Kurt straightened his clothes dutifully and continued on his way, ignoring the way the other students jostled him as he passed. He ducked into his English class and brightened when he saw Blaine already sitting at a table. Kurt strode towards him and slid into the seat next to him, blushing slightly.

It had only been a few weeks since Kurt had admitted his feelings to Blaine and he could now call his best friend his boyfriend. It was an incredibly overwhelming thing to get used to.

"How was art?" Blaine asked as Kurt opened his English folder.

"It was alright," Kurt shrugged. "Matthew 'accidently' spilt paint all over my work."

Blaine winced and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Kurt."

Kurt gave Blaine a weak smile. "I'll fix it tonight."

"Fags!" A student coughed loudly and the class sniggered at them.

Blaine and Kurt ignored them, having become used to the slurs that were thrown their way on a daily basis. The teacher walked into the room and the class started to settle. The teacher attempted to start the class, the majority of the students refusing to pay attention. Kurt looked at Blaine and saw reflected on his face the thought that was swimming through Kurt's head. I can't wait to get out of here.

Annie was waiting for them after school, parked off to the side. She smiled when she saw Kurt and Blaine walking together, bags slung over their shoulders, hands occasionally brushing against one another's. They reached the car and Blaine held the door open for Kurt who blushed at the gesture. Kurt slid into the back seat and Blaine climbed in after him, shutting the door with a thump.

Annie smiled at the two of them and started the car, pulling out quickly and merging with the traffic.
"How was your day?" Annie asked, looking in the rear-view mirror at them.

Kurt shrugged, looking out the window without commenting.

"It was alright," Blaine gave his mom a pointed look in the rear view mirror. "One of the boys ruined Kurt's art work."

"Oh, Kurt. I'm sorry," Annie sighed and Kurt just shrugged again. "Can you fix it?"

"I'll have to start again," Kurt told her, sounding mournful. "It's due tomorrow." Blaine growled softly and Kurt took his hand, rubbing his thumb over his knuckles.

Annie sighed in frustration. She was sick of that school and the crap that those kids got away with. The amount of times she had seen Kurt and Blaine come home with stained clothes and bruises on them were starting to add up and the school didn't seem to be doing anything to stop it. They had talked about sending them to another school – a safer school – but with Burt's single income he couldn't really afford a private school. Annie and Edward had offered multiple times to help pay for the tuition, both of them having high paying jobs but Burt refused to take their money.

They had been friends for a long time, since Kurt and Blaine were five and had first met at kindergarten. They two of them had quickly become best friends and were inseparable. A couple of weeks ago, Kurt had made a move on Blaine after talking to Annie about it and she had never seen the boys happier.

"How was your day?" Kurt asked, desperate for a change in subject.

"Long," Annie sighed, "and so boring. I'm glad you two are home now to keep me company."

"Where's Dad?" Blaine asked.

"He's got meetings all day and won't be back for a while," Annie explained, "and Burt's been at the garage since the early hours." Annie weaved expertly through the traffic and turned onto their street, zipping past the houses.

"Better than school," Blaine muttered.

Annie pulled up to the Anderson's home and turned into the driveway. She cut the engine and they boys jumped out, grabbing their bags as they left.

"I was thinking that we could have a barbeque tonight," Annie suggested as they walked, "How does that sound?"

"Sounds good," Blaine grinned.

"Dad would like that," Kurt nodded, smiling softly at Annie.

"Excellent, I've already got everything we need," Annie beamed, opening the door. They walked inside and the boys dropped their bags on the couch.

"Do you want something to eat?" Annie asked as she placed her bag on the table.

"Yeah, I'm starving," Blaine replied, trailing after his mother, grabbing Kurt's hand to drag him along, too.

"Kurt, what about you?"

"Yes please," Kurt said politely.

"Alright, I'll get you something," Annie beamed, kissing Blaine's cheek and turned towards the fridge.

"I'm going to grab my art stuff," Kurt said, extracting his hand from Blaine's, turning back around and leaving the kitchen.

"Is Kurt OK?" Annie asked, glancing over her shoulder at Blaine, who was staring at the door hopefully, as if Kurt would suddenly reappear.

"It's really getting to us, Mum," Blaine said quietly, tuning back around to face Annie, his face a picture of sorrow. "Kurt doesn't talk about it much, but it's getting worse. He spent so much time on that art project."

"I'll talk to Burt again," Annie promised. "I'm sorry, Blaine."

"We hate school, Mum," Blaine told her, voice soft.

"I know you do," Annie murmured.

"I'm going to start on my homework," Blaine said, quickly leaving the kitchen. Annie sighed, watching him go with a sorrowful expression. She wished there was something she could do.

Blaine grabbed his homework out of his bag and his pencil case and sat next to Kurt at the table. Kurt had his sketch book open and his hand was flying across the page as he worked. His ruined drawing was ripped out of his book and scrunched up into a ball.

Blaine worked quietly next to Kurt, not wanting to disturb him as he sketched. He knew Kurt was more upset that he was letting on and it bothered him slightly that Kurt wouldn't talk to him about it.

Annie came in, placing the food and drinks on the table and left them to work – but not before shooting them both a worried look over her shoulder. She really wanted things to work out for the two of them. God knew they deserved it.

An hour later, Blaine had finished his work and Kurt had just finished the outline of a bridge with water running underneath it. "How's it going?" Blaine asked quietly.

Kurt threw down his pencil and sighed. "I still have to add colour. It's not nearly as good as my other one."

Blaine grabbed one of Kurt's hands in his own and ran his hand over it soothingly; causing Kurt took look at him with eyes full of exhaustion.

"It's still beautiful," Blaine assured him, "and I'm sorry everyone at school's a jerk."

Kurt chuckled and leant against Blaine. "Usually I love your dapperness, but I don't think jerk is a strong enough word."

Blaine laughed under his breath and wrapped an arm around his boyfriend. "Want to take a break?"

"Sounds good," Kurt smiled and jumped up, tugging Blaine up too. The two hurried upstairs to Blaine's room. Blaine put some music on as Kurt settled himself on Blaine's bed. He grinned at the photo that was perched on Blaine's bedside table.

It was picture of the two of them when they were ten, spending the day at the beach with Burt, Annie and Edward. Kurt was pale but Blaine was a nice golden tan, his arm slung around Kurt's shoulder, both of them beaming brightly at the camera, standing behind a sandcastle they had built.

Blaine sat on the bed next to Kurt, gently tilting Kurt's head back towards him and pressed their lips together. Kurt sighed and melted into the kiss. Blaine lips were soft and full under his and in that moment, Kurt knew he would never grow tired of kissing Blaine.

Kurt made a noise of protest when Blaine pulled away and his eyes fluttered open. Blaine was beaming at him and Kurt smiled shyly back.

"Mum's going to talk to Burt again," Blaine said and Kurt cocked an eyebrow, "about changing school."

"We don't have the money, Blaine," Kurt frowned.

"But Kurt, we're miserable," Blaine cried. "I'm so sick of getting pushed into lockers every day and jocks ruining everything we do! I can't even hold your hand at school."

"I know, Blaine," Kurt said softly. "I hate it too."

"I don't want to be miserable anymore, Kurt," Blaine growled, "I want to be happy. I want you to be happy."

Kurt pulled in Blaine into a hug and Blaine buried his head into Kurt's neck. "I'm happy with you," Kurt whispered in his boyfriend's ear.

Blaine hugged him tighter and placed a kiss on Kurt's neck. "And I'm happy with you. Always."

"I guess we'll see what happens," Kurt sighed. "But don't hold your breath Blaine."

Blaine sighed and pulled Kurt back into a kiss, hoping that Burt agreed to get them out of that school as soon as possible. Even then, it wouldn't be soon enough.