They walked in, and immediately people stared.

Kurt had helped Blaine pick out an outfit from the small amount of clothes he had available to him, then he had added one of his own scarves. He looked casual, but dressy, definitely more laid-back than Kurt did. He had dressed in his white coat (at least it could be easily bleached of slushie stains) and black skinny jeans. He'd added a top hat to make Blaine laugh and it had worked, if only for a few moments, so he kept it.

Ignoring the stares, they headed straight to the office to sort out their schedules, and found a short girl, wearing tights, arguing with the administration.

"… my artistic right! I think you'll find that I have the right to sing wherever I wish, no matter what "Mute-ation Ban" Ms Sylvester has imposed now! I demand to see Principal Figgins about this! My talent cannot be silenced by some ridiculous new rule that clearly discriminates against the Glee Club! I have two gay dads, and believe me; we do not take discrimination against minorities sitting down!"

"Rachel!" Blaine exclaimed with a genuine smile and actually let go of Kurt's hand to trot towards her. Kurt tried not to feel jealous. This was what he wanted. He wanted Blaine to have a friend, someone he could possibly stay with, and Rachel had that whole insane Oscar-basement that was just begging for some attention. Plus Kurt knew Rachel's dads would be super-sympathetic to Blaine.

Rachel spun around and saw Blaine and shrieked, pulling him into a tight hug, then saw Kurt and squealed again, practically leaping on him to kiss his cheek.

"Ohhhh," Rachel squealed again into Kurt's ear, as she hugged him, "I can't believe you guys are coming here now! I've honestly not been this happy since Barbara won the Oscar! We are going to dominate Vocal Adrenaline with you two!" Kurt gave her a look to remind her not to be selfish, and she quickly turned to Blaine, "I'm so sorry, Blaine, I heard about what happened. If there's any way I can help, let me know. I'm your friend too, not just Kurt's. You get all the fringe benefits that come with being my friend, and I get a new duet partner!" She winked at Kurt and Blaine as they smiled.

"What are you yelling at the administration staff about today, Rachel?" Kurt asked, grinning. He'd never expected that he would enjoy seeing Rachel Berry as much as he did right now. If he could con Rachel into letting Blaine stay with her, he might even be able to put up with her diva-ness on a semi-regular basis, he decided.

"It's actually serious! Don't give me that look, Kurt Hummel! Ms Sylvester has imposed a "no music or singing of any kind during school hours on school grounds" ban. She's calling it her "Mute-ation Ban" and it's clearly her way of trying to destroy the freaks that are the Glee Club," Rachel said, sarcastically. "Normally we'd just make sure our rehearsal times are way after school ends, but Nationals is coming up, and we need all the rehearsal time we can. I already drew up a schedule actually," she handed them a heavily loaded page with complicated times and highlighted sections, "I know we lose out on lunch and math, but really, we have to make sacrifices, and dropping a grade point in a worthless subject seems like a justifiable sacrifice to me! Now…"

Kurt laughed at Blaine's stunned face as he found himself trapped listening to Rachel's rant. He escaped to turn to the counter and told a grumpy long-faced receptionist his and Blaine's names, and she handed him their schedules and locker combinations.

"Welcome to McKinley," she drawled without expression.

Kurt grinned back.

The rest of the day went smoothly. Finn and Puck always seemed to be mysteriously standing outside any classroom Kurt or Blaine exited, but they hadn't made it obvious that they were body-guarding them, and Kurt couldn't help but smile as he heard them following the couple down the hall to lunch.

"You don't need to follow so close, Puck! I don't want them to suspect anything, Kurt can be completely stubborn and feminist when he wants to be," Finn was muttering behind him.

"Feminist?" Puck scoffed, "You know Kurt's a dude, right? And if we aren't close enough to look menacing then there's no point! Karofsky's gotta know that this is our mini-herd of gays, and he can't touch them!" Kurt groaned inwardly and shot a look at Blaine.

His face was bright red, trying to keep from laughing out loud. He caught Kurt's amused eye, and shoved a fist in his mouth to keep quiet.

"You can't say that!" Finn hissed at Puck behind them, and Kurt and Blaine heard them squabbling about the correct term for a group of gays for the rest of the lunch break. Kurt decided his favourite was a 'gaggle' but Blaine really liked 'a flamboyance' mainly because of the effort of googling on iphones that had gone into it. Their lunch table consisted of Rachel, Mercedes and Sam, and they were all quietly attempting to eavesdrop on the ridiculous conversation behind them. They kept breaking into fits of giggles, and Rachel snorted into her macaroni and cheese several times which set them all off even more.

Kurt beamed at Blaine towards the end of lunch. Here he was, enjoying himself more than Kurt had seen in weeks, and making friends with Kurt's friends. Blaine caught his eye and smiled back.

He was happy for the first time in a week. He loved Kurt, but he needed friends too. Kurt always looked at him like he would break now, and it just made him feel miserable. This happy, pointless conversation with new friends was exactly what their relationship needed right now. They should be in that happy lovey-dovey stage where everything the other one says is hilarious and all they want to do is be together.

Well Blaine always wanted to be around Kurt, but he didn't know if it was the same now. They'd never really got to enjoy their new love, they'd just been slammed into a hard situation, and they would cling to each other at night, not so much out of the enjoyment, but more for the comfort of holding the other.

Kurt looked sexier today than Blaine had ever seen him. Laughing and enjoying himself with his friends, was something he had rarely done at Dalton, Blaine realised. Kurt hadn't been happy there. He had been existing. And now he was released from his cage, and his happiness was soaring. Blaine wondered if that might be why it had taken him so long to realise how hot Kurt was. He'd only seen him like this a handful of times before. And come to think of it, half of those times had been around New Directions kids. It seemed like Kurt was home.

Blaine nervously entered the choir room at 4 o'clock. It was after school-hours, so they were still allowed to have their rehearsal.

Rachel was the only one in the choir room, and he gave her a little grin and sat down next to her.

"What are you going to sing for your audition?" she smiled at him. Blaine hadn't realised that he would need to audition, and his face spoke volumes.

"It's okay!" Rachel laughed, "Everyone who auditions gets in, it's really just a way to welcome a new member. You probably don't have to if you don't feel up to it! We've all heard you sing and you're amazing. You have nothing to worry about!"

Blaine smiled at her, thankful he knew Rachel enough to be relaxed around her.

"So how's it going at Kurt's? Are you living there now?" She asked quietly, but in a friendly way that made Blaine feel like she really could be a good friend.

"Yeah," his voice broke a little on the word and she looked at him sympathetically, "I can't stay there forever though which is bad. Forster kids can't stay with their 'significant other's'," Blaine made air quotes and gave a frustrated sigh, "apparently. I feel so welcome there, but it's hard on Burt and Carole having another mouth to feed, and if I don't qualify for the residential address component of foster care then I don't get financial aid, so I can't even pay them back."

Blaine wasn't used to needing money. It was a horrible thought really, but if he had ever needed anything, it had been provided for him. His family wasn't super-rich, but they were comfortable enough to enjoy lots of luxuries, and he had never gone without.

"Aww, honey," Rachel rubbed his back, sympathetically. "You know…" she had that Rachel Berry look in her eye and Blaine was suddenly terrified. He'd heard about that look. Witnessing it first-hand was quite an experience.

"What?" Blaine asked as her eyes glazed over in some grand plan or another.

"Never mind! Tell Mr Shuester I'm really sorry, but I had to get home, okay?" She grabbed her bag and raced for the door, "I'll ring you tonight!" she called over her shoulder as she almost skidded into Kurt then kept running.

Kurt looked bewildered.

"Rachel's skipping on rehearsal? Is she dying?" he asked Blaine.

Blaine was blank-faced.

"I honestly have no idea what just happened," he said shaking his head.