~*~ Chapter Six ~*~

Like a bird with broken wings, its not how high he flies but the song he sings

(Strange Familiar; Courage is)

"Oh my god, I can't believe he did that!"

"That idiot!"

"I think that is the stupidest thing I've ever-wait what's he doing now?"

"Eek, look at that!" Wes raised his hand and pointed, mouth open onto the screen of his laptop.

"Oh my, oh my, Wes! What is happening?" David's hand clawed into his friend's forearm, while the other shovelled popcorn into his half-opened mouth, eyes never leaving the scene in front of him.

"I don't know! I don't know! No, don't- what are you even-what?" Wes exclaimed shrilly, squeezing David's hand. The sound of a loud explosion filled the room and Blaine, sitting next to his overdramatic friends found himself suddenly with a lap full of Wes.

He blinked a few times, surprised, before rolling his eyes. Given the reaction of his friends one could think they were watching the chick-flick of the year and not the newest Star Trek movie ...

All he had been looking forward to was a relaxed sunday afternoon, homework finished, so that he could finally start his newest Game of Thrones book and maybe spoil all the newest storylines to Kurt on monday. Clearly Wes and David had different plans. They had been dying to see the newest addition to the Star Trek verse, but between class, Warbler practice, homework and spending time with their respective girlfriends (incomprehensibly absolutely no Star Treck fans) there had not been any opportunity to visit the cinema just yet. So, of course Blaine had let himself be persuaded to watch it and even provided his own laptop when his friends finally got their hands on the DVD, because he was an awesome friend like that (besides, hello Benedict Cumberbatch!).

That was also how he found himself now squeezed between the wall and Wes, his laptop carefully balanced on their knees, while Spock ran panting across the screen.

Luckily -or, from Kurt's perspective, unfortunately- Kurt was still forced to hide in his room to avoid another encounter with Finn and entertained him with a seemingly endless stream of sarcastic and borderline cruel texts that had Blaine biting onto his pillow more than once to keep from bursting out laughing. This was a side of the other boy he did not show very often, mostly just via text, and that one time the incredibly rude barista made them wait over six minutes for a simple coffee, but everytime Kurt lowered his guards a bit Blaine grew fonder of him.

As amusing as his comments were though ... Blaine was still quite concerned about the other boy since his breakdown on Saturday, but every time he subtly tried to broach the subject, Kurt very unsubtly dodged. Like now for example: Instead of explaining why Burt had allowed Finn back in his house, Kurt was complaining about the noise level coming from his living room, before quickly changing the topic to his history essay. Blaine frowned at the screen.

"What's got you making a face as long as a fiddle?" David had finally loosened his gaze from Blaine's laptop and was watching his friend with furrowed brows.

"It's nothing ..." Blaine murmured dismissive, eyes fixed on the screen of his phone.

"B' ..." Wes turned towards his friend. "You're staring at your phone like it's the holy grail and if David and I hadn't shouted it out to you more than three times, you wouldn't even know which movie we're watching right now."

Blaine opened his mouth to protest, before realising that they were probably right. He had even missed Benedict's first appearance, dammit!

"It's about Kurt," he started, bracing himself for the wave of comments that were sure to come. 'Oh, about Kurt, perfect Kurt with eyes like the ocean?' 'And hair like silk and honey.' 'Skin shining like amber and velvet in the sinking evening sun' And while Blaine was pretty sure that at least the last line was stolen from the poem they were currently analysing in english class, or from one of the twilight novels – you could never be sure with those two – sentences like this made him seriously doubt the heterosexuality of his friends sometimes. To his surprise though they kept silent, watching him expectantly.

"I can't really tell you much, it's kind of personal, but he is having some problems at home and seems miserable."

"Is that why you left so abruptly, yesterday?" Wes asked. They had not been together at the time Blaine must have left the campus early on Saturday morning, but later that day when he and David had wanted to save him from working to much, they had found his room empty, laptop left open on his desk. Living in an boarding school with no possibility to lock his door, this was not a very smart move, also one that was very unlike Blaine and concerned as they were Wes and David had quickly shut down his computer - after they had changed his Desktop background and all of his passwords, or course – and had gone in search. After an unsuccessful visit of the library, gym and cafeteria, a quick text conversation had cleared his sudden disappearance. Blaine had acted quite secretive, but revealed that he had definitely not been kidnapped, especially not from the cookie monster and how did they even think that would work? And was safe and sound at Kurt's house, but could not explain why, or how long he would stay there, though he would surely see them at dinner.

Blaine tensed and hung his head. He wanted to talk to his friends about everything, was even sure that it would help him clear his head, but he had promised Kurt not to tell anybody about his family intern fight. Blaine respected that, Blaine understood that, but Blaine also wanted to grab Wes and David and seriously kick Finn's ass.

He sighed deeply. "Yes, but ... I don't know. I promised not to tell anybody. But I want to, I just- argh!", he exclaimed frustrated, before quietly admitting. "I don't know what to do. How to help him."

Wes and David exchanged a quick wide-eyed glance. Blaine had always had had a natural, and sometimes even unhealthy desire to help the people around him, hated fights and disharmony and did not rest, before he had done anything in his might and more to fix a situation. There was nothing that Blaine was more afraid of than people disliking him, or a fight he couldn't solve. And while Wes and David were never shy to help him throwing the most impossible stunts, it also had been them who had to pick up the desperate pieces of Blaine, when he realised that even he could not fix everything. Right now he seemed dangerously close again to getting far too involved in someone else's problem and that wasn't good for him.

"Is there anything we can do, B'?" David asked concerned. He and Wes liked Kurt well enough, even considered him one of their best friends, but at the moment Blaine seemed to be the one far more effected by the situation. Wes next to him contended himself with cuddling up to his friend, throwing both arms around his middle and batting David's hand away, when he tried to reach across him to pat Blaine's arm.

"I don't know guys ..." Blaine murmured, smiling half-heartedly at their attempts to cheer him up. "Kurt is having a rough time right now and I just- feel so helpless." He rested his head on head tiredly on his friends for a moment.

"Sounds like he desperately needs a distraction," Wes stated, squeezing his friend's side. "Maybe we could do something together? Invite him to Dalton, something like that?"

"Oh, I know!" David suddenly exclaimed, gesturing towards his phone. "Hannah and I wanted to visit this little restaurant -Wes you know which one- this afternoon. Said she wanted to talk to me about something, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind to extend our meeting to a double, or ... triple date."

"Not a date," Blaine grumbled. "But that sounds like an excellent idea to get his mind of things."

'And yours', Wes silently added.

Blaine let himself rest between his friends a moment longer, before disentangling their bodies and hopping of the bed. Suddenly excited he grabbed his phone and bounced towards the door. "I'll go call him!"

"Hi Kurt!" Blaine chirped into his phone, after quickly speed-dialing Kurt's number and impatiently waiting for him to pick up.

"Why hello there, Blaine. To what do I owe the pleasure of your call in this fine day?" Kurt drawled and Blaine could just imagine him lying on his stomach, maybe on his bed, or the carpet, feet propped up and the newest issue of vogue in front of him. He had to smile at that thought.

"Just a quick question: Are you free this afternoon?" he asked eagerly, too impatient for small talk.

"You mean apart from hiding in my room? Yes, I hadn't anything else planned, why?"

"Weell ..." Blaine stretched the syllable pleasurable. "I wanted to invite you to dinner."

There was a short silence on the other end, before Kurt cleared his throat. "Oh, um ... well-"

"With Wes and David, of course," Blaine hasted to add. "Their girlfriends would be joining us if that's okay?"

"Oh. Oh! Of course, I have to check with my Dad first, but if I don't stay away too late that shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"'Course not. We have a curfew to attend too, you know."

"Good, so when are we meeting?"

"Uh ... I don't know ... to be honest."

"Er, okay? Can you tell me the address then?"

"David said he knew where to go, so I forgot to ask. Maybe I could research it ... oh, wait I don't even know the name of the restaurant."

"So, you called to invite me to dinner, but you have no idea when, or where?" Kurt asked disbelieving.

Blaine scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Basically ... yes."

"How do you even survive alone in a boarding school?"

"We have an excellent fire alarm system."

There was a loud crash coming from his room. "Speaking of which .... I think I need to get back to the crazy now ... Make sure they don't destroy anything," Blaine sighed, trotting back along the corridor towards his room, carefully peeking inside. While he had been on the phone Jeff and Nick must have come back from the library, where they had been studying math, because both boys were currently seated on Jeff's bed, surrounded by notebooks and paper. Wes and David were running around the room in an impression of god-knows-what (most likely some Star Trek scene), ignoring the annoyed looks Jeff was shooting them from where his head was cushioned in Nick's lap.

"Don't you think you're overreacting a bit?" Kurt laughed on the other end.

Blaine shot a quick glance at Wes who was currently trying to climb his dresser to dive onto Jeff's bed.

"No, no, not really. Listen, I will just text you the time and pick you up right beforehand, if that's alright?"

"'Kay, go back to your crazy friends, I will see you then."

"Wait!"

"Yes?"

"They ... um, they are your friends now too, you know that right?" He could hear Kurt's breath hitch on the other end.

"I- Yeah, I think I do."

"Just checking," Blaine grinned, relieved. "Bye Kurt."

"Bye Blaine," Kurt echoed, ending the call.

By the time Blaine reached Kurt's house to pick him up the sky was already darkening and well aware of Kurt's father suspicious eyes on him, he greeted his friend with a short hug – a tradition he had decided to start after their encounter yesterday and held open the car door for him. Not that he would not have done any of this without being watched, but he still felt like he was completing some kind of test. The car ride was short, since their destination was located on the border of Lima, but due to a teasing discussion about the pro's and con's of Blaine's driving abilities and Kurt's unsurprisingly jam-full Ipod quite enjoyable.

Soon enough they could see Wes, David and two girls through the window of Blaine's car, waiting for them in front of the glass doors of an expensive looking restaurant. Blaine pulled into one of the parking spaces, only slightly askew as he assured Kurt, who incredulous eyed the non-existent space between them and their neighbour-car. In the end he had to exit the car by climbing over the driver's seat and Kurt did not let it take him, to step on the cover vigorously with his dusty boots. Still, after they had shut off the music, they were able to walk leisurely towards their friends.

"Hey guys!" David waved at them, before they were even in hearing distance. "How was your drive?"

"Quite fun actually," Blaine grinned at Kurt's unimpressed expression, before stepping forward to greet the girls, while Wes introduced them.

"Well, this is Nadine, my lovely girlfriend and right next to her, Hannah." Wes gestured towards the two girls behind him. "Ladies meet our newest friend, Kurt."

"It's great to meet you!" Nadine squealed excitedly, leaning forward to hug Kurt quickly as a greeting. Blaine froze, afraid that Kurt would flinch back like he did to Wes' first touch, but the boy only tensed slightly and before he had even time to react the girl pulled back again.

"Sorry, I'm a hugger," she murmured sheepishly. "Wes told me to warn people beforehand, but sometimes I forget myself."

Still somewhat baffled Kurt smiled unsure at her. "That's ... That's fine. Just caught me by surprise."

Blaine smiled silently to himself. Nadine was a generally joyful girl, with long brown locks, curling wildly around her round face and the widest smile Blaine had ever seen. She was not the tallest, but her loud laugh and charming personality made more than up for that. From all of Wes's previous girlfriends Nadine was definitely Blaine's favourite and he was pretty sure that by the end of the evening Kurt would share this impression with him.

Hannah, David's girlfriend stood right behind her, contending herself with a simple handshake towards Kurt. "What's up?"

Kurt smiled at her too, taking in her short black hair and piercing grey eyes. A silvery tongue piercing twinkled in the light as she spoke."You new to Dalton?"

He nodded. "I transferred about three weeks ago."

"A mid-year transfer? That's rare. How come?" Hannah asked, raising an eyebrow.

Kurt looked taken aback at the blunt question. "I, uhm ... had some problems at my old school."

The girl looked like she wanted to ask further, so Blaine quickly interfered.

"Have you been here before, Kurt?"

His friend shook his head, glancing up at the simple black letters above their heads that spelled out the name of their location.

"It's actually quite nice," Wes said. "And an excellent place for a romantic date." He winked exaggerated at Nadine. She batted her eyelashes at him, before stepping forward and intertwining their hands. "Are you trying to woo me, Mr. Montgomery?"

"Maybe? That depends if that intentions would be welcome?" Wes flirted back shamelessly.

"Ugh," David mumbled, just as Nadine leaned in to peck her boyfriend on the lips. "Do we have to endure this all evening?" He turned to Blaine for support, but the boy had his gaze fixated on Kurt, who was tilting his head to the side, an endearing little smile playing around his lips while he watched Wes and Nadine interact. David sighed deeply. This promised to be a long evening.

"So, at the risk of sounding clichéd, but I'm generally curious: How did you meet?" The group had settled around a large table in the corner of the restaurant, right next to a big window front and Kurt had turned towards the two couples opposite of him, eyeing them curiously.

"That's actually quite a funny story, that-" Wes started, folding his hands delicately in front of him.

"- we don't really have to repeat right now, do we?" Nadine interrupted him with a forced smile.

"Oh, please do!" David could barely contain his smile. "It's simply the best first meeting story I've ever heard."

"No, it's not," Nadine mumbled, but her protest seemed already broken.

"It was at a super market," Wes chimed in, earning him a playful glare from his girlfriend.

"It's my embarrassment so let at least me tell me the story," she sniffed offended, before heaving a deep breath and starting her story. "To understand this you need to know a few things about me and my family. As you may have guessed from my appearance I'm originally Greek , but my parents immigrated when they were quite young to the United States, were they quickly obtained professions and founded a family. When they arrived in this country they already had two little girls, twins at that, my two older sisters, Anna and Maria, after that their family expanded rapidly. During the next few years my mother gave birth to me, my little sister Joana and at last a little boy called Martin. As you can see my family is huge and with five woman in the house it can be a lot of stress. Because of this I try to unburden my mother as much as possible, by for example grocery shopping."

"Honey ... You are deflecting," Wes gently chided. "Stop avoiding the topic."

"Alright. So, I was grocery shopping and we need quite a big amount of ... well of everything. So also of the things I was buying right now."

"Which were?" David asked, grinning like a little boy at Christmas about to open the biggest present. Nadine mumbled something inaudibly.

"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that?"

She sighed deeply and said with as much dignity as possible. "Feminine hygiene products."

David burst out laughing and had to bury his head in his napkin. Nadine, as well as Hannah glared at him, before Nadine continued.

"A lot of feminine hygiene products to be exact, because well, with five women in one house ... anyway: There I was, carrying two armful of sanitary napkins and tampons, piled up so high I could barely see anything. You can imagine what happened next: I was as good as blind, stumbled into someone and allocated feminine hygiene products everywhere."

"That someone being Wes, I assume?" Kurt asked, not sure if he wanted to bury his face in his hand out of mortification for the girl, or laugh along with David.

"I assured him that these weren't all for me, of course that would have been plain weird."

"Not much weirder than having a hectic girl trying to collect her articles, while explaining more about menstruation than I ever wanted to know," Wes added.

"I just wanted to bring across the point that many women, means a lot of blood. And that slime-"

"Please stop talking," Blaine said quickly, with wide eyes and red checks.

"Oh, just be glad that you will never have to bother with things like that, B'," David shrugged.

Kurt frowned at that. "What does he mean?" he asked, turning to Blaine.

"You ... haven't told him?" Wes asked astonished.

"I ... well no, not really. It just never came up and -"

"Told me what?" Kurt interrupted.

"That Blaine's as gay as a flaming rainbow," Hannah grinned.

"Thank. You. Hannah." Blaine glared at the girl, before turning back to Kurt, carefully studying his face. "That ... isn't a problem, is it?"

To his surprise Kurt just laughed. "Oh no, of course not. That would be kind of hypocritical, wouldn't it?" They were silent for a few seconds, before David seemed to connect the dots.

"Hah! I told you. Pay up, Montgomery," he exclaimed, grinning widely and waving his hand expectantly at Wes.

"You bet on my sexuality?" Kurt asked with raised eyebrows.

"What? No, we would never!" Wes called out, while handing David a ten dollar note. Nadine giggled mutely, before grabbing her boyfriend's hand on top of the table.

"Wesley. I very clearly saw-"

"Now, have you read the newspaper today? Fascinating, absolutely fascinating."

"Are you ... talking about the hybrid that run amok in a school?" Blaine interfered carefully.

"Such an horrible story, wasn't it?" Nadine murmured, squeezing Wes's hand.

"It seems unbelievable that something like this can even happen nowadays. One would think that the police has better control," Hannah added.

"Well, the police limit's are set by their citiziens," Blaine mentioned quietly.

"What ... what do you mean by that?" Kurt asked very, very calm.

"Isn't it a well-known fact that due to their ancestry hybrids aren't able to control their animal instincts? If this is assumed it was only a matter of time, before one of them would lose control."

Kurt had already opened his mouth to protest, but to his surprise David beat him to it. "How do you want to know this? Have you ever actually met a hybrid?"

"Ehm, no. Have you?" Blaine frowned at his friends aggressive tone.

"Actually yes! And I can assure you that she is far from dangerous."

"I didn't mean to offend you. I just read this article about the topic, it seemed quite valid and-"

"Oh, well you can't trust the media on that account," Kurt huffed.

"Are you saying they are wrong? I mean after all it isn't proved that hybrids aren't dangerous." Hannah had crossed her arms, raising a challenging eyebrow.

"Well, that isn't proved for humans either and you can read about a teenager running amok every other day. No one is talking about locking away every teenager, are they?" David countered heatedly.

"But that's different!"

"How so?"

"Because hybrids aren't human! You can't compare animals to humans!" Hannah's voice had now risen wide above appropriate small-talk level and Nadine had to shush her empathetically when a passing waiter glared at them. Hannah glared right back, but lowered her voice noticeable. "Sorry."

David accepted the apology with a quick squeeze of his girlfriend's hand.

"You are wrong by the way," Kurt said quietly after a short while. "Hybrids are considered the closest relative to the human race known so far. So, in fact they are much closer to humans than to animals."

"Are you sure? My father just told me yesterday-" David snorted besides her.

"Sweetie, I've met your father and he didn't seem the most reliable source concerning scientific facts."

Hannah mumbled something inaudible under her breath, but let the argument slide.

"Wait a second ...When have you met a hybrid?" Blaine asked, turning towards David interested.

"One of my aunts has fox genes. We don't see her very often, but when I was little I would spend almost every summer on her farm."

"Aw, that sounds quite nice!" Nadine gushed. "Where does she live?"

"Somewhere ... far away ... I don't really know, to be honest. Outside on the countryside, where she can stay by herself, because you know ... most people aren't very accepting."

"I'm so sorry to hear that," Kurt whispered earnestly.

"Nah, she's fine now." David had his usual grin back. "Besides she has always the most crazy hybrid-gossip! This one time she told me about a video made by gardeners ..."

While dessert was served their conversation developed from the serious note to some lighter topics.

At the moment Wes and Blaine were discussing the newest song selections of the Warblers, while Nadine and Hannah had their own silent conversation next to them. Kurt cracked the sugar-top of his Créme Brûlée listening silently.

"Oh, that reminds me ..." Blaine turned slightly on his chair, fixating Kurt. "Weren't you planning on visiting the Warblers at some point?"

"Hm? Oh, yes only if it isn't to much trouble, of course?"

Wes frowned. "We normally only hold auditions at the beginning of the year ..."

Kurt looked devastated and Blaine full out glared at his friend, desperately willing him to make an exception of the rules just this once.

"... but there is actually a clause that provides exceptions to that rule concerning mid-year-transfer's," he added, rolled his eyes at Blaine and sent him a 'Do you really think I'm that stupid' – look back.

"That would be great," Kurt smiled.

"Uhu, next Warbler's practice is at thursday. Will you be ready to audition at that time?"

"That's ... in two days!" Kurt's eyes widened in panic.

"If it's too short notice, I'm sure we can reschedule and-"

"No, no that's fine. I can do that. Just need to decide on a song- Maybe I should call Rachel- and what about costumes? Do I need a costume? Or the band? I could ship Brad over – What?" He stopped his rant when Blaine started laughing.

After dessert was finished they left. Blaine insisted on paying for both him and Kurt, much to the later's protest and they entered the parking space still bickering. On a silent agreement it was Blaine who would be driving Kurt home, so the group halted in front of their cars.

"Well, it was a pleasure meeting you Kurt." Nadine smiled warmly at the boy, moving in for a hug, but hesitating. Kurt just grinned at her, closing the gap between them and squeezing her quickly.

"Likewise, we should repeat that sometime soon."

"We're always up for a shopping trip, if you're interested," Hannah answered. She did not hug him, but their handshake lasted a lot longer than before.

"IfI'm interested? Honey, the only thing keeping me from camping at the mall is my curfew and and the fact that even I couldn't rock the homeless look."

Blaine snorted quietly behind them. Sometimes he couldn't really believe the comments coming from his originally shy friend. Throughout the evening he had become more and more relaxed around the girls, showing a side of him normally reserved for private moments with Blaine.

And Blaine was absolutely not jealous of that. No, sir. It was just .... he had been friends with Kurt first! They knew each other much longer and it had taken more than two weeks for Kurt to open up enough to be this carefree around him! It just ... wasn't fair.

Someone nudged him slightly in the side. He snapped out of his reverie, suddenly becoming aware of his surroundings again. Wes and David must have already driven off, to drop their girlfriends of and Kurt and him were standing alone in front of his car. At the moment Kurt was looking expectingly at him, seemingly waiting for an answer to whatever question he had asked.

"Uuh ..." Blaine started, looking lost.

"You aren't very attentive, Blaine," Kurt lectured, only half-jokingly.

"I'm sorry, it's just ..." he hesitated, before deciding that honesty was still the best policy. "You are so different with them."

Kurt frowned, confused. "What do you mean?"

"When you first came to Dalton ... don't take this the wrong way, but you were completely reserved, shy even, never making eye contact and rarely talking. It took such a long time for you to open up to us and now ... you're joking and hugging girls you've only met this evening."

"So, you're saying that's a bad thing?" Kurt asked disbelieving.

"God, Kurt no, of course not! I'm just surprised, I guess. And confused?"

His friend sighed, raising a hand as if he wanted to ruffle his hair before stopping himself. "It's much easier around girl's," he confessed quietly.

"To be myself, I mean. I've always ... at my old school all of my friends were female. Girls accepted me for being me, weren't afraid to touch me and they understood me much better than anyone else could. I was counted a honorary girl, before I even knew what that meant and since most guy's naturally stayed away from me, always afraid to 'catch the gay' ... well I wasn't exactly sad about it.

When you came to me this first day at school, I was so surprised that you actually wanted to talk to me. Three boys voluntarily spending time with me without making fun of me, or being uncomfortable." A silent tear slipped down his cheek and he quickly whipped it away. "Sorry, I'm just ... I try to open up, you know? It's just difficult to believe, to actually believe that this isn't some kind of prank and any second somebody is going to jump out screaming 'Got'cha there. You really thought they would be friends with you, f-fag?" His voice broke at the last word.

"Kurt ..." Blaine whispered, voice thick with emotions. Not knowing what to say he gently drew the boy into a hug.

"That is not going to happen, I promise, I swear!" He murmured into his neck frantically to reassure him. "You're such an amazing person and anybody who can't see that must be blind. Every time you open up a bit more, I just realise how incredible you really are and you are doing good, so good. I'm incredibly proud of you for telling me this."

"B-blaine," Kurt sobbed quietly, clutching to him even tighter. Blaine let him cry into his shoulder until he could feel the wetness of his tears through his pullover. There were very few occasions when he had felt this helpless. He had never considered himself to be very good at comforting people, even though everybody seemed to think he was. So all he could do right now was whispering soothing words in his friends ear, while drawing random patterns on his back. It took a few more minutes for Kurt to calm enough to talk.

"Is this now going to happen every time we see each other?" Kurt sniffed, attempting a smile. Blaine smiled back, squeezing him once more, before releasing him. "I hope not. Are you ready to go home yet? I'm afraid we might be late otherwise."

"Oh, crap! I'm sorry! Is it already this late? I didn't mean to keep you."

"No worries. We're still on time of we leave soon." Blaine shrugged, opening the car door to let him inside. Kurt climbed across the Dirver's seat without complaint this time. "We should still talk about this though."

"I already did quite a lot of talking," Kurt murmured repellent. Blaine let it slide for the time being, but after he had started the car and pulled out of the parking space he gave his friend a prompting look. "Just a bit more, I promise. And if you're uncomfortable we don't need to continue."

Kurt slumped defeated into his seat. "What do you want to know?"

"Is there ... more to the lack of trust than you've told me so far? Did- Did this happen before, guys befriending you to make fun of you?"

"No, gladly not. I mean you know I've been bullied, but it never extended that far. I didn't let it extend that far. There was the usual stuff; name calling, locker shoves, slushy facials. Nothing the rest of the glee club didn't have to endure and I could live with that. Really." He added at Blaine's doubtful look.

"But there was this one guy ... He had obviously decided that all this hadn't been enough already. From one day to the other he fixated on me, separated me from my friends methodically and started to waylay for me in between class. It was ... intense."

"Is ... is he the reason you left the school?"

"Part of it," Kurt answered shortly, a sure sign for Blaine that this conversation was now finished.

The rest of the car ride was spent in silence. It was not necessarily uncomfortable, but Blaine could not help to feel like something still wasn't quite right.

"I'm sorry," Blaine said after a while.

"What for?"

"I'm not sure. Pushing you? Making you uneasy? It feels weird between us, doesn't it? So I felt like apologizing."

"Apart from the fact that this isn't the healthiest reaction to uncomfortable situations, I don't think there is anything you need to apologize for. It's just been an exhausting weekend for me, you know?"

"Of course. After everything that happened with Finn ... Why is your life so full of drama again?"

"Because it would be boring otherwise."

"Right," Blaine drawled, stopping the car in front of Kurt's house. They exited the car, slowly walking towards the front door.

"You will be still on time when you get back to Dalton, right?" Kurt asked worried, when they halted. Blaine glanced at his clock, before nodding. "Even without breaking any speed laws."

"Then I guess I will see you tomorrow?"

"On the parking space with your coffee waiting." Blaine grinned cheekily, before hugging him briefly.

"Goodnight Blaine," Kurt mumbled into his neck, before stepping back.

"Night!"

"And drive save!" Kurt called after him, right before he entered his car. Blaine rolled his eyes good-naturedly, but waved his hand as a sign that he had heard him.