Blaine had no idea that coming out was going to be so hard.

He had agonized over it for months, unsure of the reaction of his parents, his friends. He had talked to Colin, the only openly gay kid at the school about it. A lot. Finally he'd gathered up enough courage to talk to his parents. It went surprisingly well. True, his father hadn't been able to look at him afterwards, looking extremely uncomfortable, but he had been expecting to be disowned, so he tried not to let it bother him too much. His mother hadn't been too surprised, apparently, and she had hugged him like there was no tomorrow, whispering how much she loved him into his hair.

His friends had been the shocker. Blaine expected at least one of them to stand by him, but as soon as he told him, he was friendless. Most of them looked uncomfortable and just ignored him, but one called him a fag to his face. He was crushed. He'd ended up sobbing in the bathroom until he remembered Colin. Colin would understand.

And he had. But even this new friendship felt forced, out of necessity rather than desire. Blaine couldn't help but feel alone.

As soon as his so called friends had been told the news, it seemed like the entire school had found out he was gay. The entire school looked at him differently now. He felt so self conscious walking down the halls, feeling the eyes of his peers on him. He worried about his hair, always so out of control. He decided to start geling it, restraining it, so that he could at least have control over something in his life. And look damn good while doing it.

Soon after, the shoving started. At first he brushed it off; the halls were extremely crowded, after all, and maybe it had just been an accident. He clung to this conviction until they started throwing him up against the lockers. That had to be deliberate.

But he could get through this. Four more years, actually three and  half. You can do this, Blaine. Just suck it up! You are the one who decided coming out was a good idea.

It had started to suffocate him, living a lie. A part of him wanted to run to the roof and shout "I'M GAY!" for all the world to hear. The more rational part of his brain called for restraint. He decided to compromise, although he wasn't sure if it had been worth it.

Blaine sighed as he stood in front of his open locker, trying to focus on finding his lunch. Suddenly, something, no someone, was thrown into him, knocking him forward. Instinctively he expected it to have been one of those jocks, but the body didn't run off like those cowards usually did.

"Hey fag, we found a girlfriend for you!" One of his tormentors taunted, leering at him.

The person who had been shoved into him stood up indignantly. "I am not a girl!" he called out shrilly. "And I'm not gay!"

"Whatever you say, fairy," the jerk replied, laughing as he and his cronies walked away, one of them pounding the ringleader on the back in congratulations.

"God, I hate those morons."

Blaine turned to look at the boy next to him. He recognized him, Kurt Hummel. He was a freshman too, he even had a class with him. But they had never talked. Kurt seemed to be a loner, never really speaking to anyone. Blaine swallowed some bile when he realized how often he'd seen those same asses shove Kurt into lockers just like they had started doing with him. How often had he just stood by, pretending not to see just like everyone did with him? He felt shame envelope him.

Kurt looked at him apologetically. "Sorry about that."

Blaine smiled, shrugging it off. "No worries. Trust me, I understand completely."

Kurt nodded absentmindedly, fidgeting with the strap of his messenger bag. Blaine looked at him for the first time, really looked. The boy was dressed, as always, with flare, a seemingly random assortment of items that somehow managed not to clash. His bangs were combed to the side, parted in the middle. And those pale, blue bell eyes. There was so much emotion there, so much that Blaine had never noticed. He wondered how he had never noticed this boy before. He was slightly awkward looking, but still somehow captivatingly beautiful. And straight.

"I have to say, you bruise a lot less than a locker, thanks for cushioning the blow."

Blaine smiled back shyly. "Any time." He froze. "Um, I mean-"

"I understand," Kurt reassured him with a small smile of his own. "We'd better hurry if we want to eat anything." Blaine grabbed his food and slammed the locker shut, noticing how it made Kurt flinch a little. He hated that he put that face there. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure,"

"Would you'd like to sit with me at lunch?" Blaine was a bit taken aback. He wasn't used to anyone asking him for social interaction anymore. It took him a minute to process everything, not knowing how to find the words he needed to convey to Kurt just how much this meant to him. Kurt's face fell, clearly misinterpreting the silence. "It's okay if you have other plans," he muttered quietly, turning to leave.

"Wait!" Blaine called out, catching his arm. "I'd love to. Sorry, my brain just sort of...forgot how to work momentarily."

Kurt laughed. The sound wasn't derisive, it was a bit glorious actually. "It happens to the best of us." They hurried down the halls, quickly reaching the cafeteria, exchanging small talk. They sat down at a table in the corner, trying to be as far away from the rest of the world as possible. They ate in silence for a few minutes before Kurt spoke. "You're awfully brave, you know."

Blaine frowned. "What do you mean?"

Kurt shrugged, stabbing at his fruit. "Coming out. It can't have been easy. I mean, you've sort of become the new favorite punching bag."

The food Blaine was chewing suddenly felt too dry. "Yeah, well," he muttered.

"We don't have to talk about it." Kurt was blushing. "Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. God, I suck at this whole making friends thing."

Blaine smiled wanly. "You don't suck. I'm curious, though, why me?"

Kurt picked at his salad. "Let's just say I know what it feels like to be alone." He met Blaine's gaze shyly, and Blaine couldn't force himself to look away. Not that he really wanted to.

He smiled warmly, and for the first time in forever the gesture wasn't forced. "Well, I guess we're not alone anymore. Maybe we should hang out sometime? I mean, if you want..."

Kurt's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Yes! I'd love to!" he exclaimed, earning a few dirty looks from nearby tables.

"How about Saturday?"

His heart sunk as Kurt's face fell. "I can't, I'm helping my dad. He has a tire shop and I work there when he needs me to or I want to earn a little extra money. This weekend is a little of both." Blaine nodded, understanding. Still, for the briefest moment he had actually had something to look forward to, and it was somewhat crushing to have it be taken away. Kurt bit his lip. "But I bet if I ask my dad, you could come over and hang out at the shop. I mean, it won't be anything exciting, but maybe we can go back to my house after for dinner or something."

Blaine could physically feel himself perk up. "I'd love that." He couldn't help but smile. When had that started? "You work on cars?"

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Why does everyone always sound so surprised?"

"Maybe because it's man's work," a gruff voice said behind him. Blaine looked up to see one of his, no, their tormentors standing behind Kurt, whose face had quickly melted into a disgusted sneer.

"Wow, a homophobe, a bully, and a sexist too, who would have thought?" Kurt asked to no one in particular.

"Shut up, butt boy," Kurt's face flushed a deep red, whether from embarrassment or anger Blaine couldn't be sure. "You wanna fight? Fight with your fists like a man."

Kurt snorted. "Like a caveman, you mean?"

The older boy just knocked the rest of Kurt's lunch onto the floor before smugly walking away. A teacher came over, but only to tell them to be sure and clean up the mess. They had missed the entire confrontation. Kurt looked miserable as he dropped to the floor to pick up the grapes that had rolled everywhere, and Blaine couldn't blame him. He slid off his own seat and scrambled around the dirty floor with Kurt to get all of the grapes. His new friend cursed as he miscalculated the distance of the edge of the table, slamming his head right into it. He looked like he was about to cry.

Blaine instinctively reached out and placed a hand on Kurt's arm. He wasn't expecting Kurt to recoil faster than if he were a rattlesnake. "Don't touch me," he snapped, pulling away, wrapping his arms around himself.

They finally gathered all of the stray fruit and dumped it in the trash, returning to their table. Blaine still had a bag of chips left, which he offered to share with Kurt, but he refused. "I'm sorry about before. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

Kurt looked up at him, lost in his daze. "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that, it's just..."

"You don't like to be touched, I get it."

Kurt shook his head, eyes looking sadder than ever, mixed with a bit of shame. "It's not just that."

Blaine raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Then what is it? Is it because I'm..."

Kurt nodded. "It's not like you think, though. I just...I don't want to give them another reason to go after me," he finished, voice small.

It hurt, but it made sense. "Ah,"

Kurt wiped at his eyes frantically. "See, I told you I suck at this."

Blaine smiled at him warmly. "You don't. And I get it. I don't want to make things worse for you. I mean, maybe we shouldn't hang out if they are going-"

"No," Kurt interjected, and Blaine was surprised at the force of the word. "I'd rather still be friends. That is..." He looked at Blaine hesitantly. "If you still want to be."

Blaine grinned. "‘Course I do,"

"Really?"

"Really." Kurt looked relieved.

The bell rang, signaling them to return to class. They left the cafeteria together, parting only once they reached the second stairwell. "Hey, Kurt," Blaine called out just as he was about to turn the corner. "Thanks. It was nice not to be alone."

Kurt smiled, and Blaine had no idea why that smile affected him so much. "Anytime."