Kurt looks toward the door for a third time since sitting down and taps his pencil impatiently. When the bell rings, he reluctantly turns his attention the board where Mr. Willis is standing. This is the second day in a row Blaine has been late for physics, and it's very unlike him. To Kurt's knowledge, the only time he's ever been late to any class was the first week of school when he was still learning where everything was.

Blaine's a little bit of a secret nerd. Alright, so it's not that secret. He loves school because he generally just likes learning new things, something Kurt can't understand. It's one reason Kurt can really see Blaine becoming a teacher. That and the fact that he's so good with kids. He babysits the two little boys who live next door and one time Kurt went along to help out. He wasn't really needed though, because Blaine had the kids, who are usually running around being completely out of control, doing a quiet art project that took almost the entire night within five minutes of getting there.

Five minutes later Blaine did walk in and, after receiving a dirty glare and a detention slip from Mr. Willis, he sat down. Kurt notices Blaine is wearing a sweatshirt even though it feels like a sauna in the school today, so he motions to it and shoots him quizzical look. Blaine shrugs in response and quickly gets to work on the work and energy project that was assigned for the class.

When class is over Kurt says jokingly, "Late two days in a row? If I didn't know any better I'd say you like having detention with Mr. Willis."

Blaine forces a smile but Kurt can tell it's not genuine.

"What's the matter?" he asks his tone immediately changing from one of teasing to one of concern.

"Nothing much. I just feel a little under the weather today."

Kurt nods in sympathy and says he'll share his chicken and broccoli soup with him because nobody deserves cafeteria food when they're feeling sick. Blaine smiles gratefully and his mood seems to improve as they continue walking towards the lunchroom.

A few days later Kurt is walking down the hallway when he experiences the first locker shove in a while. Azimio, it seems, has taken up where Karosfsky left off as head bully. As he straightens back up and begins to brush off his clothes he looks up and is taken aback by the fact that Azimio is still there.

"You're lucky your boyfriend is stopping any real damage from being done," he sneers before stalking away.

Boyfriend? What in the world is Azimio talking about? He's still mulling over the words when he looks down and notices that a button has come loose from his coat and is hanging by a thread. Kurt huffs angrily. This was a brand new coat and it had cost him quite a bit of money. Luckily, he carries around an emergency sewing kit and head off to the bathroom to fix the damage. He'll be late to French but Madame Flores loves him so it shouldn't be a big deal. Kurt enters to bathroom and is surprised to find it isn't empty. When the boy looks up he is even more surprised to see that it's Blaine.

"Blaine what…" Kurt begins but trails off when he sees the blue die staining the sides of the sink Blaine is hunched over.
He rushes over and almost trips on a bag lying a few feet from Blaine. The bag has change of clothes for Blaine in it and suddenly it all makes sense.

"This is why you've been late to physics recently isn't it?"

Blaine, whose shocked expression has turned to defeat. He nods but still averts Kurt's gaze. Blaine turns the faucet back on and sticks his head under the flow to wash the slushie from his hair.

"Here, let me help," Kurt offers and begins running his hands through Blaine's hair. He hesitates for a second before saying, "Azimio said something about a fr-friend stopping him from doing anything… It was you, wasn't it?"

Blaine finally looks up at Kurt and opens his mouth to speak just as Marcus, one of Azimio's cronies, walks in. He takes one look at Blaine and begins to laugh cruelly.

"Come on, we need to talk. But not here," Kurt adds and picks up Blaine's bag.

He asks if Blaine minds skipping his last class and when he shakes his head they begin to walk out to the parking lot. The ride back to Kurt's house is silent but Kurt is happy for the time to compose his thoughts. Blaine has obviously been taking the brute of Azimio and his gang's violence for Kurt, but for how long he is unsure. It's only been this past week that Blaine started showing up late to class, probably to clean up after being slushied, so maybe it hasn't been going on long.

But he's still confused as to why Azimio thinks Blaine is his boyfriend. Kurt hasn't told anyone, not even Rachel or Mercedes, of his feelings and they've never even hugged (minus that one time in Glee). It's possible that Azimio thinks they're dating simply because they're the only two gay guys at the school but Blaine's been out since his first week so why did the bullying start now? Unless, it's been going on the whole time and Kurt is just realizing it now. That thought makes Kurt sick to his stomach.

When they get to the house, Kurt goes to the kitchen and puts a pot of water on the stove for tea. He then sits down across from Blaine at the kitchen table.

"Alright, tell me everything. When did this start?"

Blaine sighs. "It started early last week. Marcus saw us at Breadstix the Friday before and thought that it was a date. Apparently, this kid named David who used to go here told them not to bother you anymore, but they said if I didn't let them cheat off me in math then they would start harassing you again. So that's all it was until this week. I guess they thought it wasn't enough for me to help in math because they started throwing slushies at me. They said if I told anyone they would start in on you, but from what you told me about McKinley, I doubt the school would do anything anyways. I-I feel really bad about cheating but I just don't want you getting hurt." When Blaine finishes, he meets Kurt's gaze and his eyes shine with guilt.

"Blaine," Kurt starts but his voice is so shaky he clears his throat and starts again. "Blaine, I'm not mad at you at all. I-It's nice, too nice, of you to take this all on by yourself. I can handle myself and those bullies, I've been doing it since freshman year. So stop letting them cheat, I know that must be killing you." Kurt says. After a moment he adds, "But I have to know, why do all this? Why all of this for me?"

At this, Blaine looks at him as if he's grown two heads. "Because you're my friend, my best friend, and I care about you Kurt. You're so strong and you've been dealing with this for so long and I just thought that… I don't know, that you're senior year should be magic."

Tears threaten to flow at this and Kurt wipes his eyes as discreetly as he can.

"Thank you Blaine. Thank you so much. But from now on, we can face them together. I've been thinking lately and I've decided that I'm going to run for class president this year. I really want to focus on making the school a safe place for everyone by instituting some new anti-bullying policies."

"That's a really great idea. Hopefully it will go better than when I tried my freshman year," Blaine says.

Kurt's brows furrow. "I thought Dalton always had strict anti-bullying policies."

"Oh they have, but my freshman year I didn't go to Dalton. I went to a public school out in Westerville. I helped start a Gay-Straight alliance to try and stop the rampant homophobia in the school, but it didn't have much effect. They bullying for me wasn't too bad until the end of the year, when I decided to take my friend, the only other gay guy in the school, to the Sadie Hawkins dance. While we were waiting for his dad to pick us up, three guys beat the living crap out of us."

Kurt gasps at this and reaches across the tablet to hold Blaine's hand.

"I transferred to Dalton the next year and I haven't had to deal with anything like that since. I ran away Kurt. I ran from the bullies instead of confronting them. I was a coward. Actually, I still am one. Instead of standing up to the bullies this year, I crumpled under them." As Blaine talks he becomes more and more dejected until Kurt finally stops him.

"No Blaine, stop. You are not a coward. There is no shame in removing yourself from a bad situation and going somewhere where you can be happy. If I had known about Dalton, I would have gone in a heartbeat. And this year, you know as well as I do that you didn't comply with the bullies to save yourself. You did it for me. That's being a hero, not a coward."

Blaine still doesn't look convinced so Kurt adds, "Plus, you will get to stand up to them now. With my anti-bullying policies we can fight them together."

At that, the tensions in Blaine's shoulders lessen a bit and a smile tugs at his lips. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks, you always seem to know just what to say."

"I feel the same way about you," Kurt says seriously.

They lapse into a comfortable silence but a few minutes later a confused look crosses Blaine's face.

"Wait, who is David? Was he a friend of yours?" Blaine asks.

Kurt lets out a humorless laugh. "Just when I thought we were done talking about the dark stuff." He sighs and continues, "David Karofsky was my biggest tormentor throughout high school, but it got especially bad last year. When I finally confronted him, I found out that he was actually gay himself and was jealous I was brave enough to come out."

"He told you that?" Blaine asks incredulously.

"Well not right away, at the time he just um… hekissedme," Kurt mumbles quickly.

"What?"

"He kissed me," Kurt finally says his cheeks turning pink.

Blaine's eyes widen at the confession, his mouth dropping open a little. "Kurt I'm so sorry," Blaine says and now it's his turn to take Kurt's hand.

"It was my first kiss," he says softly, "and it was followed by a death threat if I ever told anyone what had happened."

A flash of anger crosses Blaine's face but he composes himself and squeezes Kurt's hand. "What happened after that?"

"Eventually I did tell the school and they suspended him for a few days and forced him into anger management classes. It was entirely his decision to leave McKinley this year, but I can't say I'm unhappy he did. He apologized and we're on speaking terms now but… It would still be uncomfortable to see him around."

Blaine nods his head and they sit in silence once more until the kettle on the stove starts to squeal. Kurt gets up and fixes two cups of tea, a green tea for Blaine and an Earl Grey cup for himself.

He's handing Blaine his mug when Blaine says, "It doesn't count you know?" At Kurt's confused look, he clarifies, "The kiss. It doesn't count as your first one."

Kurt smiles and says "What about my one with Brittney?"

It takes Blaine a second to get it but when he does his facial expression turns into one of disgust. "You kissed Brittney? As in, the blonde cheerleader from Glee club?"

"Multiple times," Kurt adds. "It was during my butch stage sophomore year. Don't worry, I'm never going back."

Blaine finally cracks a smile and then he begins to laugh. Pretty soon both Kurt and Blaine are laughing so hard their sides hurt and tears are running down they're faces. They're not really sure why they're laughing, but after everything that just happened, it feels good to be happy.

The next day when Blaine walks into Glee club, Kurt can't help but turn bright red. His dream last night had featured one Blaine Anderson and had left him hard and throbbing. He's had those dreams before of course, but this was the most vivid and the only one that's ever featured a face he knew. He feels so dirty for thinking of Blaine that way and cringes at the thought of Blaine ever finding out. As Blaine gets closer, Kurt pretends to cough so he can blame the redness on that.

"So how'd it go today?" Kurt asks cryptically once Blaine reaches him.

Blaine shrugs, "I only help Azimio's friends and they just seemed lost when I told them I was done letting them cheat. I'm sure nothing bad will happen until they tell Azimio. I still think we should go to principal Figgins with all this."

Kurt restrains from heaving a sigh. Blaine is such an idealist when it comes to this stuff, he doesn't get that this isn't Dalton; the school just doesn't care.

"Maybe. But let's just see how it goes first. I know the election isn't for a few more weeks but let's try and hold out until then."

Blaine eventually relents and they move on to lighter subjects until Mr. Schue calls them to order. When Glee club ends, Blaine has to go with his mom straight to a doctor's appointment so he doesn't get a ride home from Kurt as usual. Kurt is just leaving the classroom when Rachel runs up to him and hooks her arm through his.

"Finally!" she breathes. "I've been trying to catch you without Blaine for some time now but you guys are attached at the hip! I've got to know, how's it going between you two in the romance department?"

Kurt is about to deny any such romance between Blaine and him but decides to just go ahead and tell Rachel the truth. "I honestly don't know. Sometimes I think we're something more, like when we went to Breadstix-"

"Something I set up by the way," Rachel interrupts. "Well okay fine, it was a joint effort by the Glee club. We all decided to vote for you two in the hopes that a romantic dinner at Breadstix would help you guys seal the deal. Obviously it was unsuccessful," she adds sourly.

Kurt stares at Rachel in shock. He's not sure whether to be offended that they won the duet contest unfairly or flattered that his friends care enough to do something like that for him.

"Yes, well, as I was saying, it's all very confusing. Blaine is sending out very mixed signals. I was planning on telling him that I liked him as more than a friend but… lately the jocks have been giving us, but him especially, a very hard time. And that was just because they thought we were dating, I can't imagine what they would do if it was confirmed."

Rachel squeezes his arm sympathetically. "Don't let those jerks stop you from being happy. You know the guys in Glee have your back, they won't let anything happen to you or Blaine."

Kurt wants to argue that things have been happening and nobody has done anything about it but he realizes that won't do any good. Those guys do have his back, but Azimio knows that so he won't try anything in front of them.

"Maybe. I need some time to think about it..." Kurt finally says.

"Okay but you better not let your first love get away that easy!" Rachel says before Kurt one last squeeze and flouncing off to Finn's car where he's waiting for her.

Kurt wants to shout back that he's not in love with Blaine but something stops him. Is he? Is it possible that after these few short weeks he could be in love with him? He climbs into his car and groans, letting his head drop so it's resting on the steering wheel. Things with Blaine seem to get more complicated by the day.