He'd taken up football, and found that it was something he was good at, something that people thought he was better for. Suddenly he had girls trying to flirt with him, somewhere to sit at lunch, and everyone seemed to want to be his friend. Heck, there were even eighth graders who reached out a hand to give him a high-five in the halls.

With encouragement from a linebacker on the team, Dave had continued his bullying ways. There were now janitor's closets to lock kids in, dumpsters to throw the dweebs in, and hard, metal lockers to shove them in. The sixth-grader was making the slow, steady climb to the top of the social ladder, and he knew there were kids who would give their left hand to be in his position. Well, not literally, because then they couldn't play football.

The boy sighed again as he watched a robin eat from the bird-feeder his little sister had made. With everything he had going for himself, you'd think that his smile would be genuine. But Dave couldn't help but feel that something was... missing.

XOXOX

Kurt looked out his window and sighed. Sixth grade was awesome. He had planned his back-to-school outfit back in July, and had all of his books and folders organized in a leather messenger bag. With his best friend, Blaine, by his side, the brunette felt as though he was on top of the world.

Kurt had taken up choir and stagecraft, putting his costume-making skills to good use. He had met a new girl, Mercedes, in that class, and after some bickering over stripes-versus-plaid and agreeing that there was never, ever an excuse for black and white polka-dots, the two had become fast friends. He and Rachel also shared choir class together, and the girl had made him and Blaine new friendship bracelets as soon as she found out they'd fallen off from so much wear.

Speaking of Blaine, the pair were inseparable. Nearly every weekend, Blaine was at Kurt's house or Kurt was at Blaine's. Sure, they had their occasional squabble—Kurt was not going to be seen in public with Blaine if he was wearing a plaid shirt and plaid shorts—but whatever parent was around smoothed the argument over easily, and the two were back to laughter and smiles.

However, this school year couldn't only be rainbows and butterflies. Kurt had thought that all of his troubles had left now that he didn't have to deal with Dave anymore, but boy was he ever wrong. Now things had just gotten worse. There was a new bully who he only knew by his last name, Azimio, who'd decided to pick up where Dave had left off. Suddenly, both Kurt and Blaine were being thrown into lockers, dumpsters, and mud puddles. They'd learned to always keep an extra change of clothes at school.

Despite all of this, Kurt smiled as he spotted a familiar green van pull into his driveway, and he dashed down the stairs to greet his best friend.

XOXOX

A shrill ringing sounded from the top drawer in Kurt's desk, and he bounded over to it. Pulling out the walkie-talkie, he held down the big button and spoke into it.

"Hi, Blaine!"

"Kurt! You'll never guess what!"

"What?" Kurt asked as he flopped back down on his bed.

"My mom's pregnant!" Kurt shot back up into a sitting position.

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah! I'm getting a little brother or sister!" The excitement was very, very obvious in Blaine's voice.

"That's so awesome, Blaine!" In his mind, Kurt was already going through color schemes for a nursery.

"I know!" Kurt could practically hear Blaine jumping up and down. He loved little kids. "Oh, and my mom said she had something she wanted to ask you. I dunno what, though. Wait, hold on, she's coming upstairs."

The brunette heard the speaker crackle and waited for Blaine to return. What could Blaine's mom want to ask him?

"Hey, Kurt, do you wanna come over tonight? My mom says it's okay!"

"Sure! Hold on, I'll go ask my dad!"

Half an hour later, Kurt was sitting at the kitchen bar at Blaine's house while they ate their macaroni and cheese. Blaine was reading a book he'd gotten that day—he was always reading—called the Ranger's Apprentice. Mrs. Anderson stood at the sink, cleaning up the sticky pot.

"So, Kurt," she said as she loaded it into the dishwasher. "There's something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Yeah?" he said after he'd swallowed his bite.

"I've been thinking," she began, leaning on the counter and drying her hands. "My usual interior decorator moved to Texas a few months ago, and since this baby is going to need a place to stay..." Mrs. Anderson trailed off, rubbing her stomach. Kurt's face lit up and he nearly dropped his fork.

"Are you serious?" he exclaimed. Blaine's mother laughed.

"So I'll take that as a yes?" she asked. Kurt jumped down from his seat and ran over to her, hugging her tightly.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he said, bouncing with excitement.

"Hold on, honey, there's more," Kurt stopped bouncing and looked up at her in astonishment. How could there be more?

"In a few months, I'm going to be needed some help in the studio," Kurt's eyes grew wide, and he opened his mouth to speak, but Mrs. Anderson held up a finger. "Now, I can't hire you as an employee yet, since you're only eleven, but I can let you hang around and start showing you the ropes for hiring you in the future."

"Like an apprentice!" Blaine piped in, looking up from his—how in the world was he already halfway through that book?

"Sure," the curly-haired boy's mother laughed again. "Like an apprentice." She turned to Kurt. "I already asked you're dad, and we agreed on you coming in on Saturdays from ten to two, if you're interested."

"Of course I want to!" Kurt squealed, hugging his friend's mom again. She just laughed and hugged him back.

"Alright," she said. "You start next week. Now go finish your dinner before it gets cold!"

XOXOX

Blaine would have liked to say that the next few months passed as they always had, but he couldn't. Kurt was spending every Saturday at his house now, and although it was exciting at first, it quickly grew annoying. It wasn't that he was bored of Kurt, but it seemed that Kurt was bored of him. They still sat next to each other on the bus every day and had fun during their Friday night sleepovers, but on Saturdays, Kurt spent the whole time with his mom. Blaine understood that from ten to two he wasn't allowed to bother Kurt because he was working, but even after two o'clock Kurt spent the rest of the afternoon with her, planning out the baby's room. They were constantly discussing colors for the walls, what kind of furniture to get, and how tacky wall stickers were. They even went shopping. They invited Blaine along of course, and he had gone the first few times, but it was so boring for him that he'd stopped.

Maybe that was it. It was all the baby's fault. The dumb thing was using mind-control on his mother and stealing his best friend. It was also making his mom throw up a lot. That had to be it.

So on Saturdays, Blaine stayed up in his room and buried himself in his books, letting their universes cloud reality. It went on for months until one afternoon in January when his father had the day off.

"Hey, Blaine!" Mr. Anderson called from the bottom of the stairs. Blaine was in a particularly bad mood, because as soon as the clock struck two, Kurt and Mrs. Anderson had dashed out the door to get to some baby sale in the mall. They hadn't even asked if he wanted to go. Not that he wanted to anyway.

"What?" he snapped, shutting his book. His dad paused for a second before replying.

"There's a Buckeyes game on, wanna watch it with me?"

"No!" Blaine didn't hear his father's sigh, but heard his footsteps coming up the stairs. There was a knock on his door. "What now?"

"May I come in, please?"

"Fine."

Mr. Anderson opened the door, then shut it quietly behind him. He took in his sons angry posture, arms and legs crossed as he sat in the middle of his bed.

"What's going on, bud?" his father asked, sitting on the edge of the mattress.

"Nothing."

"Blaine," his dad gave him the I-know-you're-lying-so-fess-up look. Blaine sighed.

"It's the stupid baby," Blaine said, feeling his eyes tear up. Mr. Anderson wasn't surprised by the answer.

"I thought you were excited to have a little sibling," he replied.

"Yeah, I was," Blaine said. "But that was before it stole Mom and Kurt from me!"

Blaine's father nodded and pulled his legs up onto the bed, facing his son.

"Is this about them spending so much time together?" he asked. Blaine sniffled and nodded. "And you're feeling left out?" Another nod.

"Kurt won't hang out with me anymore! And when we're at school or on the bus, all he talks about is working with Mom and the colors of the baby's walls!" Blaine shouted, frustrated.

"Blaine, you know that this is really exciting for Kurt, these are the kinds of things that he really enjoys. Things that make him happy."

"I used to make him happy. But he doesn't need me anymore." Blaine's father decided to take a different approach.

"What happens when you find a new book that you really love?" he asked his son, who's eyes filled with confusion.

"Whaddaya mean?"

"Well, does Kurt like to read as much as you do?" his dad asked.

"No, Kurt likes to draw."

"And when you get a new book, don't you tell him all about it, even though it might not be something he's as interested in?"

"Well, yeah, but—"

"Isn't that the same?"

Huh. Blaine never thought about it that way before. He knew that Kurt didn't really like the spy books he read sometimes, or the ones about the dragons and sword fights, but whenever he read a new one and told Kurt all about it, his friend always listened to him.

"I guess," Blaine said, wiping his eyes.

"You and Kurt are best friends, right?" Blaine nodded. "He's not going to leave you because he's working for your mom. And I'm sure he misses spending time with you, too, but right now he's got a big project he's working on, and he's a little distracted."

"Okay," Blaine said. A few moments of silence passed. "Can we go see if the Buckeyes are kicking butt yet?" Mr. Anderson laughed.

"Sure, let's go."

XOXOX

The baby was born in May, and Kurt was even more excited than when his dad took him on a shopping spree for his birthday. Blaine stayed at his house while his mom and dad went to the hospital, and the pair eagerly sat by the phone, awaiting Mr. Anderson's call.

"If it's a girl you can dress her up like the Disney princesses," Kurt said, and Blaine laughed.

"You mean you can dress her up like the Disney princesses?" Kurt just shrugged. "If it's a boy we can make him smuggle cookies out of the jar for us."

They talked for hours, just sitting at the kitchen table with the phone between them. It had rung once already, but it just turned out to be one of Kurt's dad's friends. The boys were completely impatient, watching the clock as though their stares could make the numbers change faster. Finally, the phone rang again and Blaine snatched it up, looking at the caller ID and shouting, "It's him!" before answering.

"Hi, Dad!" he said into the receiver while Kurt bounced in his seat. "Yes!" Blaine said, answering an unheard question, then yelled "Really?" and his face lit up. He listened for a minute before saying, "Okay, love you, Dad! Bye!" and hanging up.

"It's a girl!" He said excitedly, and Kurt squealed.

"What's her name?" Burt asked from where he'd been making dinner.

"Addison," Blaine said with a smile.

"Awww! That's such a cute name!" Kurt gushed.

"Yeah," Blaine said. "And my dad said we could go see them at the hospital tomorrow." He looked up at Burt hopefully.

"We'll leave as soon as you're awake, fed and dressed," he said, pulling chicken nuggets—organic, as per Kurt's demands—out of the oven.

"Yes!" The boys shared a high-five.