaine said simply and Kurt rolled his eyes, motioning his arms for his friend to continue. "Erm...well everyone seems really nice and fun, plus I like dancing and singing, though don't mention it to my mom."

Kurt smiled, he knew Blaine's parents weren't quite as open as his own dad about that sort of thing, they didn't like him playing with things that were too girly, so the boys had always saved looking through vogue for Kurt's house. He also knew that Blaine's mom wasn't really the problem, she'd love her boy no matter what. The worry was that she'd tell his dad.

Blaine looked back at the text book, a crease forming between his eyebrows as he tried to work out what on earth x equaled. Kurt steeled himself and said the thing that had been bothering him ever since Glee. "So...what do you think of Rachel?" he asked, trying to hide how nervous he was for the answer. Blaine raised his eyes in surprise.

"She's...alright," he said lamely, deeply hoping this wasn't going where he thought it might be.

"I think she likes you," said Kurt, plastering a smile on his face and winking. Oh God, did he just wink?

Blaine went bright red and pulled at his collar and Kurt's heart sank. People went red when someone talked about their crush, didn't they? Oh my God. He fancies Rachel. Kurt was freaking out now, really hoping that of all the people Blaine could go out with it wouldn't be Rachel. "Does she?" he croaked eventually.

"Well, I guess she's very pretty," Kurt probed, ignoring the other boy's question. Blaine stared at him in slight disbelief, was Kurt actually suggesting he date Rachel? No he wouldn't...

"Yeah, I guess, but isn't she with the quarter-back?" he asked, trying in earnest to indicate to Kurt he really wasn't interested. All Kurt got out of it was that Blaine wanted to know more about Rachel's availability. And he thought she was pretty.

"Nah, they broke up...saying that they didn't exactly date for very long. So she's single." Blaine just nodded absently, trying to work out what on earth Kurt was getting at. "So I guess you two could maybe get toge-"

"Did she set you up to this?" Blaine wondered aloud, still trying to find an answer as to why Kurt was being like this. Kurt looked at him in surprise.

"No..." he said cautiously, hoping Blaine wouldn't ask the question he couldn't answer.

"Then why are you being like this?" Nope, there he goes.

Kurt stared at the floor for a minute, trying to avoid Blaine's eyes because he knew that if he got lost in that warm hazel pool that he would say everything he'd been trying to keep from his best friend. "I just..." he breathed in, hoping this would be a realistic answer. "You know...want you to be happy with someone, I know you haven't dated anyone and I thought that I would let you know if you were interested that you have a chance." God, even Kurt was commenting on his lack of a love life. "There's nothing worse than liking someone and being too afraid to admit it, because you're scared they won't love you back."

That hit home for both boys, and Kurt looked up in surprise at his own words. Bad move. Their eyes connected, both willing the other to know how they felt without the painful experience of admitting it or, what they felt to be, the inevitable turn down and heartbreak. Blaine thought he saw a glimpse of something in the other boy's eyes, something that made him believe, for a fraction of a second, that Kurt could feel the same way, but then Kurt continued talking.

"Well, that's how it is in the movies anyway."

The sparkle died in both boys' eyes and they looked back down at their math work, eyes staring and hearts aching.