A/N: AH! Now we’re going to see from the glee clubs’ point-of-view!!! Oh! Drama!!!

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Both glee clubs were huddled together as they watched Kurt and Dave’s exchange of words, an air of tension permeating the space around them, mainly centering on New Directions. The Warblers were torn between watching Kurt and this other teen and watching their former competitors as they too watched. The Warblers could see how some of the guys were pacing slightly, fiddling with their hands in agitation, while the girls were absently playing with their hair or clothes to ease the anxiety, worried expressions painting everyone’s faces with tense mouths and narrowed, shifting eyes. They looked to see Blaine acting just as on edge, their lead soloist never once letting his gaze stray from the two on the bench, watching him clench his fists so tightly his knuckles went a solid white as his posture remained stiff.

Wes and David couldn’t help but feel guilty for not knowing about what was happening. They had known Kurt from the day he transferred, and yes, they had been a couple of jerks to the poor boy when it came to the Warblers, but outside of those practices, they had done everything they could to make Kurt feel welcome and appreciated.

Sure, there were times when their differing senses of humor or trains of thought led to some awkward moments for both parties, but they didn’t let that stop them from trying to get to know the slim brunet. They found Kurt to be a very interesting, sarcastic, funny individual, whenever he allowed himself to relax around others and show off his unique wit and ideas. They liked him a lot. Plus, seeing how happy he made Blaine just sealed the deal when they could clearly see that they were made for each other. Anyone that could make their best friend so happy and gay (no pun intended) was a keeper in their book.

But seeing how terrified Kurt had been when his friends had walked through that door, and how furiously Blaine had reacted, told both of them that they were missing something very significant. Wes looked at David, and without speaking a word, both agreed that it had to have something to do with why Kurt transferred to Dalton in November last year.

Of course, Wes and David were insanely curious as to why Kurt had transferred in the middle of the semester, a near unheard of occurrence. They certainly didn’t forget how the guy had teared up, becoming upset almost to the point of hyperventilation, when they were speaking to him after catching him spying, but when Blaine had asked them to leave, they never heard another word about it. Even when they confronted Blaine weeks later after hearing about Kurt’s imminent arrival, Blaine had clammed up. He wouldn’t say a word as to Kurt’s reason why. After a while, Wes and David just gave up. If Blaine wasn’t going to tell them, then obviously Kurt wasn’t going to either. Best not to churn the waters before the guy had even settled in yet.

But over time, the whole situation was forgotten. The curriculum at Dalton kept them all busy, the Warblers practices filling up any and all extra time, and when the relationship drama between Blaine and Kurt began to heat up around Valentine’s Day, then subsequently explode over one weekend that involved some kind of party, but come back together in a joyous celebration of their first kiss before Regionals, the main reason behind Kurt’s transfer had slipped from everyone’s memory.

Now, the two council members could see that that was a very bad move. This whole surreal situation had thrown them all for a loop, leaving a large majority of the Warblers and Blaine’s best friends swinging in the breeze. If they were going to be of any help to Blaine and Kurt in the near future, they needed something to go on. Nodding to each other, they broke from the main group of Warblers and advanced on Blaine.

“Blaine, dude, what is going on? What’s happening with Kurt?” David asked, startling Blaine out of his vigilant surveillance. Blaine sighed in frustration, rubbing his face with his hands as he grappled for some kind of answer. Many members of New Directions noticed how Blaine was hesitating in answering the other two.

“Guys, it’s very complicated. I don’t know if I should say.”

“Blaine, it may be complicated, but keeping it under wraps isn’t exactly helping right now. Whatever happened, we want to help you both. We Warblers take care of our own. You know that. You can tell us.” Wes entreated, openly pleading with Blaine to tell them the truth. Blaine just shook his head.

“Guys, I can’t. Kurt doesn’t want-“

“Wait, Kurt never told them?” Finn interrupted, looking thoroughly confused. All three looked up to the gangly, tall teen that had lumbered over to them.

“Told us what?” David asked. Finn looked like he was about to tell them, but Blaine intervened.

“No, he didn’t, Finn. He didn’t want anyone here to know.” Blaine confirmed, which only made Finn more confused. “A better question would be, do you know? Do you know exactly what happened, or do you know only what Karofsky told you?”

Blaine’s voice held a bitter edge, making Finn flinch slightly as he understood exactly why Blaine was so angry. “Yeah, I know. Kurt told me a month after he transferred. Believe me, when I heard, all I wanted was to beat Dave’s face in, but Kurt convinced me not to. He said that it wouldn’t help anyone when he was already officially going to Dalton. I still wish I did, though.” Finn’s normally calm, vaguely confused expression turned dark and stormy, his posture straightening, becoming more threatening with the increasing amount of anger the tall teen felt.

“Okay, seriously, what is going on? What happened between that guy and Kurt?” Wes asked. He was getting frustrated with everyone dancing around his inquiries. However, his answer came from an unexpected source.

“He stole one of my dolphin’s sweet boy kisses.”

Everyone, every member from the Warblers to the New Directions, looked at the tall, blonde cheerleader that looked like she wanted to cry.

“What? What does a dolphin have to do with this?” David asked, clearly thrown by the marine mammal comment. Most of the Warblers were in the same boat.

“Dolphins are gay sharks, so Kurt is my dolphin. Karofsky was really mean and stole one of his sweet boy kisses and made him really sad, so he had to leave McKinley.”

All it took were those two simple sentences to drastically change the mood of both groups. The Warblers, now fitting all the pieces together, were furious, enraged, and just two milliseconds from storming over to the bench and ambushing the jock. The bigger, more muscular boys began to crack their knuckles in preparation as smaller members began to whisper to each other, concocting diabolical plans of revenge the likes of which the hallowed halls of Dalton had never seen before. The boys of New Directions looked just as outraged, but kept their reactions under control.

“What?” Wes hissed through clenched teeth. David was too angry to even say anything, the threat of unleashing a never-ending stream of epithets and curses hanging over his head.

“It’s true. Karofsky sexually assaulted Kurt by kissing him without his consent, and then threatened his life the next day if he said anything to anyone.” Blaine replied, his voice hard as diamond, returning to watch the two boys on the bench. “The guy was in such total denial of his being gay that he took it out on Kurt for years: physical abuse, verbal abuse, and finally sexual abuse with a death threat thrown in to round it all off. That’s why Kurt transferred.”

Wes and David were stunned into silence. The Warblers looked at if they had all been punched in the stomach with a cannon ball.
Now, Wes and David had sometimes conferred about why Kurt had shown up in the middle of a semester, something that doesn’t happen very often if at all, but none of their ideas had ever come close to the horror that Blaine had just confirmed. All of a sudden, the circumstances of their situation finally hit them. They rounded on New Directions, eyes blazing with anger as they clenched their shaking fists.

“And you brought that bastard here!” They quietly exclaimed in unison. Finn had the decency to look uncomfortably guilty and ashamed, most of the others mimicking him, but obviously that wasn’t enough to assuage Wes and David. “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? He could hurt Kurt!”

Santana, getting a headache from the arguing, marched right up to Wes and David, her black eyes narrowed and pissed. “He can’t, you idiots! Not only would we put a stop to it before the guy landed a single punch, but if he did, he’d be expelled permanently! He can’t do anything to anyone in Glee, past or present, because it’s part of his probation.”

“What probation?” Blaine interceded. Santana turned to him, swishing her raven hair over her shoulder.

“Karofsky had a lot of problems with Glee after Kurt left. Some fights broke out and the warnings weren’t stopping it. Figgins and Beiste had enough and put Karofsky on probation. He was required to join New Directions and stop his bullying. If he did anything to break his probation, he’d be expelled with no second chances. His dad supported the decision, so Dave can’t get out of it. Not that he had a chance of getting away with anything. Sue put cameras up all over the school after Porcelain’s transfer. If Dave so much as sneezes out of turn, she’d be on his ass faster than you could blink.”

“But that doesn’t mean he’s actually sorry! He could be pulling one over on all of you! How can you be sure?” Blaine accused, still not believing that Karofsky could have changed his ways. “What’s stopping him from lying to Kurt’s face, then jumping him later out of school?”
Santana just looked at him, her face unreadable. “He has no choice. He’s out, Blaine, in front of the entire school. He can’t go back to being the big hetero jock on campus.”(1)

Blaine felt the breath rush from his lungs like a lake reservoir busting through a faulty dam.

“What?” Santana didn’t answer him, but Mercedes had walked up to take over.

“It’s true, boy. After Dave had been put in probation, he was also ordered into mandatory counseling with Ms. Pilsbury. After ten or so sessions, along with a couple weeks hanging with us after school in glee practice, he decided to come out to his friend, Azimio. Of course, that was a huge mistake since Azimio’s like the most homophobic guy in all McKinley. So it wasn’t a big surprise that the next day at school, everyone knew about it.” Blaine still looked winded, with Wes and David not too far behind.

“Look, I know that we shouldn’t have cared, not after what he did to my boy for all those years, but…. Blaine, he had nowhere else to turn, nowhere else to go. Everyone turned on him, the jocks turned on him, it was like watching Kurt all over again. But Dave didn’t have Kurt’s years of experience to build up a thick skin, he couldn’t just brush it off like Kurt used to. Sure, he tried putting on a brave face, but he was going to break, Blaine. He was going to shatter if no one at least tried to support him. We weren’t there for Kurt when we should have been, we know that. We just didn’t want to make the same mistake twice.” Mercedes’ face crumpled as she tried to hide her tears with her hand. Her breathing was shaky and ragged before she shook her head, the strength coming back into her eyes.

“We were there for Dave when he didn’t have anyone else. His family is okay with his sexuality, if a little uncomfortable with the whole thing, but school was becoming a nightmare for him. He finally understood the consequences of everything he ever did and said to Kurt because he was experiencing it for himself. He was seeing life through Kurt’s eyes. He finally felt sorry for what he did. When he told us about wanting to personally apologize to Kurt for his actions, sure, we were a bit uneasy about telling him where Kurt was, but he proposed a compromise. He was the one who suggested that we all come with him to do this. That’s the only reason we allowed it, Blaine.” (2)

Blaine had to take a moment to fully absorb what Mercedes had revealed to him. She was telling him that Dave was living life in Kurt’s shoes, seeing how the other half of the coin lived. Dave was seeing how his past actions had impacted Kurt by experiencing it for himself. Of course, Blaine wasn’t going to just up and forgive the boy for what he did to Kurt, but he at least was trying to understand how Dave might have changed. Seeing through someone else’s eyes can certainly have that effect.

He could feel his emotions and thoughts begin to roil and riot inside of him. He could practically hear his heart clamoring to keep his guard up for Kurt’s sake, to not give the jock a single inch for fear that he would take a mile. He never wants to leave his boyfriend in a situation where he might get hurt again, and so his heart was trying to convince him to not feel compassion towards Dave.

However, his head was presenting a compelling counter-argument. His brain was telling him that now that Dave was out, he would no longer feel the need to act that way towards others. The only reason he was so horrendous to Kurt was because he was so uncomfortable with his own sexuality, that Kurt’s out-and-proud attitude scared the hell out of him. His attempts at fighting his own sexuality translated into making Kurt’s life a nightmare, that if he drove Kurt away (which he succeeded in doing), then he would no longer have to face his own inner demons.

But that didn’t turn out to be the case.

Even when Kurt left, his presence was still felt at McKinley through his friends and brother. They continued to support Kurt, mentioning him and thinking of him, that even without Kurt physically being there, he was still very much a part of McKinley’s world. Dave’s fights with New Directions had always, in some way, been traced back to Kurt. And when Figgins and Beiste told him enough was enough, and enacted the probation, Dave became fully immersed in Kurt’s old world of glee and being an outcast. The counseling just helped him to open up without being violent or paranoid, allowing for Dave to see that being gay wasn’t a punishment, but was just as natural as breathing air. It was only when he tried to reach out to the wrong person, did he get burned.

But he was able to find support elsewhere in New Directions.

Yeah, they had their problems with each other, a lot of old grudges being brought to the surface as well as more recent transgressions like Kurt’s forced transfer, but when all was said and done, Dave was becoming another Kurt in their eyes, but he was far more fragile.

Blaine almost snorted in derision when he thought that. That huge jock would never normally be described as fragile by any means, but upon seeing him when he entered the commons room, even through Blaine’s angry haze, the boy did look anxious and frightened, like a doe crossing an open field in hunting territory. Blaine would had to have been blind to miss how jumpy and on edge he was, a startling similarity to how Kurt used to be whenever he heard a loud, random noise or whenever a large Dalton boy walked toward him in a hallway. But Blaine had seen for himself how Kurt would pull on his mask, his façade of uncaring, superior confidence and face whatever the day had for him. It became clear that Dave would have to learn that particular skill the hard way.

Blaine sighed. His circuitous thoughts were starting to spiral into each other, becoming confusing and irritating. Rubbing his eyes, he looked at Mercedes, who had been patiently silent throughout his contemplation. “Mercedes, I’m not ready to forgive him, nor do I think I ever will, but if he’s truly apologetic, I can tolerate him. Happy?”

“That’s all anyone can ask of you, Blaine. I was just like you when all this started. I didn’t want to forgive or forget what he did to my boy, taking him away from me. But over time, I just had to let it go. I haven’t totally forgiven him either. I don’t think any of us have. But the point is that we’re trying to do something positive for someone else, to stop what happened to Kurt before it starts happening to him.”
Mercedes trailed off for a second, thinking over her next words.

“There were so many times I wished I could go back in time to the start of high school and do it all over again. If I had known then what I know now, I would have been there for Kurt, no matter what. We were all islands back then, never really connecting with anyone. We didn’t have friends, well, not Kurt or Rachel or some of the others. We dealt with each day alone. Man, I wish I could have changed that for Kurt.”

Mercedes started getting teary-eyed and excused herself. Blaine watched her go with sympathetic, pained eyes. He understood what she meant. He had felt that way a lot when he was younger, when the bullying was becoming especially bad for him. He, too, had wanted to start all over, but he knew life didn’t work that way. He would never be able to redo those middle school years when he was discovering himself, nor would he be able to stop the harassment that eventually occurred due to his openness and blind hope for understanding from his peers. He would never be able to take back the many tears he had cried for every slur and insult his supposed friends threw at him, and neither would he be able to go back and take a stand against the many injustices he suffered. But he was able to learn from his past mistakes and those of others.

It’ll take a while for any semblance of forgiveness to grow for Blaine, but, perhaps it wasn’t impossible. Wasn’t that what Kurt had been trying to teach him all along without even realizing it? Blaine had watched as Kurt regained his confidence and pride from the many losses in his life. He had watched his boyfriend come back again and again, determined to be stronger than before. Maybe what Kurt had been doing was silently teaching Blaine to let go of the past and conquer his fears by setting the example.

Sure, there were times when what Karofsky had done was left hanging in the air of their conversations, unspoken but still ever present, but not once did Kurt express any hatred for the boy, just anger over what he had done. Anyone had the right to be angry over such actions, but Kurt never went beyond that. He had successfully let it go. And while the threat remained, or so they had previously believed, Kurt wasn’t letting it rule his life. He had moved on. Perhaps, Blaine could, too.

Looking back over to look at Kurt, seeing how poised and perfect he looked while sitting less than 12 inches from who used to be his worst nightmare, Blaine felt a smidgeon of hope swell in his heart. If his beautiful, strong, courageous Kurt could overcome his past and face it head on, then Blaine could as well.

“I hope you know what you’re doing, Kurt…” Blaine whispered to the wind.

 

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A/N: So we have made it to the end of part 3!! The references are as follows.
(1) Okay, I know that in the episode “Sexy”, that Santana admitted to loving Brittany but didn’t want to come out, this being emphasized when she refused to wear the shirt Brittany made her for BTW. Also, she was using Karofsky as a cover to keep it that way, but in this fic, Karofsky dealt with being gay before that could happen, so she’s still in the closet for all I know and Karofsky isn’t her beard.

(2) I’m guessing that serious Mercedes fans are reading this and saying “WTF?” about her reaction and support for Karofsky. I agree. Normally, or as I would expect in the show, she’d raise Hell over what he did to Kurt and threaten to cut him before doing anything else. However, I saw this situation as her slowly coming to grips with Karofsky not being such an asshole that everyone automatically expects him to be, and that he really does want to change and apologize. Like I wrote, she HAS NOT forgiven him yet, but it could be possible. This goes for Blaine too. I’m not saying they’ve forgiven him just like that, but that it is a process to forgive someone that takes a long time, but it’s not impossible

I hope that people really think about my reasons for the OOC of the characters instead of flaming me in badly constructed reviews.
Flame me, I laugh at you. Con-crit will be welcomed and appreciated!